CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) — A long-closed meat processing plant in northwest Iowa has been sold, and its new owners hope to start production in January.
Cherokee County economic development director Bill Anderson says Iowa Food Group hopes to hire 100 people initially and then increase that to 500 workers as the business grows. County records say Iowa Food Group paid $2.35 million for the Cherokee plant.
Arkansas-based Tyson Foods closed the plant in September 2014, taking 450 jobs with it. Tyson held onto its lease and weathered criticism that it was holding the county hostage economically. Tyson officials declined to comment about the plant’s purchase.
Lawyer Mack Zimmerman represents Iowa Food Group, and he says the corporation is composed mostly of Texas investors he wouldn’t name.
Wilson Foods built the plant in 1965.
