Dakota: Schwan’s announces future investments

Bloomington / MN. (sfc) Schwan’s Company, a leading food business and subsidiary of CJ CheilJedang, the global food culture company, decided to further invest in South Dakota with the purchase of a 142-acre site at Foundation Park for a 700,000 square-foot Asian-style food production facility.

Initially, the company announced plans in 2021 for the new plant in Sioux Falls, which is projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and add more than 600 new employees. Now, in addition, the company is announcing plans to open a regional office in downtown Sioux Falls to support its continued expansion and operations at the new manufacturing facility. Initial plans for the regional office will add 50 high-paying jobs, with the potential to grow up to 100 jobs once the production facility is complete.

The company has also worked with the State of South Dakota and City of Sioux Falls to design a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility that will be built by Schwan’s Company on the new manufacturing site. The wastewater treatment facility will enable the company to discharge water to the city with the least amount of impact on the city’s current operations.

«We thank all state and local officials in South Dakota for helping us make great progress on this project, which will ultimately help us meet the needs of our retail and food service customers,» said Schwan’s outgoing CEO Dimitrios P. Smyrnios. «This project will create significant new production capacity for Schwan’s, enabling us to continue to support our market-share leading «bibigo» brand and drive future innovation and growth in the Asian food category. I want to personally thank Governor Kristi Noem and her team for their leadership and commitment to our plans. Without her unwavering support, this project would not be possible.»

Incoming Schwan’s CEO Brian Schiegg agreed: «Our investment in this world-class Asian-style food plant in South Dakota will help us strengthen our position in one of the fastest growing food categories in the United States. We look forward to continuing our work with state and local officials to build a facility that will benefit the residents of South Dakota as well as our family of businesses.»

CJ Foods CEO Minsok Pak added: «The U.S. market continues to deliver high growth for CJ Foods and the ability to continue to scale our portfolio of products to meet the growing consumer demand is vitally important to our strategy. This facility will enable us to further accelerate the growth of K-Food and other Asian cuisines. We appreciate the support from local and state officials and look forward to contributing to our new home in South Dakota.»

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and other officials said they appreciate the investment Schwan’s is making in South Dakota. «Schwan’s has recognized the superior business climate that the state offers,» she said. «I know that their confidence in South Dakota is not misplaced and thank them for the additional investment that they are making.»

«When we began working with Schwan’s years ago, we didn’t know that the project would grow to this magnitude,» stated Deputy Commissioner Chris Schilken. «It’s been the leadership of Governor Noem and the willingness of Schwan’s to see South Dakota’s advantages that have brought us to this announcement.»

«It was a pleasure to work with Schwan’s and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to push this project to the finish line with the additional investments,» said Bob Mundt, president of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. «We are excited to see the project moving dirt.»

The new manufacturing facility will produce Asian-style foods, primarily for Schwan’s #1 Korean food brand «bibigo», using state-of-the-art automated production lines. Once complete, people working at the facility will focus on making a broad range of Asian-style meals, sides, snacks and appetizers in the shelf-stable and frozen categories. The new manufacturing campus will also include a warehouse and distribution center, shipping and receiving docks, and office space.