September 27, 2012

Jensen Meat builds US facility to meet beef, turkey and pork demands

Jensen Meat is building an 81,000-square-foot processing facility in San Diego, US, to meet growing demand for its ground beef, turkey and pork products.

"We are maxed out. We've seen our business grow significantly in the past seven years," Jensen Chief Operating Officer, Abel Olivera, said.

Jensen processes more than 250,000 pounds of meat daily on five lines at its current 28,000-square-foot location in Vista, California, north of San Diego. The new plant, in Otay Mesa, adds nine lines with faster processing capability that will be able to produce more than 600,000 pounds daily, Olivera said.

The company, whose sales so far in 2012 are up 35% over a year ago, recently held a job fair to recruit employees for the new plant that exceeded expectations, he said. Jensen, which currently employs about 200 workers in Vista, is looking to add 150 to 200 new positions initially and is now screening 1,500 applicants for those jobs.

"It's going to be very exciting to be able to grow and give all these people jobs," Olivera said.

Olivera said the increased demand has come from current customers as well as new clients added when competitors closed their doors in the weak economy. Jensen supplies foodservice, retail and school clients on the west of the Mississippi River.

"We shouldn't see any other companies supplying ground beef in our backyard," he said.