Why CJ Schwan's chose Sioux Falls for its massive food production facility

Megan Raposa -

This is a paid piece from the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

Simplified: CJ Schwan's officially broke ground last month on a new, 700,000-square-foot oriental foods processing plant in Foundation Park North. Here's how the Sioux Falls Development Foundation helped bring it all together.

Why it matters

  • This facility is expected to employ 600 people, with another 50 jobs opening up in a downtown office building for CJ Schwan's.
  • Conversations on the project started in early 2021, and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation was involved from day one to help coordinate incentives, get the land ready for development and make sure the company chose Sioux Falls as its location.
  • The Foundation helped coordinate everything from utility infrastructure to wastewater solutions, and in-total, the new facility will bring an ongoing economic impact to the city.
"There were a lot of challenges that we helped work through here, locally, and it was just a real team effort on behalf of Sioux Falls and the State of South Dakota," said Bob Mundt, president and CEO of the Foundation.

Why Sioux Falls?

Sioux Falls was in the running with a few other cities competing to entice CJ Schwan's to build in their community.

But Sioux Falls stood out for a few key reasons:

  • Land is available and build-ready,
  • The city is located at the intersection of two major interstates – Interstate 29 and Interstate 90,
  • The company's leadership has a strong relationship with Gov. Kristi Noem, who was instrumental in bringing the project to South Dakota,
  • Both the state and city were able to provide economic incentives to bring the company here.
"This isn’t unusual for a big project like this to take a long period of time," Mundt said. "The big projects take so long to develop and yet when they do it makes a big impact and makes everything worthwhile."

Tell me more about the project

The facility will house production of egg rolls and dumplings. It's anticipated to be one of the largest Asian food factories in the world, sitting on 142 acres.

What happens next?

Work is underway on foundations and footings, and the building is "expected to go vertical" next spring or summer, Mundt said.