Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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| New owner has big plans for Knauss |
Ches Jackson, president of Monogram Meat Snacks, announced Thursday during a news conference at the Henry County Administration Building that Monogram is buying the Knauss Snack Foods plant in the Patriot Centre industrial park from American Foods Group. He is holding two brands of beef jerky that will be made in the plant — Jeff Foxworthy and Bass Pro Shops Uncle Buck’s beef jerky. (Bulletin photos by Mike Wray) |
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Friday, August 14, 2009
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
A local meat snacks plant will double production and add 120 jobs as it becomes part of a Tennessee company called Monogram Food Solutions, officials announced Thursday.
Monogram, based in Memphis, makes processed meat snacks, such as meat sticks, beef jerky and pickled sausages, at plants in Muncie, Ind., and Chandler, Minn.
Ches Jackson, president of the company’s Monogram Meat Snacks division, said Monogram will invest $3 million in the Knauss Foods plant at the Patriot Centre and add 120 jobs there by the end of the year.
Knauss was part of American Foods Group’s meat snack business, which includes the brand names Bull’s, Hannah’s, O’Brien’s and Dakota. Monogram is buying the rights to those brand names as well, according to a news release.
“We could not be more excited” about the Henry County plant, Jackson said during a news conference at the Henry County Administration Building.
He declined to say what Monogram is paying for the plant but said the deal is expected to close around the first of September.
Although the area’s high unemployment rates — 15.4 percent in Henry County and 21.6 percent in Martinsville in June — are unfortunate, they do mean Monogram shouldn’t have trouble finding workers, Jackson said. The company already has hired and is training about 50 new employees, and the remaining 70 should be on by the end of the year, he said.
He encouraged job-seekers to contact the plant if they are interested.
“We are a great place to work,” he said. “Tell your friends and neighbors to come and see us. We need to hire some employees.”
The jobs pay from about $8.50 to about $13 an hour, Jackson said. When benefits are added, the pay tops out at just under $15 an hour, he said, calling the wages “competitive in the marketplace.”
There are no specific education or skills requirements for most positions, Jackson said, adding that the company is looking for “energetic, passionate people who are not afraid of hard work” and who want to learn.
In addition to expanding its work force, Monogram will add new equipment to the 86,000-square-foot facility and will more than double the amount of product it produces, Jackson said. A new, 2,200-square-foot employee welfare area, with a locker room and cafeteria, also will be built, said George Roden, vice president of operations.
Local businesses, such as Schlueter Electric and Nichols Construction, among others, already are doing work at the plant, Jackson said. That is part of Monogram’s commitment to hire locally whenever possible, he said.
“We have said by strategy that we will invest every dollar we can in the local economy,” Jackson said.
When the new equipment is up and running, the plant will add 50 SKUs (stock-keeping units), or individual products, to the 250 it already produces, Roden said. Among them will be Jeff Foxworthy, Bass Pro Shops and NASCAR brands of beef jerky, as well as private labels sold at stores such as 7-Eleven.
Monogram is a private company that formed in 2004 with brands purchased from Sara Lee Corp. of Chicago. American Foods Group, which Roden said was “looking to divest,” is a large family of companies that sell meat products.
The plant here will change its name to Monogram, Roden said. The sale is good news for employees here, he said, adding that they have “done a lot of work in this plant to create this opportunity for ourselves.”
The company considered sites in several states before deciding on Henry County, Jackson said.
“It was a very easy decision at the end of the day,” he said.
He pointed to support from the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Revitalization Commission, as well as the quality of employees at Knauss and the potential to recruit new ones, as factors in the area’s favor.
“The reality is there is no single one deciding factor,” he said. For every area the company considered, it had a checklist of requirements. “A lot of places fell out pretty quick,” Jackson said. “Henry County/Martinsville checked all the boxes, and then some.”
Monogram had its first talks with American Foods Group about acquiring the plant 11 months ago, Jackson said. Talks with local officials began in January.
According to Roden, the meat snacks business has not been as hard-hit by the economic downturn as some other industries. Knauss still has experienced modest growth, he said, and under Monogram, part of the strategy will be to target private label business. Those brands often are less expensive for consumers than name brands, he said.
Although no further expansion is planned at this point, Jackson said the company hopes to continue growing in the future.
That sounded great to local officials.
“This is a tough economy, and you don’t see a lot of expansions occurring,” said County Administrator Benny Summerlin. “We’re pleased we’re able to retain 130 jobs and actually get an expansion and another 120.”
Debra Buchanan, chairman of the Henry County Board of Supervisors, called the announcement “a confidence boost for everyone in Martinsville and Henry County,” saying she hopes area residents will see it “as a sign that everyone involved in economic development continues to work feverishly for new opportunities.”
Tommy Slaughter, who represents the Reed Creek District on the board of supervisors, said he is happy that the jobs will be available quickly, which should help local job-seekers.
“This is filling right now,” he said. “It can put someone to work immediately.”
Martinsville Vice Mayor Kimble Reynolds Jr., who also attended the news conference, praised the cooperation that went into attracting Monogram.
“This is a great announcement, one at a time when our community really needed to have a shot of confidence in our economic development corporation and also a little bit more hope that things are going to turn around,” he said. |
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