Dorada Foods of Ponca City, Oklahoma welcomes state and local officials, business owners and community leaders to the formal dedication of its 180,000 square foot chicken processing facility located at 2000 Hall Boulevard in Ponca City. The company is one of three suppliers of chicken products to McDonald's in the United States and will ultimately employ approximately 350 employees.

Dorada Foods is a joint venture of principals from Lopez Foods, Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — the nation's largest Hispanic-owned meat manufacturing company — and Tyson Poultry Inc., a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Inc. of Springdale, Ark.

"We are proud to be contributing members of the Ponca City business community and pleased we will be creating local jobs providing further development for the community," said Dorada Foods Chairman and CEO, Ed Sanchez. "Dorada Foods is already a major economic stimulus for northern Oklahoma as it begins generating $4 million per year in payroll, growing to approximately $9 million, which will be further augmented by additional business fees, property taxes and purchases of Ponca City goods and services projected to total over $14 million per year."

"A project of this magnitude provides not only significant employment opportunities, it also reaches deep within a community creating a solid economic foundation which promotes further growth and development," said Ponca City Development Authority (PCDA) Executive Director, David Myers, referring to the 350 employees who will eventually work at Dorada Foods.

Myers and his staff developed an economic impact model that forecasts the Dorada Foods plant will contribute over $200 million to the Ponca City economy over the next ten years. "This is an extremely important project for Ponca City and we could not have asked for a better business venture team," he added.

"We're proud of our collaboration with the experienced team from Lopez Foods and how we've transformed an idea into a new business," said John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods. "This innovative, new venture will help expand Tyson Foods' efforts to continue meeting the high standards of a very important customer."

Source: Lopez Foods Inc.