Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 9/27/13

Bob Evans Farms’ foods production unit announced today the immediate closure of its Richardson, Texas, pork plant to mitigate record-high sow costs.

BEF Foods Inc. in the last couple years has been restructuring its plant network as it reduces reliance on pork-related items, but the Richardson plant was not a part of those plans, Mike Townsley, the company’s president, told Meatingplace in an interview.

“It was not necessarily something we had studied, but really what precipitated it are these record-high sow prices,” he said. “Historically, due to the seasonality of the breakfast sausage business, you could afford to idle a good portion of your capacity to ramp up for the holidays. At these kinds of prices, we’re no longer afforded that luxury.”

Townsley declined to enumerate the financial savings that will result from the closure. “We wouldn't be doing this if we didn’t think we could operate at a lower cost structure than we were prior to the closure,” he said.

Shift      
The Richarson plant slaughtered 300 hogs per day and produced some 24 million pounds of sausage products per year. The facility employed 110 employees, who will receive benefits through November.
Production will shift to BEF’s Xenia, Ohio, and Hillsdale, Mich., plants, where the company expects to increase staffing.

The Richardson plant opened in 1963. Bob Evans acquired the facility in 1987 from Owens Country Sausage and continued to sell under that brand name.

“This by no means that we’re less committed to the Owens brand,” Townsley said. “We’ll continue to sell it in Texas and Oklahoma.”

As part of BEF’s plant network restructuring, the company recently expanded its Sulphur Springs, Texas, facility by 60 percent in terms of square footage, to 160,000 square feet. That plant employs 200 workers and produces cooked fresh sausage, ready-to-heat tacos and sandwiches.

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