Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. is the world’s largest supplier of premium beef and pork, as well as allied products, such as tanned hides used to make leather. Marketed globally, Tyson beef and pork products find their way into consumers’ hands through the world’s most recognized retailers and restaurants.
The company undertook a major expansion in 1991, building a $17 million leather tannery next to its Amarillo beef processing plant, and the Amarillo EDC assisted by providing $1 million in interest-free financing. Another expansion in 1995 involved the construction of an additional 60,000 square feet of cold storage warehouse at a cost of $5 million. The Amarillo EDC financed $600,000 of that project at no interest. Then in 2000, the company built a $5 million, 58,000 square-foot regional distribution facility, with the Amarillo EDC financing $2,056,000 of the cost at no interest. In all, the three projects related to the creation of approximately 220 new jobs. Tyson’s current employment in Amarillo now totals more than 3,500 workers.
