Simmons Foods Inc. will open a $300 million chicken processing facility in Arkansas in October. The plant will employ nearly 900 people, with a majority relocating from an existing plant in Decatur, Arkansas.
According to Talk Business, the plant is expected to add 2,300 jobs by 2022, with an estimated payroll of $86 million annually. Pay is expected to range between $13 and $25 per hour, with an average of $16 per hour.
The plant will have an annual processing capacity of nearly 820 million pounds of poultry and will increase the company's capacity to process live birds by 28 percent.
“This will be the best and top end plant that I’ve ever seen,” says Russell Tooley, chief administrative officer for Simmons Foods. “It is world-class. It’s not just good for western Benton County, not just good for Arkansas. I think it will really set the tone in the industry what ‘good’ looks like.”
