As hiring and site work continue at a rapid pace at Kia Motors’ first North American automobile manufacturing plant in West Point, the company held the grand opening for an on-site cafeteria Tuesday.

The 850-seat-capacity canteen is operated by Kimble’s, a vendor in LaGrange.

Initially, employees will be given the choice of three serving stations including a grill station, an entree station and an Asian station. Kimble’s has subcontracted with the Korean BBQ House in West Point to provide food at the Asian station. Beverages available include Starbucks coffee, Coca-Cola products and Pepsi-Cola products.

“Over the next several weeks and months, we’ll see a progression of improvements and additions until full service is achieved,” said Randy Jackson, director of human resources and administration at Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. “We are certainly off to a good start today.”

The canteen is just behind the northwest corner of the general assembly shop and is surrounded by windows that will give diners a view of the new plant’s landscape.

With more than 800 employees already working and several hundred more joining the work force during the next few weeks, there couldn’t be a better time to hold the grand opening, officials said.

“Things are moving very quickly at the site these days with large numbers of new team members joining us each week,” Jackson said. “As of Monday, we are approaching 900 ream members and that number will grow to around 1,200 during the next few weeks.”