The Swiss conglomerate Nestlé SA recently outlined a new strategy to focus investment on its high-growth businesses, and the impact is already being felt at Nestlé Purina PetCare in St. Louis. This week Nestlé Purina PetCare announced plans to develop a $320M pet food factory in Georgia.

As of the end of 2016, Purina had 8,000 employees in the U.S., including 2,186 in St. Louis, which is the HQ for Purina’s U.S. and Latin American operations.

Purina’s sales in the Americas totaled $8.7B in 2016, which was the company’s 13th consecutive year of improved sales growth and profit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

"The investment is in line with Nestlé’s strategy to increasingly focus capital spending on advancing the high-growth food and beverage categories of coffee, pet care, infant nutrition and bottled water,” the company said in a statement when the new plant was announced.

Nestlé is also planning to increase its St. Louis workforce next year when it moves hundreds of IT jobs to the area from California.

The move is part of Nestlé USA’s relocation from California to northern Virginia. The St. Louis-based tech workers will provide IT support for various business units of the company, including Purina.