Empirical Foods Opens New Garden City, Kansas, Processing Plant

Empirical Foods has officially opened its brand new production facility in Garden City, Kan., a facility that was announced in 2019 and is expected to give a significant boost to the domestic ground beef supply.

The 280,000-sq.-ft. facility expands Empirical’s ability to efficiently extract more lean beef from the existing supply of cattle in the U.S., with expectations that it will boost production by 50%. The plant, which began operations in December 2025, also was designed with the ability to expand significantly in the future.

Empirical, which is headquartered in Dakota Dunes, S.D., already operates its legacy South Sioux City, Neb., facility — and it once operated a production facility (under its previous identity of Beef Products Inc.) in Garden City more than a decade ago.

The company said in its release on the grand opening that its process has helped the industry capture an average of 21 additional pounds of available beef per head of cattle over the last 45 years. Empirical’s brand portfolio includes Noble Valley ground beef, Two Rivers boxed beef and pork, Dos Rios taco meat, and Jen’s Beef Bolognese and Sloppy Joe.

The Garden City plant also will boost Empirical’s production of beef tallow, used for cooking oils, cosmetics, renewable fuels and other consumer products. The facility will employ more than 250 skilled and semi-skilled workers.