Overview and Outlook
The Metro Little Rock region is a leader in the food processing sector. Our central location provides the advantage of cutting transportation and distribution costs and reducing transit time.
The Metro Little Rock region supports a well established and thriving food processing industry and is home to Odom Tennessee Pride Co., Unilever Bestfoods, De Wafelbakkers, Tyson Foods Inc. and Land O' Frost. This industry cluster is based on an ample water supply, a strong agricultural sector, trained and available skilled and unskilled workers and an excellent transportation system.
The industry in the region is developing and applying technology to improve food safety, security, traceability, biotechnology and support services. One example is Safe Foods of North Little Rock. This company has developed products to reduce microbes in a wide variety of foods.
The Metro Little Rock region has long been a leader in the food processing industry while also linking the agriculture and retail sectors. Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods have an important and positive influence on the state-of-the-art development of this industry cluster.
Site Selection Considerations
Sites and Infrastructure: Metro Little Rock has affordable and available sites that will accommodate facilities up to millions of square feet. These sites are readily accessible to major food sources and transportation infrastructure connectivity to large consumer markets. The Metro Little Rock region’s central location has the advantage of cutting transportation, distribution costs and transit time.
Workforce: The Metro Little Rock region has a large supply of skilled as well as low-skilled/low-wage labor. This workforce has a long history of working in the food processing industry cluster.
Cost of Doing Business: The region’s low labor and facilities costs help food processing companies manage competitive operating margins.
Research and Development: The strong university and community college presence in the region has well established entrepreneurial cultures in food and agricultural departments. Research is often tied to industry utilization data ranging from decreasing costs to improving taste.
Valuable Regional Resources
Metro Little Rock region has a number of major operations in the food processing sector. These include: Tyson Foods, Smoky Hollow Foods (Bryan Foods), Affiliated Foods Southwest, Land O’ Frost and North American Baking. These companies favorably impact the availability of workers and an understanding of the industry cluster.
The prominence of food processing operations strengthens local farming operations with value-added gains from raw commodities to milled and packaged products.
Valuable regional assets include:
Metro Little Rock region’s resources support the development and growth of the following niches:
-
Food processing support services
-
Packaged Foods/Low-carbohydrate
-
Meat processing
-
Food safety and traceability
Existing Companies
Tyson Foods, Inc. – www.tysonfoodsinc.com/
Smoky Hollow Foods
Land OFrost, Inc. – www.landofrost.com/index.html
North American Baking, Inc.
UAF Functional Foods Program – www.uark.edu/depts/ifse/major17.html
UAF Food Science Department – www.uark.edu/depts/foodsci/foodsci-home.html
Safe Foods Corporation – www.safefoods.net/home/home.htm