By SCOTT AUST / Greater Garden City
More than 150 people attended Wednesday’s grand opening celebration of empirical food’s state-of-the-art, 280,000 square foot ground beef production facility which will create more than 250 skilled and semi-skilled jobs supported by empirical’s technical team with support from its partnership with Garden City Community College.
The Garden City expansion will supplement empirical’s production operations in Nebraska and its headquarters in South Dakota. Founded by Eldon and Regina Roth, the company is now led by a second generation of the Roth family.
For over 45 years, empirical, America’s premier producer of USDA inspected lean ground beef and beef products, has helped the industry capture an average of twenty-one additional pounds of available beef per head of cattle — supporting greater supply while reducing inefficiency across the value chain.
“This facility reflects a belief that efficiency is one of the most effective tools the industry has to strengthen domestic supply,” said Craig Letch, President, Empirical Foods. “Increasing the availability of beef without increasing cattle numbers supports resilience across the system — from producers through consumers.”
The Garden City facility was designed using decades of operational learning, with a focus on long-term performance rather than short-term optimization.
Food safety is engineered directly into the system through equipment design, layouts, and workflows. Automation is applied to improve control, consistency, and reliability — not simply speed.
“This is more than a ceremonial opening of a new facility,” said Nick Roth, President, Empirical Technology & Empirical Innovations. “This facility is the culmination of five decades of innovation, and sets a new bar for food safety, efficiency and work environment for the next 50 years.”
Strengthing Beef Supply
The long-term investment in Garden City will strengthen domestic ground beef supply by increasing efficiency, enhancing food safety, and reducing food loss at time of record high beef prices.
The operation comes online as the beef industry continues to face persistent structural challenges, including constrained domestic supply, rising ground beef costs, ongoing food loss, and commitments to meet sustainability goals at scale.
Rather than expanding cattle numbers or increasing resource use, empirical’s model centers on innovation that creates new value through increasing the availability of lean beef from existing U.S. produced cattle.
The plant represents one of the most sophisticated food production operations in the world designed in a manner that easily allows for future expansion to meet ongoing demands.
Initially the plant will increase the company’s production of lean ground beef by 50%, with the ability to expand significantly in the future.
In addition, empirical will increase the production of high-quality tallow used in cooking oils, cosmetics, renewable fuels, and consumer products — making it one of America’s largest producers of tallow.
These expanded capabilities build on empirical’s portfolio, which includes Noble Valley ground beef, Two Rivers boxed beef and pork, Dos Rios taco meat and Jen’s Beef Bolognese and Sloppy Joe at its operations in South Sioux City, Nebraska.
Garden City Mayor Tom Nguyen said the community’s pioneer history was one of not just seeing open land but seeing possibilities. He credited empirical with seeing the possibility here in Garden City.
“Garden City has always drawn people who believe in something bigger than themselves,” he said. “As a son of parents who worked in meat packing plants this moment carries for me an acknowledgement of what this means for all of us. Thank you for your trust in Garden City.”
In addition to local officials and community leaders, the event drew state and federal representatives including Lt. Gov. David Toland, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, and Congressman Tracy Mann. U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall was unable to attend but sent a staffer who read a written statement expressing appreciation for the project.
Sen. Moran said the appearance of so many officials and leaders hopefully stresses to empirical how much we all value the company’s investment in Kansas, and that development in Garden City and Finney County is something they all find of value.
Moran said the Roth family is a great example of working to live the American Dream, taking an idea and making it a reality, it really becomes an opportunity for others to strive for something similar, to pursue the American Dream for themselves.
Lt. Gov. Toland thanked empirical for its investment in Garden City and the State of Kansas.
“What empirical foods has done here today with this state-of-the-art facility is invest in the type of innovation that leads to more affordability for American consumers. It makes it possible for us to put nutritious food on our tables and employ 250 people with high quality jobs.”
Lona DuVall, President and CEO of Finney County Economic Development Corp., called it a special day not only because of opening a new facility but because of what the moment represents for everyone in the community.
“The future doesn’t just happen. It’s built,” DuVall said. “We build the future, decision by decision, partnership by partnership, standard by standard. What you see here is the result of a company that chose to do something harder. A company that chose to take more time. To demand more of itself. To build something not just efficient, but excellent due to discipline, precision, and refusing to accept ‘good enough.’”
DuVall said companies that choose that path create more than a product, they create value and opportunity. Economic Development isn’t about buildings; it’s about people and creating opportunities for generations of folks we’ll never get to meet.
That’s why FCEDC and local entities are intentional about development. They don’t say yes to every project. Projects are sought that align with the community’s shared values, a commitment to excellence, and a belief that what’s built today should still matter decades from now.
“When we met empirical for the very first time, we saw that,” DuVall said. “When we hear community members talking about this facility, they don’t say ‘the’ empirical plant, they say ‘our’ empirical plant. That sense of pride, ownership and connection can’t be manufactured, it has to be earned. Empirical foods has earned it, and we are grateful.”
DuVall said empirical builds facilities like this one due to a belief that everyone deserves access to high quality, affordable food; that meeting the world’s growing needs for nourishment is a responsibility; and they take that responsibility seriously.
“That’s not a business model, that’s a mission,” DuVall said. “And it aligns perfectly with who we are as a community. Because unlike Las Vegas, what we do here doesn’t stay here. The products that are made in this facility are going to feed families around the world, and every one of those products will carry a piece of our community into the world with it. It will take a part of our work ethic, our standards, and our belief in doing things the right way.”
Long after everyone in the room is gone, what’s been built here will still be at work creating opportunity, value, and feeding families, she said.
“We mean it when we say, ‘The World Grows Here,’ and we’re incredibly grateful to empirical foods to grow with us,” she said.
empirical officials stated that by increasing the supply of high-quality, extra-lean ground beef, the facility helps reduce pressure on imports while supporting more consistent and cost-effective ground beef formulations for customers.
Greater availability of lean beef also contributes to affordability for consumers without compromising safety or quality – an ongoing challenge faced by restaurants, retailers, and food service company in today’s economy.
In an era where one third of all food produced in the world goes to waste, empirical’s process addresses food loss by redesigning how lean beef is separated from fat, keeping more protein in higher-value food channels. In doing so, the company produces value through innovation that was heretofore not possible.
empirical is a family-owned company that has devoted over 45 years to innovation in the meat industry, proving that exceptional beef at a significant value doesn’t require compromise.
From lean ground beef to steaks and roasts, empirical serves leading retail and foodservice partners nationwide.
The company is guided by a simple belief: every person, at every economic level, deserves access to quality, affordable, great-tasting beef.
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