Simmons Prepared Foods, Inc. will build a new chicken facility in Benton County, AR between Decatur and Gentry. The company plans to invest $300 million in the facility which is expected to create approximately 1,500 new jobs, bringing total employment at the operation to over 2,300 people by 2022.
The new facility will also create new contracts with local Arkansas farmers. The facility will produce fresh and frozen chicken products for retail and restaurant customers with capacity to sell approximately 850 million pounds of poultry meat annually at full production. The company expects to begin new operations in 2019.
“We’re thrilled to bring this project to our community and are grateful for the cooperation from the Cities of Decatur and Gentry, local officials, Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the State of Arkansas,” said Todd Simmons, CEO of Simmons Foods, Inc. and Affiliates. “This project positions us to continue meeting our customers’ needs.”
The design will feature modern production facilities and contemporary office space supported with best-in-class environmental technologies. This year, Simmons began offering chicken raised without the use of antibiotics important to human medicine. In 2018 Simmons will begin offering No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) products.
“Simmons Foods is a homegrown company that continues to invest heavily in Northwest Arkansas,” said Governor Asa Hutchinson. “This announcement comes just two months after the company held a ribbon-cutting at its new pet food ingredient facility in Siloam Springs, which goes to show the faith they have in the area’s workforce and their commitment to the state. We competed with both Oklahoma and Missouri for this project, and I’m proud to say we won.”
Simmons’ existing operations in the Decatur, AR area include a feed mill, hatchery, propane business, business offices and a chicken processing facility, along with a dry pet food production facility operated by Simmons Pet Food. Some processing operations will transition from the existing facility to the proposed plant once construction is complete.
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