DAVENPORT, Iowa — Davenport City Council is expected to vote Wednesday night on whether to support a new bacon plant with an almost $6.5 million incentive package.
Fair Oaks Foods is expected to create nearly 250 jobs with an average wage of $23.95. The facility is planned to be around 134,000 square feet. The company had planned to open the facility in early 2024 but had to put construction on pause due to material costs. Construction restarted in late summer of this year.
"Who doesn't like bacon?" Susanne Knutsen, economic development manager for the City of Davenport, said. "It's something that we don't currently have, right? It's a ready-to-eat bacon facility."
Supply chain issues following the coronavirus pandemic caused materials to jump from $70 million to $95 million in one year.
"They needed to go back to the drawing board to make it work," Knutsen said. "I believe they're a month ahead of schedule right now."
A groundbreaking took place in September 2022. At the time, then-COO Joseph Freda said that Davenport was chosen out of 127 candidate locations across the U.S. because of the readiness of the land, energy needs and community support.
"They were drawn to the Quad Cities because of our work ethic because of the manufacturing we already have," Knutsen said. "And, frankly because Iowa has a lot of pigs."
The company is based in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (about 1 hour and 20 minutes north of Chicago). It is a family-owned company that produces bacon, meatball, sausages and other meat products sold to food service, national grocery stores and quick service restaurants.
The City doesn't know exactly when the company will start hiring but said interested individuals should start looking in the later half of 2025.