Kikkoman Corp., the soy-sauce manufacturer, has started its project to build another factory in the US.
The Japan-based business has broken ground on the site, its third in the country.
Kikkoman said the plant will produce soy sauce and “soy sauce–related seasonings”, including teriyaki sauce.
The first shipments of soy sauce are planned for the third quarter of 2026.
Located in Jefferson in Wisconsin, the new facility is Kikkoman’s second in the US state.
The group opened its first US plant some 40 miles further south in Walworth more than 40 years ago.
Kikkoman is spending more than $500m on the new 240,000-square-foot site to support what it has said is its “growing” soy-sauce business in North America.
It also plans to embark on other “expansion initiatives” at the site in Walworth.
North America is Kikkoman’s largest market outside Japan. The company’s third factory in the US is in California. It also has plants in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil and the Netherlands.
In the year to the end of March, the group generated revenue of Y660.84bn ($4.21bn), up 6.8% on a year earlier.
It booked a 7% rise in revenue from its “overseas foods manufacturing and sales division” to Y154.26bn.
Revenue from “overseas foods wholesale” was up 9% at Y375.02bn.
In North America, revenue rose 5.2% to Y356.1bn. Kikkoman said its “business profit” in North America was up 28.1% at Y49.4bn.
Group operating profit climbed 20.5% to Y66.73bn. Net profit grew 29.1% to Y56.44bn.
For the year to the end of March 2025, Kikkoman is forecasting a 3.7% rise in revenue, a 6.1% hike in operating profit and a 2.1% increase in net profit.
It has forecast a 2% rise in revenue from its business in North America and a dip in “business profit”.