Swift Prepared Foods, a subsidiary of leading global food company JBS USA, has opened its newest facility, Principe Foods, which produces high-quality Italian meats and charcuterie. On April 6, company executives were joined by local, regional and state leaders as they cut the ribbon on their new facility in Columbia, Missouri.
REDI Vice President Bernie Andrews worked closely with stakeholders and partners to help this project come to fruition. "It was great to see the Principe Foods plant fully operational, and to meet the company executives who were in from Chicago, Colorado and Italy. In addition to the ribbon-cutting on Thursday, the company also sent their first truckload of commercial products out to a major grocery chain," he said.
This facility opening has been long in the making. Bernie Andrews said, "REDI's early work on the development of the Route B site began in May of 2016 when we started working with the Hinshaw Family to have their 80 acre property designated as a Missouri Certified Site, a process that took over two and a half years. REDI's involvement with the Swift Foods/Principe project started in August, 2020 when the Missouri Partnership sent out a Request for Information for a site for a food manufacturing project called Project Silver. After submitting the detailed response to the RFI, we received our first site visit for the project in October 2020. After many meetings with city staff, and City Council approvals, and the County Commission Approval of Chapter 100, the company announced Columbia as the location for the Italian meats plant in April 2021. There was outstanding cooperation by local officials to help navigate all the issues and assist the company in getting the plant operational, and the ribbon cutting was a nice event to recognize all the participants in the process."
The company invested more than $200 million in the new 325,000 sq. ft. Italian meats and charcuterie production facility. Principe Foods has already created 100 new jobs in the region, with plans to hire 100 to 200 more people over the next year. The company offers extremely competitive wages to attract and retain top talent. Additionally, Principe Foods offers strong benefits and tuition-free community college for team members and their children.
“We are very pleased to celebrate the opening of this state-of-the-art Italian meats facility in Columbia, Missouri,” said Tom Lopez, President, Swift Prepared Foods. “This is the culmination of years of hard work and investment by our team and our partners in Missouri. We are grateful for the support we’ve received up to this point and look forward to the ongoing growth of this facility and the Principe Italia brand.”
“The City of Columbia is incredibly proud to be the home of this new facility,” said Mayor Barbara Buffaloe. “Our community strives to be a great place for everyone to live and work and the many resources we have to offer allow us to attract great partners, like Principe Foods, to achieve this vision. This facility is an investment in our community and adds to our thriving manufacturing environment.”
"We’re excited to see Principe Foods open for business in Boone County,” said Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick. “Principe brings many new opportunities in this state-of-the-art facility and good-paying jobs to Boone County and the mid-Missouri region. We are confident that Principe Foods will be a good community partner and a major employer in Boone County for years to come."
