Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. has told its more than 470 workers in Batesville that it will stop production at its poultry processing plant there in 60 days, but it appears a deal to sell the operation is still on the table.
Last week, Rogers-based poultry and food-service company OMP Foods said it is negotiating for the plant and is conducting due diligence. OMP Foods is a family-owned company and employs nearly 600 through its various operations.
A letter issued to the employees of the Batesville complex said Pilgrim’s Pride was notifying them in advance of a mass layoff, in compliance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The letter said that issuing the notice was a sign the sale of the complex to Ozark Mountain Poultry, an OMP Foods subsidiary, was ongoing and expected to close on Oct. 25.
Cameron Bruett, a spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride, said Wednesday that the company issued the worker notifications required by the federal act on Wednesday. He said the Batesville plant was its smallest operation in the U.S. and closing it was part of a broader corporate strategy. He said Ozark Mountain Poultry had a strong reputation and would be a good fit for the Batesville plant.
A spokesman at OMP Foods declined to comment further on the deal, citing confidentiality agreements, but said Ozark Mountain Poultry representatives would be in Batesville early next week leaving job applications at Batesville City Hall, the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce and Onin Staffing.
Larry Jones, director of Independence County Economic Development Inc., issued a release Wednesday saying the development group, the county judge and the Quorum Court approved a local economic-development package to encourage OMP to rehire employees and resume operations at the facility.
“We will be working with the prospective buyer, the AEDC (Arkansas Economic Development Commission), plant labor unions, and other community stakeholders to retain the maximum number of jobs and restart the plant as soon as possible,” Jones said in the release.
Joe Holmes, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said in an email that the commission will be working closely with local officials to market the facility.
Ozark Mountain Poultry produces more than 1.5 million pounds of hand deboned, antibiotic-free poultry a week aimed at the restaurant industry and for use in its consumer brand, Forester Farmer’s Market. OMP also runs Customer Link, a sales and marketing company.
In October, privately held Peco Foods said it would invest $13.8 million in its poultry-processing operations in Independence County, with most of the investment going to its Batesville plant. The Alabama-based company said it would hire 300 workers, bringing the total employed at the plant to more than 850.
Meat giant JBS S.A. of Sao Paulo purchased controlling interest in Pilgrim’s Pride in 2009 after the poultry company emerged from bankruptcy. Both companies are key competitors of Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., a global meat producer.
In Arkansas, Pilgrim’s Pride operates the Batesville plant and has a plant in De Queen that employs nearly 1,500. In 2008, Pilgrim’s Pride shuttered a processing plant in Clinton and in 2009 closed a processing plant in El Dorado. Pilgrim’s Pride said last week that it will close a rendering plant in El Dorado that employs 29 workers.
Business, Pages 25 on 08/22/2013