Chinese pet food plant gets ready for business

A Chinese pet food company that bought a shuttered chicken processing plant in Yell County, Ark., is putting its best foot forward in Danville as it prepares to open for business.

Taian Long Qiang Pet Food Company had been scouting for a location, and it found Petit Jean Poultry Plant, which had been closed for four years.

“Pete Won is what they call the local pet treat company,” said Mark Hamer, Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s senior manager of international development. “They’ve been working about a year to get the plant ready for operations, including a $5 million dollar investment. They expect to begin operations by the summertime. Initially employing 20 locals, the plant labor force will eventually reach 70 employees.”

Hamer said Taian Long Qiang wanted to create an operation to help out with product perception.

“The parent company knows there is a bad perception of certain products that come from China,” he said. “So they decided a local company employing local workers and producing with local materials would allow them to produce a better product and help out with the perception issues.”

The corporate owners are represented by John Li, a Chinese citizen who was educated at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. When Li was given the task of finding a place to start Pete Won, he realized nearby Danville had what they needed.

“Arkansas had all the components they wanted for their business,” Hamer said. “Both the costs of living and doing business are low. The surroundings are pleasant. And Arkansas is very well known for having plenty of chickens. And most of all, they wanted to find a facility they could go in and begin operations rather than building one from scratch. So when they found the shut-down Petit Jean Poultry Plant, this gave them all they needed to begin setting up operations.”