Fallout from a rough start to the 2023 fiscal year has continued for Tyson Foods, with the meat and poultry processor’s plan to shut down two chicken processing facilities the latest step in its attempts to right its ship after a disappointing first quarter.
Tyson announced it will close the Van Buren, Ark., and Glen Allen, Va., plants, resulting in approximately 1,700 workers losing their jobs. The company stated to local news outlets the plants would shut down on May 12 of this year.
Both plants have been part of Tyson for at least 30 years, with the Van Buren plant having been built in 1975, and the Glen Allen facility joining Tyson with the Holly Farms merger/acquisition in 1989. That plant has been in operation since 1952 and employs approximately 700 workers, according to reports. The Van Buren facility employs nearly 1,000 workers.
The announcement of the closures is the latest move by Tyson Foods to bounce back from a fiscal 2023 first quarter in which the company “got hit in the mouth” by oversupply of protein on the market, as CEO Donnie King told analysts during the company’s quarterly conference call in February. In January, the company had already installed industry veteran Wes Morris to lead the company’s poultry business, replacing David Bray, who has served in that role for two years.
