Gray Construction(HQ out of Lexington, KY) officially broke ground on a new chicken processing facility for InnovAsian in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on hand for the ceremony, according to Gray Construction.
InnovAsian is owned by Nichirei Corporation, one of Japan's biggest food companies. Nichirei already runs a rice processing plant in California, but this greenfield build marks its first move into U.S. chicken processing, per the announcement.
The Build Breakdown:
Delivery method: Gray's fully integrated design-build approach, one team start to finish
Peak workforce: more than 100 team members on site
Completion target: spring 2028
Gray's Brett Goode, EVP of Food & Beverage Market, credited the win to "years of shared trust" with InnovAsian, not a cold bid. Gray CEO Rebekah Gray called it a project meant to "set a standard of excellence within the market for decades to come."
InnovAsian CEO Joe Kent framed it as a supply chain play, strengthening domestic protein capacity to meet demand across retail, foodservice, and prepared foods.
Why Chicken, Why Now: Relationship-built contracts like this are becoming Gray's calling card in food and bev construction, landing greenfield jobs with international owners looking to plant roots (and processing lines) stateside.
Jonesboro's poultry corridor just got a new tenant, and it won't be the last one knocking.
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