Simmons Prepared Foods said Wednesday that it plans to expand its poultry operations in Arkansas and add about 1,500 new jobs in Benton County.
The company plans to invest $300 million into building a chicken production facility between Decatur and Gentry that will begin operations in 2019, according to a news release from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
The center will produce fresh and frozen chicken products for retail and restaurant customers and will reportedly have the capacity to sell about 850 million pounds of poultry meat annually.
The facility's total employment is forecast at more than 2,300 people by 2022, the commission said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson praised Simmons for its commitment to the state. He noted in the release that the Wednesday announcement comes two months after the company opened a new pet food ingredient facility in Siloam Springs. Arkansas competed with Oklahoma and Missouri for that plant.
"Simmons Foods is a homegrown company that continues to invest heavily in northwest Arkansas," Hutchinson said.
Siloam Springs-based Simmons Prepared Foods also operates a feed mill, hatchery, propane business, business offices and a chicken processing facility in Decatur. Some processing operations will transition from the existing poultry facility to the proposed one once production is complete, the release states.
The company currently employs about 3,700 people in Arkansas.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.