Golden State Foods, Irvine, Calif., broke ground on a new 165,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art meat processing facility in Opelika, Ala.

The capital investment in the facility is estimated to be $63 million and will create 173 new jobs.

“We are thrilled to become a part of the Opelika community, a wonderful city that shares our common values,” says Mark Wetterau, chairman and CEO. “We started as a small meat company in Los Angeles nearly seven decades ago, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 70^th anniversary next year than with the opening of this meat plant in Opelika. We appreciate the solid partnership of the local civic leadership, and we look forward to providing jobs and community engagement, which is a long-term investment for us.”