Pinnacle Foods to expand Fayetteville manufacturing facility, add 25 jobs

Pinnacle Foods announced plans to expand its food manufacturing in Fayetteville adding a new production line and creating 25 new jobs over the next two years. The new line will be dedicated to the EVOL brand of frozen food entrees that contain cage-free eggs, no antibiotic proteins and no GMOs.

Pinnacle Foods is one of the largest employers in Fayetteville employing 420 workers on its 47-acre site in Fayetteville’s industrial district. Hungry Man meals, Aunt Jemima breakfasts, and other frozen meals are also made in the Fayetteville plant.

“We appreciate the assistance provided by the State of Arkansas and Arkansas Economic Development Corporation as we relocate a portion of the EVOL brand manufacturing operations to our Fayetteville facility,” said Mike Wittman, Pinnacle Foods executive vice president and chief supply officer.

Pinnacle is the principal operating entity of the publicly traded Pinnacle Foods Inc. a Fortune 1000 company with revenue in excess of $2.5 billion annually.

The announcement was made Thursday (Aug. 18) in conjunction with the state and local officials. Gov. Asa Hutchinson weighed in on the Fayetteville plant’s expansion noting that Pinnacle Foods has been feeding Americans for more than 150 years.

“They (Pinnacle Foods) have been a tremendous asset to the Arkansas economy, and we are excited to see the addition of 25 new jobs at the Fayetteville facility. We have a very significant food manufacturing sector in the state that is further strengthened through today’s announcement. We look forward to the economic impact these new jobs will have on our economy,” he said.

The Pinnacle announcement marked the fourth economic expansion success in just over a week’s time, according to Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. He said the job creation momentum in the state continues to accelerate.

“The job creation momentum in Arkansas continues to accelerate,” Preston said. “Today’s Pinnacle Foods announcement is the fourth in a string of economic development successes in just over one week. Companies around the country and the world continue to recognize Arkansas has the trained workforce required to grow companies across many sectors.”