Luverne's Gold'n Plump now employs 250 people.
By Lori Ehde
Gold'n Plump has been in Luverne for only three years, but Friday was a day of celebration at the local plant as the corporation marked its 75th anniversary.
State and local dignitaries attended the event, which featured plant tours and a catered chicken meal.
At the start of the party, Luverne plant manager Greg Aubert provided a history of Gold'n Plump since it opened on Dec. 14, 1998.
When IBP left Luverne in January 1998, it employed 370 people, and its closing signaled a low point in morale for Luverne economic development. But Gold'n Plump offered new hope later that same year.
The company immediately spent $2 million remodeling the former IBP plant and started operating with 120 employees. Today, Gold'n Plump in Luverne employs roughly 250 people with an annual payroll of $6 million.
The Luverne plant starts with cleaned, fresh, unpacked, USDA-inspected chicken from the company's other processing facilities in Cold Spring, Minn., and Arcadia, Wis.
These products are then deboned, trimmed and packaged - plain, stuffed or marinated - in the form of ready-to-cook products for retail or food service clients.
According to information provided at Friday's party, the local plant processes about 750,000 pounds of chicken per week, about 39 million pounds per year.
The company prides itself on good employee relations. Starting pay at Gold'n Plump is $8.25 per hour with higher wages for afternoon shifts and raises after 90 days.
Employees receive a full benefits package, including paid holidays, flexible hours, medical and child care flexible spending plans, longevity recognition program, on-site leadership and skills training, bonus plan, 401(k) Plan, Employee Stock Ownership Plan and tuition reimbursement program.
To help employees celebrate the plant's one-year anniversary, employees who had been there for the full year received a Gold'n Plump winter jacket and individual recognition for their service. Every worker, regardless of employment time or position, received three cases of chicken breasts.
Aubert said in addition to the many of the employee paychecks spent locally, Gold'n Plump circulates $1.6 million through the local economy by doing business with local merchants.
"That doesn't include the money spent by vendors staying overnight in Luverne, eating at local restaurants and staying at local hotels," Aubert said.
Gold'n Plump early on initiated the Live in Luverne Program to provide housing assistance to employees as well as promoting growth in Luverne.
During the lunch, Gold'n Plump CEO Mike Helgeson presented a check to Luverne Mayor Glen Gust for $20,000 as part of the five-year donation to the city that was pledged when the company took ownership of the plant.
He also presented a check for $1,000 to the local Red Arrow Drive. Employee payroll deductions amounted to another $7,000 for Red Arrow. This year, the corporation pledged $1,500 and the employees have pledged nearly $9,000.
"We're happy they're here," Mayor Gust said. "They are a company that takes care of their people and their community."
Gold'n Plump was started in St. Cloud by E.M. Helgeson, Mike Helgeson's grandfather. The company is now the largest integrated chicken producer in the upper Midwest.
For more information on Gold'n Plump, see www.goldnplump.com.