How Lincoln Premium Poultry Built a National-Scale Operation in Nebraska

After a four-state search, Costco chose Fremont for the partnership, infrastructure and workforce needed to support its first fully integrated poultry operation. 

Lincoln Premium Poultry is proof that a complex food-processing project needs more than an available site. It takes coordinated infrastructure, responsive partners and a workforce capable of delivering at high volume. 

The AgWorks Corridor brought those pieces together. The result is an operation producing approximately two million chickens per week in Fremont, Nebraska, for Costco stores. The facility is supported by roughly 1,200 team members and generates $1.2 billion in annual economic impact. 

At a Glance 

  • The company: Lincoln Premium Poultry, created to operate Costco Wholesale’s first fully integrated poultry operation 
  • The search: Costco evaluated locations in Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska 
  • The decision: Fremont offered the site and regional partnership needed to support an ambitious, high-volume operation. 
  • The operation: The facility opened in September 2019 with approximately 1,200 team members producing two million chickens per week for Costco. 
  • The impact: A later study by the Nebraska State Economic Development Association and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln validated the project’s projected $1.2 billion annual economic impact. 

Why the AgWorks Corridor Worked 

  • Regional coordination moved the project forward: Economic development officials from across the AgWorks Corridor worked together, even accelerating infrastructure projects to support the build in Fremont. 
  • Workforce exceeded expectations: About 1,200 team members work at the plant, and executives love their commitment. Attendance is high and turnover is extremely low. 

What the Lincoln Premium Poultry story demonstrates 

Lincoln Premium Poultry shows how AgWorks Corridor can support a large, operationally complex food-processing project from site selection through full-scale production. 

The advantage was not one isolated feature. It was the combination of: 

  • A viable site for a first-of-its-kind integrated operation 
  • Coordinated public-private support across local, regional and state partners 
  • Infrastructure planning that helped keep a complex build moving 
  • Access to sophisticated business partners within the larger regional economy 
  • A reliable workforce that performed above the company’s prior experience
  • National market reach for products distributed through Costco stores across the country