After restarting construction of a 150,000-square-foot production plant in Davenport that had been paused due to supply chain and economic issues, Fair Oaks Foods anticipates Quad Citians will be making bacon there in the spring of 2026. Fair Oaks CEO Mike Thompson told the QCBJ in a recent interview that since workers resumed construction on […]
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After restarting construction of a 150,000-square-foot production plant in Davenport that had been paused due to supply chain and economic issues, Fair Oaks Foods anticipates Quad Citians will be making bacon there in the spring of 2026.
Fair Oaks CEO Mike Thompson told the QCBJ in a recent interview that since workers resumed construction on the site in January 2024, “We’ve made a lot of progress so we’re very excited about the building.”
The $134 million plant and the 247 jobs it will create at 2951 Enterprise Way, Davenport, were first announced on June 14, 2022. A Sept. 1, 2022, groundbreaking was held at the 32-acre site in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center (EIIC) off Interstate 80. But work was suspended in 2023.
While the pandemic’s lingering impact may have played a part in that pause, Mr. Thompson said, “We also had just a huge amount of supply chain issues, including equipment lead times which back then were almost double. Some were even triple on particular pieces of equipment – important pieces of equipment that we would have needed to run the facility.”
Even basic building blocks such as steel and concrete had “huge delays and it was just, call it, the perfect storm,” he said.
At that time, too, the CEO said, “the economic environment of the country was changing and no one knew what direction it was going to head so all of that just led to what I would call a logical, reasonable pause to just make sure things still work the way they were supposed to work and all the economic factors were taken into consideration.”
But Fair Oaks’ commitment to the Davenport project never wavered.
In fact, once the economy began to calm down and get a bit more stable “and supply chain issues began to also come back into more of a normal timeframe,” Mr. Thompson said the time was right to reboot.
Construction revved up relatively slowly last January because “there’s only so much you can do in the winter months,” he said. The project did get a boost from a milder than expected winter. It allowed design-builder Austin Company to get some “things done earlier in the year that we thought might have had to have waited until maybe April or May.”
In addition to Austin Company, Fair Oaks also selected Davenport-based Russell as a local partner. “It was important to us to have someone local there to be involved in the building of the facility so that’s why we were thrilled to have Russell participate,” Mr. Thompson said.
The Austin Consulting arm of that Cleveland, Ohio-based company also did the initial site evaluation for the Fair Oaks project.
What made Davenport stand out in Fair Oaks Food’s nationwide search?
Why choose Davenport?
“First of all, we’ve never felt more welcomed in any place I think I’ve ever been from a business perspective in terms of partnering with the city and the Quad Cities to really build something that was going to be special. And we’re community minded people,” Mr. Thompson said. “We love what we’ve learned about the community and we could participate.” The city was and is equally eager to welcome Fair Oaks. Davenport Mayor Mike Matson told the QCBJ that his city “is pleased that Fair Oaks can continue its investment and restart construction on its state-of-the-art food manufacturing facility.” He added: “We’ve always viewed this process as a team effort. We’re honored that company leadership had the confidence they would be successful in Davenport, and we’ve committed to welcoming Fair Oaks and making them part of our community.” The city, for example, quickly made the changes that were made necessary by the construction delay to ensure that all the requirements in its economic development package for the project were updated. “The company’s commitment has remained the same regarding job figures and wages,” said Davenport Director of Community and Economic Development Bruce Berger. “The time frame for completion of the manufacturing facility construction and job creation deadlines were extended due to the temporary pause in construction.” The public-private partnership created to attract Fair Oaks to the Quad Cities also included Tami Petsche, vice president of business attraction for the Quad Cities Chamber, and Susanne Knutsen, economic development manager for the City of Davenport. “I just would like to give a shoutout to Tami. The way we were welcomed into the Quad Cities and by the Quad Cities Chamber was just remarkable,” Mr. Thompson said. “We had several presentations by several cities and they were just uniquely prepared and welcoming to my team and I, and I just thought it was so well done.” He also thanked Ms. Knutsen for the part she played in Fair Oaks’ decision to opt for Davenport. “The two of them were just this awesome team that really did just a phenomenal job of taking us around, making sure we understood all about the city, what it was about and what the goals were for the city. You never hear that from people,” Mr. Thompson said. “You could really tell their pride in the community and it really was just so refreshing. So just shoutout to both of them for the job they did to talk to us about the opportunity there.” Mr. Matson added, “Securing the deal with Fair Oaks was a competitive process, and I believe it was our people who made our city stand out. We are so proud Susanne is on Team Davenport.” Ms. Petsche credited all the regional partners whose efforts helped attract such a major development. “It was an honor to assist Fair Oaks Foods in their decision to locate in the Quad Cities,” she said. “This achievement was the result of true regional collaboration, a partnership between the Quad Cities Chamber, City of Davenport, Greater Davenport Redevelopment Corporation, State of Iowa and several other key stakeholders.” Ms. Petsche added “I am excited to watch Fair Oaks Foods succeed in the Quad Cities and look forward to seeing them become a legacy company, following in the footsteps of so many great companies in our region.”QC workforce touted
In picking Davenport, Mr. Thompson also pointed to a strong Quad Cities workforce with the necessary technical skills as well as support from the city and the State of Iowa. In addition, he said “being a lot closer to the raw materials had a lot to do with” opting for Davenport. Its home state of Iowa is the top producer of hogs in the nation, with about $10.9 billion in cash receipts in 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. Workers at the new Davenport Fair Oaks Foods will cook, slice and smoke the bacon made from pork bellies that will be brought to the new facility by truck. When will that process begin? “What we’ve told everyone in terms of when we’re actually running is the second quarter of 2026,” Mr. Thompson said. That’s because, he said, once the building is complete, equipment will need to be brought in and thoroughly tested. “You just have to go through that whole process, and it’s a long process, but it’s the right thing to do so people can train the right way, and so that you understand the best methods and utilization of the equipment,” he added. With construction back on a track, when will hiring begin? “As we speak, we’re putting our hiring plans together and we want to do some outreach,” Mr. Thompson said. “We’ll be involving our friends at the chamber and the city and just figure out where’s the best place to get our workforce from.” As the company’s human resources leaders work that out, he added, “the time, believe it or not, will come up very fast for us because hiring needs to start sooner than later.” Fair Oaks has made one key Quad Cities hire. It’s chosen a vice president/general manager “who actually lives in the community now,” Mr. Thompson said. The CEO declined to name that leader yet, but said “we’re really proud to have him and he will be very good with our organization.” The GM’s duties will include hiring the managers who hire the rest of the workforce. Once the Davenport location comes on board, the Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin-based Fair Oaks will boast four facilities. Its Wisconsin hometown, which is a little more than three hours north and east of the Quad Cities, has two production facilities and one warehouse. The Davenport location will be its third production facility. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity we have to grow the company and so again that just goes hand in hand with our excitement about being in Davenport,” Mr. Thompson said.AT A GLANCE: Fair Oaks Foods
- Founded in 1985.
- Headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
- Family-owned meat processing company.
- 11th largest Black-owned business in the U.S.
- Produces and supplies bacon, meatballs, pork, and turkey sausage to food service, national grocery stores, and quick-serve restaurants globally.
- The Davenport facility will produce fully cooked bacon and create 247 jobs.
- Davenport’s bacon plant is a major product line expansion for a company that has grown nearly 500% in the past 30 years.
