Jennie-O Breaks Ground on $30 Million Willmar Plant Expansion

Nov. 13, 2024

Project will add 20,000 sq. ft. and is expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.

Hormel Foods Corp.’s Jennie-O Turkey Store division has broken ground on a $30 million expansion project at its legacy Willmar, Minn., processing facility, according to a release sent by Hormel Foods, its parent company.

The project will add 20,000 sq. ft. to the plant, aiming to transform and modernize operations, streamline processes and improve operational capabilities for its employees, said Matt Schrupp, vice president of Supply Chain for Jennie-O.

“This is a significant project for the Willmar plant and will be a tremendous improvement in our production processes,” he said in the release. “Once completed, this addition will improve the plant operations, streamline processes to ease the work done by our team members and will benefit our facility long into the future.”

Schrupp, several Jennie-O executives and employees and local politicians participated in the ceremony last week. Construction has begun on the project, and it is expected to be finished in late 2025 or early 2026, the release noted.

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.