The Iowa Premium Beef facility in Tama, Iowa, hosted a media and special visitor tour last week in preparation for the plant’s opening at the end of the month. CEO Jeffrey Johnson guided a group of about 30 media and other visitors through every part of the project, which he said will cost around $48.6 million by the time it’s done, reports the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
The new plant is expected to employ 600 people at start-up, expanding to 1,000 as production ramps up. It will process 1,100 head per day at the onset, with a maximum potential of more than 2,000. The plant will open about three years after Iowa Premium Beef formed and subsequently acquired the former Iowa Quality Beef plant, which closed in 2004.