Company to launch Spam production in city in 2015

By Ben Jacobson

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald

Hormel Foods Corp. produces Spam at just two locations in the U.S., including its plant in Austin. Starting next year, that likely will change.

Hormel announced last week Spam production will come to its Progressive Processing facility in Dubuque, Iowa, in early 2015.

The move is the second major decision in just more than a month by Hormel that impacts Dubuque. The company announced on Jan. 14 it was cutting work for 75 people at a Tony Downs plant in St. James, Minn., and moving that work producing Hormel Bacon Bits to its own facility in Dubuque. The Dubuque plant opened in 2010, and sites in Minnesota and Nebraska were among those considered for that expansion project.

Producing Spam in Dubuque should help meet growing global demand for the luncheon meat, said Rick Williamson, Hormel manager of external communications, in an emailed statement. Besides the plant in Austin, Hormel produces Spam in Fremont, Neb., and at a facility in Europe and South Korea.

“The Austin plant is at full production capacity, and expansion at that location is not an option at this time,” Williamson wrote in the email. “The addition of the Spam production line in Dubuque will be a benefit in the event of an interruption in production at either of the domestic locations that produce this product.”

Hormel declined to comment whether this will affect the amount of production work in Austin.

Spam will join Bacon Bits, Hormel Compleats and other microwavable products as the Dubuque plant’s exports.

Phase 2

The two-phased, $31-million expansion project is expected to create as many as 91 jobs. Phase 1, which involves creating a production line for Bacon Bits, is expected to be completed this summer.

Williamson confirmed the Spam production line represents Phase 2 of the project.

A $29.7 million building permit application from Hormel contains blueprints that provide some additional clues about the project.

While the vast majority of the design schematics were labeled “Bacon Bits Relocation” under the project heading, one was labeled “Spam.” Additionally, several “Bacon Bits Relocation” documents contained design elements, like new walls, for a “Spam project.”

Incentives

A $4.1-million incentives package approved by the city of Dubuque and the Iowa Economic Development Authority is contingent on Hormel meeting investment and job creation promises.

Tina Hoffman, marketing and communications director for the IEDA, said the contract between the agency and Hormel has not yet been signed.

“We try to get contracts signed within 120 days of awards,” Hoffman told the Telegraph-Herald, noting a March 22 deadline in this case. However, “there are definitely plenty of times where we extend that.”

Of the $29.7 million construction value, only about $1.13 million will be used for physical upgrades like new walls, the construction of a “bacon grease room,” and the installation of industrial floor drains. Dubuque Building Services Manager Rich Russell said the rest of the permit value is likely linked to equipment costs.

— The Austin Daily Herald contributed to this report.