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Tyson Foods to reopen South Carolina facility, will employ 330

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March 17, 2021

Tyson Foods Inc. plans to reopen an idle facility in Columbia, South Carolina and convert it into a meat-cutting facility that will produce retail ready, portioned packages of sliced, fresh beef and pork, as well as ground beef, for outlets in the eastern U.S., according to a press release.

"Once operational, this new facility will help us meet growing demand from our retail customers with high quality, pre-cut, pre-packaged fresh beef and pork," Nate Hodne, senior vice president and general manager of the Portioned Protein Innovations team for Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods, said in the press release.

Initially Tyson will invest approximately $42 million to transform the facility into a meat portioning and packaging operation that is currently expected to begin production in May 2021. Over the next three to five years the company plans to invest in additional improvements and production equipment at the facility with a total investment estimated at $55 million.

The new operation will employ 330 people, more than double the number of team members who worked at the facility when it closed in August 2020.