Fair Oaks Foods, LLC, finds the right fit in the QC
Fair Oaks Foods, LLC, a state-of-the-art food production facility in Davenport, is proud to announce its soft opening.
The 150,000 square-foot facility in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, which produces fully-cooked strip bacon products, is currently commissioning lines and equipment and training new employees. According to company CEO, Mike Thompson, Fair Oaks Foods has around 100 employees hired, with the expectation of hiring approximately 250 people total.
“We are currently going through all of the orientations and training, and that will continue throughout the year,” he said. “Right now, we’re working at a slow, but operational pace.”
Headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, Fair Oaks is a family-owned meat processing company established in 1985 and is one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the U.S. In addition to bacon, the company also produces other pork and poultry proteins at its other plants.
“We looked at over 100 locations across the U.S. when we first began the process over 5 years ago, and narrowed our options down from there. Davenport continued to pop up and just be a good location for us. We use lots of raw material from the state of Iowa, and we feel like we will have a huge business community that we support - from large restaurant chains to retail outlets.”
Bringing the facility online has also been a smooth process.
“Our building and installations were all on schedule,” said Thompson. "We opened our facility within two weeks of our targeted date, which is something you just don’t hear about,” he said. “It went very smoothly overall, and we were very pleased about that.”
For Thompson, the new Davenport facility reflects the company’s broader mission and values.
“Our values of community, integrity and honesty are core to our business,” he said. “Our mission statement as a company is to feed the world with great tasting, high-quality protein products. Everything we do is guided by that.”
The company has already begun building connections in the region through its growing workforce and relationships with local businesses. “The employees that we’ve brought on seem glad to be with us and to have the opportunity,” Thompson said. “We feel the same way about being here. We’re excited to provide employment and support small businesses.”
Thompson said the Quad Cities’ workforce was another reason the company selected Davenport. “The skilled workforce here was one of the reasons we selected the Quad Cities,” he said. “We look at many different factors when choosing a site, and the people here were a big part of that decision.”
He also praised the welcome Fair Oaks Foods has received since announcing the project. “I have nothing but compliments for the QC Chamber, for the City of Davenport and for the welcome we’ve had from everyone,” Thompson said. “The local contractors we’ve worked with and the people who knew we were coming have been great. We see the area as very business-friendly.”
Of the employees hired, Thompson says, “We have people who already live here working for us and people who are moving to the area to work for us,” he said.
As operations ramp up, Fair Oaks Foods looks forward to becoming more involved in the region.
“It takes a little while to get established in a new area,” he said. “We want to learn more about the area, and about the other opportunities that are out there. We’re very happy to be in the Davenport and Quad Cities area, and we look forward to being part of the community.”
