Cooper Farms plans processing plant in Celina

CELNA - Family-owned farm and food company Cooper Farms is expanding to Celina after having acquired the former JES plant, located at 1800 Industrial Drive.

The company said in a news release the 28,000-square-foot facility will serve as a value-added further processing plant, with future capabilities extending beyond meat processing.

Renovation is reportedly already underway as Cooper Farms, which produces a variety of meat products for private label and foodservice, prepares the Celina Processing Plant for operations.

Operations are expected to launch next spring.

"We are excited for the opportunities this expansion brings," COO Gary Cooper said in a statement. "Cooper Farms continues to grow both in size and opportunity, and adding this plant will certainly allow us to expand our capabilities."

Additional details regarding operations, employment opportunities and project timelines will be shared as plans take shape, according to the news release.

Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel greeted the news with enthusiasm.

"We are certainly excited to welcome Cooper Farms into our community," Hazel told The Daily Standard. "We are very excited and proud to be part of that expansion."

Hazel was unsure at this point how many jobs will be created as part of the expansion.

"I don't have those stats yet," he said. "I know it will bring employment, and we're very pleased to have them coming to Celina. It's another homegrown business, even though it's from the St. Henry area."

According to the Mercer County Auditor's Office website, Cooper Farms purchased the 8.85-acre parcel of land for $1.75 million from JES Enterprises of Celina on May 12.

"I think it's a pretty large investment," Hazel said. "I knew they were looking at, and then they ultimately were able to purchase, as I understand, the balance of the vacant property that had been for sale for a number of years. So they have bought that entire swath."

The plant is located in the northeast corner of the parcel of land.

Hazel confirmed that the plant had been vacated by JES before being acquired by Cooper Farms.

"It's been a few months now. They just ceased operations," he said. "They weren't getting business, and they decided to close it down, and I think they still had a handful of employees they laid off earlier this year."

The specialty food producer's Celina plant made different types of gourmet food for a number of restaurants, Hazel said.

"At times you could smell garlic," he noted. "It was the Commissary for Empire Restaurants under Ed McGillvary and John Irmscher years ago."

The Empire Restaurants enterprise grew to consist of 10 locations throughout western Ohio and over 750 employees. McGillvary and Irmscher also managed four other restaurants for Dinner Bell Foods and owned the Commissary, a federally inspected plant that manufactured soups, salads and meat entrees for Empire restaurants and other food service operations such as Bob Evans, Irmscher told the newspaper a few years ago.

Cooper Farms was founded in 1938 by Virgil Cooper in Oakwood, the site of its corporate headquarters today, Gary Cooper told the newspaper in 2022.

The company has four primary sites in Oakwood, Fort Recovery, St. Henry and Van Wert, partners with local growers, and relies on area grain to feed its animals.

Cooper Farms is a leading food supplier, selling a variety of fully cooked and ready-to-cook turkey, ham and chicken products, as well as table eggs and liquid egg products to customers throughout North America, according to its website.