Kansas-based Simply Essentials has plans to reopen an idled poultry plant in Charles City, Iowa.
The company offers a premium line of protein products, which include chicken, pork, beef and dairy, has been in existence since 2013 and is headquartered in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. Simply Essentials meat and dairy products come from animals that have been fed a USDA process verified flax-based feed, which according to the company’s website enables the products to be naturally higher in Omega-3s and lower in cholesterol.
According to the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), its board on March 29 approved the awarding of financial assistance through tax benefits to Simply Essentials to help the company expand its chicken business and upgrade the existing plant in Charles City.
IEDA stated that Simply Essentials intends to create 254 jobs through the project.
Simply Essentials purchased the plant from Cedar River Poultry, who purchased the plant after its previous owner, Custom Poultry Processing, closed the plant and filed for bankruptcy in 2011, according to a report from the Globe Gazette. Cedar River Poultry’s plans were to export 100 percent of its products to Asia, but the company was unable to obtain the export certificates that were needed.
Simply Essentials was one of several companies IEDA agreed to offer assistance to during its March 29 board meeting. The agency also offered tax benefits to Prestage Farms, which intends to build a Prestage Foods pork plant in Mason City, Iowa.
