PONCA CITY, Okla. — Dorada Foods of Ponca City, Oklahoma, today formally dedicated its 180,000 sq. ft. chicken processing facility located at 2000 Hall Blvd. in Ponca City. The company is one of three suppliers of chicken products to McDonald’s in the US and will ultimately employ approximately 350 employees. Dorada Foods is a joint venture of principals from Lopez Foods Inc. (LFI) of Oklahoma City, Okla. — the largest Hispanic-owned meat manufacturing company in the US — and Tyson Poultry Inc., a subsidiary of Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc.

“We are proud to be contributing members of the Ponca City business community and pleased we will be creating local jobs providing further development for the community,” said Ed Sanchez, Dorada Foods chairman and CEO.


Dorada Foods is already a major economic stimulus for northern Oklahoma as it begins generating $4 million per year in payroll, growing to approximately $9 million, which will be further augmented by additional business fees, property taxes and purchases of Ponca City goods and services projected to total over $14 million per year, he added.

“A project of this magnitude provides not only significant employment opportunities, it also reaches deep within a community creating a solid economic foundation which promotes further growth and development,” said Ponca City Development Authority executive director, David Myers, referring to the 350 employees who will eventually work at Dorada Foods.

The Dorada Foods plant will contribute more $200 million to the Ponca City economy over the next 10 years, forecasts an economic impact model Myers and his staff developed. “This is an extremely important project for Ponca City and we could not have asked for a better business venture team,” he added.

“We’re proud of our collaboration with the experienced team from Lopez Foods and how we’ve transformed an idea into a new business,” said John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods. “This innovative, new venture will help expand Tyson Foods’ efforts to continue meeting the high standards of a very important customer.”

Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Lopez Foods specializes in high-quality, further-processed protein products, such as fully cooked beef patties, breakfast sausage and chicken, as well as individually quick frozen (IQF) beef patties and a variety of other pork, beef and chicken products. LFI products are available to consumers through a number of restaurants and retail outlets, including: Burger King, Costco, Kroger’s, McDonald’s, Sam’s Club, Sonic, Target, and Walmart. Lopez operates processing facilities in Oklahoma City and Caryville, Tenn. that employ approximately 700 associates.