A former Tyson Foods plant that reopened with new owners in January has been sold again.
The facility, located in Cherokee, Iowa, has been purchased from Iowa Food Group (IFG) by Lopez Foods, according to a Chronicle Times report.
IFG announced in September 2018 its intent to buy the plant, which had been idle since Tyson closed it in 2014. Operations began at the IFG facility in January. Company leaders said the facility employed about 35 people when it opened, but expected that number to grow to around 100 later in 2019.
However, IFG abruptly closed the facility in April, after processing poultry, pork and beef for just a brief period.
IFG co-owner Mack Zimmerman told the Chronicle Times the company had been working to market and sell the plant after proving it was a viable processing facility.
Terms of the agreement between IFG and Lopez Foods have not been disclosed.
Lopez Foods originated as a spinoff of Wilson Foods, which actually built the plant in Cherokee. Lopez Foods, according to its website, is now recognized among the top meat companies in the United States and is an industry leader in supplying a variety of protein products to the largest restaurant chains and retailers in the world.
Tyson Foods acquired the plant in 2001 with the acquisition of IBP Inc. It retained the lease of the building after taking the plant offline in 2014, until selling it to IFG.
Tyson announced its decision to close the Cherokee facility at the same time it revealed it would be closing other Tyson Prepared Foods plants in Buffalo, New York and Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The company stated at the time that the decision to close the plants was due to a combination of factors, which included changing product needs, the age of the Cherokee facility and prohibitive cost of renovating it. It further stated that the distance of the Buffalo and Santa Teresa plants from their raw material supply bases was also a factor in the closure of those two plants.
