Simmons begins construction on Benton County poultry processing facility

Simmons Prepared Foods, a subsidiary of Siloam Springs-based Simmons Foods, hosted a site dedication ceremony Thursday (June 21) to officially mark the start of construction on its new Benton County poultry processing facility. The project was announced in September, in response to growing customer demand for high-quality fresh and frozen chicken products.

The new facility will be located on Arkansas Highway 59 approximately two miles from Simmons’ current location in Decatur. The new facility is scheduled to open in 2019 and will add an additional 1,500 jobs in the area once the facility is fully operational in 2022.

Simmons’ existing operations in the Decatur 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.

The company now has six processing plants producing 750 million pounds of finished product per year for customer brands around the world.