Caviness Packing, with locations in Amarillo and Hereford, is closing its beef operations in San Angelo after deciding the proposed purchase of San Angelo Packing was not in its best interests.
“We had entered a letter-of-intent agreement. Part of our due diligence was running the operation,” Caviness President Trevor Caviness said. “We ran it for about five weeks and felt like it was not the right fit for us.”
The companies announced the agreement in mid April, and the last day of processing operations was Thursday.
“We wanted to cease operations sooner rather than later,” Trevor Caviness said. “We’ll wrap up this weekend.”
The deal would have added about 30 percent to Caviness’ capacity of 1,650 head per day.
San Angelo Packing had shut down citing difficulty obtaining enough cattle to operate profitably. It will now stay with its owner the Stokes Family Estate.
Caviness Packing had approximately 200 employees at the San Angelo facility.
“Those employees we’ve encouraged if they’re interested in working in Amarillo and Hereford to sign up,” Trevor Caviness said.
The Hereford plant harvests cattle, processes cuts of beef and supplies the Amarillo operation with beef to make ground beef and ground beef patties.
Caviness is still looking to expand.
“We’re still very much in a growth mode and feel like we’re in a good position to do that,” Trevor Caviness said.
Caviness Packing has been in business since 1962. It is privately owned and run by three generations of the family, according to a news release.
Workforce Solutions of the Concho Valley did not respond to a request for comment on the move’s impact on the job market there.
