Repeat CANCO client previews latest project

8 sec ago

MEXICO, MO — Company and project leaders from Carl A. Nelson & Company (CANCO) were in attendance July 23, 2025, for Western Smokehouse Partners' preview of its new and soon-to-open meat snack stick production facility being built in 300,000 square feet of former warehouse space.

Once complete, Phase 1 of the project will have a daily capacity of 100,000 pounds of snack sticks, produced exclusively for the Chomps brand. Phase 2 of the project is in the preliminary stages of construction, and will pick up once the first phase is up and running.

CANCO has served as industrial Design-Build partner for Western Smokehouse Partners since 2022, when the two firms joined forces for completion of a new production facility inside a former steam turbine testing and manufacturing plant in Burlington, IA. In addition to work on the Mexico, MO, plant, CANCO also is working as Design-Builder for Western Smokehouse projects in Galesburg, IL, that are now underway, and a planned expansion of the Burlington plant.

The preview event drew a sizable crowd of local dignitaries, state- and local-government officials, representatives of Chomps, CANCO subcontractors and future plant employees, and Western Smokehouse suppliers and vendors who were treated to samples of Chomps snack sticks and tours of the facility. Speakers at the event included Matt Bormann, CEO of Western Smokehouse Partners, and Doug Hankes, chief operating officer; Rashid Ali, CEO and co-founder of Chomps; Bruce Slagle, the city manager of Mexico, MO, and Michelle Hataway, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

"You guys have done everything for us," Bormann said of CANCO. "We have had aggressive timelines, to say the least, high expectations on cost, and you guys have met them. ... You guys give us great service, and we thank you so much."

Slagle, the former city manager in Burlington, IA, where CANCO is based, also praised the firm's role in the project.

"You couldn't have had a better contractor," Slagle said. "They do great work."

"I can say from our building inspectors on this project," Slagle added, "that they said it's been one of the most professional, well-run, well-organized groups of people to work on this project, and it's been a pleasure to work with each and every one of the contractors, and get this moving, get this going. And timing, aggressive. But we're on-schedule, and it's great."

The project was announced in late-summer 2024 by Chomps as a partnership with Western Smokehouse Partners, and publicly celebrated in October 2024 in an event with then-Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. Bormann noted in his remarks that Western Smokehouse is on pace to have 1,700 employees across all its facilities by summer 2026. Meanwhile, Ali noted Chomps is the fastest-growing snack stick brand in the United States.