Austrian skincare company to bring 435 jobs to Roanoke

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Over 400 new jobs will be coming to Roanoke thanks to a major investment from an Austrian skincare and nutrition company.

RINGANA has announced it will establish its U.S. headquarters in Roanoke. The company will take over space in the Blue Ridge Commerce Park in Northwest Roanoke, close to the airport.

The project represents two records for the region: the largest new location project in 30 years and the largest foreign direct investment in Roanoke’s history.

“435 jobs, that’s the largest new location project for this region in the last 30 years,” John Hull, president and CEO of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, said. “In terms of the investment, it’s the largest foreign direct investment project in terms of its capital investment ever.”

The deal has been in the works for about two years, with the most intensive negotiations happening over the past nine months.

“Over the last two years, we’ve been working on this opportunity, and Ringana actually chose Roanoke as one of the localities it was considering for a lot of different reasons and factors,” Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb said.

Last fall, city leaders traveled to Austria at the company’s request to see its operations firsthand.

“In November, they said to us, if you really want us to come, you’re going to have to travel to Austria and visit us where we are,” Roanoke Director of Economic Development Marc Nelson said. “The philosophy there was we want you to see what kind of company we are. We want you to see not just our production lines, but our culture, how we do things.”

The trip included Cobb, Hull, Nelson, City Manager Valmarie Turner and Jason El Koubi, head of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

“My interactions with the company leaders and with Austrian people is that they highly value relationships and the investment that you make in relationships,” Cobb said. “This is a global enterprise that we’re bringing to Roanoke because they wanted to come to Roanoke. And that should make all of us feel great. And I think it’s one of the things that Roanoke does at its best, is really invest in relationships.”

RINGANA is an Austrian-based life sciences firm that produces skincare and nutrition supplement products. The company is a market leader throughout much of Europe and in South America.

The company will create 435 jobs over five years with an average salary of about $62,000 a year, which is above the median salary in Roanoke.

The facility will serve as the company’s manufacturing, distribution and research and development hub for U.S. operations.

“It’s a mix. So, you know, there’s going to, they’re calling it their manufacturing distribution, R&D hub, their U.S. headquarters. So, it’ll be a mix of office roles, but also manufacturing distribution and some high-tech R&D as well,” Hull said.

The jobs will range from advanced manufacturing to research and management positions.

Hull said the investment will have a ripple effect throughout the region.

“When you bring in a new traded sector entity, there are direct jobs created, the 435 jobs, but there’s a spin-off effect as well,” Hull said. “Those employees spend those wages on the services, and so you have a whole multiplier effect. It’s not just Ringana, but it’s the Main Street Roanoke as well, mom-and-pops and small businesses that benefit from the spending of the employees and the spending of the company on services.”

Cobb said the investment will help attract more advanced manufacturing businesses to the region.

“One of the areas we’ve really been focusing a lot of our attention is attracting more advanced manufacturing businesses here, and I think RINGANA’s investment here is going to spur more of those kinds of investments, not only in the city of Roanoke, but in this region,” Cobb said.

RINGANA will occupy a building in the Blue Ridge Commerce Park that has been largely underutilized for about 20 years.

“The jobs land in Northwest, which is an area that has, for years, wanted to see more jobs. So, it sits in a very key area. And then it’s the fact that this fantastic building has largely been sitting empty for about 20 years. It’s had different kinds of users, but it hasn’t reached its full capacity,” Nelson said.

The building last housed office space for CBIZ, which moved out about a year and a half ago. While the building has had administrative uses, its warehouse space sat mostly empty since about 2005.

“This building is fantastic. It’s big. It’s got a lot of warehouse space, a lot of space for wet and dry labs or whatever it is you want to do in there. But that space has largely not been used since about 2005,” Nelson said.

RINGANA chose Roanoke because the city aligned with the company’s values, according to Cobb.

“They were looking for a city that kind of modeled after their own city, and that aligns with their values and our shared values align,” Cobb said.

The company’s products are fresh, and its operations emphasize environmental sustainability.

“All of Ringana’s products are fresh, and so there’s a really environmentally friendly process that they go through in not only making the products they sell, which include cosmetics, but also food and beverage. But also in how they go about treating their employees, how they design the buildings to make sure they’re energy efficient, that they’re utilizing renewable energy resources. And all of those values really align nicely with our city and how we want to move forward,” Cobb said.

The Virginia Tech Fralin Biomedical Research Institute played a key role in recruiting the company.

“One of the things they asked us about was, we want to recruit international folks to come here. And we want to recruit PhDs. And Mike Friedlander with FBRI was fantastic in saying, we have both,” Nelson said.

Cobb said RINGANA will create educational opportunities, particularly for students interested in advanced manufacturing.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to partner with Roanoke City Public Schools eventually, and the CTE program, because that’s a growing educational sector. And for students who want to go into advanced manufacturing, I’m hopeful this will be yet another pathway for them to do that,” Cobb said.

He said the company’s approach to employee development is educational in nature.

“I think the dynamic they create with employees is educational in nature. It shows people what goes into creating these products, how to sell them in the marketplace, the kinds of relationships that are important in celebrating and sharing these products,” Cobb said.

The company is moving quickly to establish operations. The agreement will go before the Roanoke City Council on Monday, and RINGANA hopes to close on the building within the next couple of weeks.

“The company’s looking to finalize their transaction on the real estate this month. And the wheels are in motion to begin work. And so, you know, I think you can look at them establishing operations in the coming months,” Hull said.

Nelson said the company has been meeting with contractors and HVAC specialists to upgrade the building and hopes to be operational by Christmas, with retail operations potentially launching in time for the holiday season.

Cobb said he hopes to have a more official groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting sometime this fall.

Nelson said the project involved collaboration across multiple organizations.

“When you look at the way it was done, we had so many people and so many organizations that were involved in this. You know, the city was involved. Alicia Cundiff on our staff just did such a great job. The mayor, the city manager. In addition to the partnership, the Franklin Biomedical Research Institute was very involved in this process and helping recruit,” Nelson said. “So it’s a big win for everyone.”