Pilgrim’s announced it broke ground today on its new prepared foods facility in Walker County, Ga., via a release shared with Food Processing. The 300,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility, which was first announced in July 2025, is slated to cost $400 million and create more than 630 jobs once fully operational.
Pilgrim’s will produce fully cooked chicken products out of the facility, sold under the Just Bare, Pilgrim’s and Gold Kist brands, destined for both retail and foodservice distribution.
The company expects to begin hiring for the facility in 2027, which is when the first phase of the facility is expected to be finished. The Walker County will add to the roughly 7,500 employees for Pilgrim’s in the state of Georgia, across seven production facilities, as well as feed mills and hatcheries.
About the Author
Andy Hanacek
Senior Editor
Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.