Schreiber Foods returns with $267 million Carthage expansion, 100 new jobs

Schreiber Foods is proposing a $267.65 million manufacturing expansion that would bring 100 new jobs to Carthage.

City leaders seem to be moving forward with property tax breaks to help secure the investment.

The new facility would be built next to Schreiber’s distribution center on Hazel Avenue.

Investment would occur over four years, Carthage Economic Development Corporation CEO Jeff Meredith told the City Council Tuesday night.

The jobs would pay an average of $53,655 a year, slightly above the county average.

Sarah Granath, an attorney with Gilmore Bell, serving as the city’s bond counsel, explained that Carthage would issue the bonds and take ownership of the project property through Missouri’s Chapter 100 program.

That arrangement would allow the city to provide the tax breaks.

She said Schreiber would purchase the bonds itself, and the company’s lease payments would fund their repayment. Granath added that the bonds would be payable only from project revenue.

“They do not impact the city’s credit rating. They are not a debt of the city," she clarified.

The city’s incentive would come through temporarily reduced property taxes on the new real estate, while Schreiber would be responsible for the payments supporting the bonds.

Even with those tax breaks, Meredith projected approximately $4.75 million in city revenue over 13 years, including nearly $3 million in sales taxes from purchases during the project’s early years.

The revised proposal follows a previous expansion that Schreiber paused in April of 2025.

Matt, a representative speaking on the company’s behalf, said increased automation would mean fewer new jobs than the previous proposal.

He said the earlier project fell through because business conditions changed, rather than because of Carthage’s actions or its incentive package.

He said the revised project would use different equipment and could bring a greater share of Schreiber’s operations into Carthage.