Pilgrim’s Pride is expanding its plant in Cold Spring, Minn., in a $75 million project that will add about 50,000 square feet.
The expansion, scheduled for completion in early 2021, will allow increased production of Just Bare and other Pilgrim’s chicken products. It will add about 130 jobs to a workforce that currently stands at about 1,200.
The expansion was helped along by deals with local taxing bodies that will abate 75% of those taxes for 10 years. A local development official told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Pilgrim’s Pride had considered expanding other facilities before choosing Cold Spring.
The Cold Spring plant had been hit by a COVID-19 outbreak that sickened almost 200 workers, leading to a protest by workers in May. Pilgrim’s donated $575,000 to the Cold Springs city government to help it deal with the situation.
