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Arby’s may no longer be able to claim “It has the meats” after Principe Italia celebrated its grand opening Thursday in Columbia.
The Italian meats factory is a subsidiary of JBS Foods, a major U.S. meat-product manufactuer, which also has Swift Prepared Foods plant making bacon in Moberly. Principe is under the Swift portfolio.
Products made both for food service and retail sales includes, salami, prosciutto, along with a variety of others.
The Columbia site was selected two years ago along Columbia’s major industrial corridor on Route B/Paris Road, that also is home to Schneider Electric, 3M, Kraft Heinz, Aurora Organic Dairy and Quaker, among others.
The first phase of the plant includes a 275,000-square-foot plant. A future 50,000-square-foot building also is planned. Principe, and by extension Swift Foods and JBS, were able to come to Columbia through use of Chapter 100 Bonds, that offers a 75% property tax abatement over the next 10 years. The first round of bonds were issued about five months ago.
More: New plant in Columbia expected to process 40 million pounds of Italian meats per year
The investment Principe is making is a great opportunity for Missouri, said Gov. Mike Parson, who participated in a ribbon-cutting to mark the official opening. The Columbia Principe plant is home to more than 200 new jobs. Paired with the Moberly bacon plant, that is 400 jobs in meat processing and manufacturing.
“Workforce development and infrastructure that I seem to talk about all the time are so important and that is why these companies come here, look at us and our communities,” Parson said.
The ability to welcome Principe to Columbia was a matter of collaboration, said Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe. This included the city council, city departments, Regional Economic Development Inc. and the county.
“Collaboration started this. It is a longstanding collaboration and communication our community does to help invest in our sustainable local economy,” she said. “This project solidifies our community’s standing in food manufacturing, with compliments to our other food-based companies.”
Buffaloe also recognized the company’s Hometown Strong and Better Futures programs.
More: These companies received Boone County Chapter 100 tax breaks. EquipmentShare could be next
The land on which the plant now sits historically was owned by the Hinshaw family, said Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick.
“This family had the foresight to have this designated as a Missouri certified site through the Missouri Department of Economic Development,” he said, adding having this designation aids manufacturing site selectors. “It shows that we are ready and prepared to have such major facilities.”
U.S. Rep Mark Alford, R-Mo., noted his excitement at business expansion in Missouri along with the proposed Interstate 70 widening to six lanes throughout the state.
“It is so key to what is going to be happening not only for this facility but up and down the I-70 area,” he said.
Celebrating collaborations continued with Missouri Department of Economic Development Acting Director Maggie Kost.
“It really does take an incredible team to make a project like this happen. It takes a company being willing to invest in a community. … It takes folks at the state, the local the federal level as well ensuring we have a great business climate, the workforce, the infrastructure, all those ingredients,” she said.
The group that helped with site selection is known as the Missouri Partnership. It was this organization that worked directly with Principe.
“We work to do one thing and that is attract companies to the state,” said Subash Alias, president and CEO. “… (Selecting a site) is not throwing a dart on map. It is a very deliberate process.”
Considerations include location, infrastructure, workforce, business climate and quality of life. Those are weighted and scored as part of a selection process, that also includes working with outside consultants, Alias said.
Swift was dreaming big when it developed plans to create an Italian meats facility, said Tom Lopez, Swift Prepared Foods president.
“To have a second facility here in Missouri is phenomenal. … Before 2020 JBS and Swift didn’t have jobs in the processing industry. Today and when the plant is fully operational, we’ll have more than 400,” he said. “The $200 million investment we have in this facility is the largest private investment in Columbia, ever and I am really proud about that.”
Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.
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