Archer to open meat snacks factory in Vernon, employing more than 200
The Vernon plant where Farmer John hot dogs were once made will soon be cranking out millions of pounds of meat sticks for a fast-growing Southern California snack food company.
It will be the second manufacturing facility for Archer, which needs to expand beyond its plant in San Bernardino, Chief Executive Eugene Kang said.
Part of the Vernon plant that Farmer John left behind in 2023 is being completely refurbished by Archer and will employ more than 200 people when it opens in September. The Vernon plant addition will cost about $30 million.
Archer is taking over what was Farmer John's processing plant, Kang said, where Farmer John cooked ham, sausage and hot dogs.
Farmer John supplied the meat for famous Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium for decades, but couldn't reach a new contract agreement with the Dodgers, and Farmer John stopped being the stadium's main hot dog provider in 2021.
'I don't know exactly what happened between them and the Dodgers,' he said, but 'we're now the official meat snack of the Dodgers.'
The Dodgers recently signed a multiyear contract with Archer, MLB announced last month. Archer's jerky and meat sticks are sold at stadium concession stands, a satisfying development for Southern California native Kang.
'As a kid growing up, the Dodger Dog was ingrained in my childhood and my life,' he said.
He also developed a taste for jerky while stocking shelves at his family's convenience stores scattered across Southern California's deserts. As a young man on a road trip with a friend to the Grand Canyon, he fell in love with jerky he sampled from a roadside stand.
Kang tracked down the small jerky manufacturer near San Bernardino and set out to meet the producer, an 80-year-old man named Celestino 'Charlie' Mirarchi who was near retirement. Kang and his aunt bought Mirarchi's business in 2011 and used Mirarchi's recipe to build his own jerky empire.
Archer achieved a breakthrough in 2014 through a partnership with Huy Fong Sriracha to create a sriracha flavored jerky.
The new flavor caught the attention of some big retailers including Kroger and Sprouts, and helped Archer expand its reach, Kang said. Among the 30,000 stores selling Archer products today are Costco, Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Target, Albertsons and 7-Eleven.
Kang said the company, which employs nearly 200, had a 90% increase in sales last year, mostly fueled by meat sticks, and will take in nearly $500 million in revenue in the next 18 months.
The new Vernon plant, which will cost about $30 million, will focus on beef and turkey meat sticks, eventually operating three shifts a day producing 36 million pounds of meat sticks per year, Kang said.
Most of Archer's grass-fed beef supply comes from Australia and New Zealand, the company said. Archer competes in the premium clean-ingredient, protein-rich and convenient snacks food category.
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One of the best examples is late-inning reliever Reed Garrett, who is using his four-seam fastball only sparingly compared to last season. With two runners on and none out in the eighth inning on Tuesday, Garrett relied on his sweeper and splitter to retire Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith without allowing a run. In the NLCS, Garrett appeared in four games and allowed five runs. In three games so far against the Dodgers this season, Garrett has six strikeouts and two walks without allowing a run. More samplings of numbers changing: Ohtani in the NLCS: 8-for-22, 2 home runs, 9 walks, 7 strikeouts Advertisement Ohtani vs. the Mets in 2025: 5-for-24, 2 home runs, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts Mookie Betts in the NLCS: 9-for-26, 2 home runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts Betts vs. the Mets in 2025: 4-for-22, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts Tommy Edman in the NLCS: 9-for-22, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts Edman vs. the Mets in 2025: 2-for-17. 0 home runs, 1 walks, 5 strikeouts 'They've pitched us really well,' Roberts said. 'The execution, sequencing, we're kind of one step behind as far as anticipating what they're going to do, and then when we do get opportunities with mistakes in the hitting zone, we're not cashing in. I don't know the answer, but I do know you have to give those guys credit for pitching us well.' Mets officials will likely say that they did not build their team specifically to beat the Dodgers. And that they just wanted to construct a better team than last year. The new developments shining through against the Dodgers should help the Mets against all teams. The thing is, improvement means being able to handle the Dodgers. The Mets' brass also would likely say they felt they could hang with the Dodgers last season, too. Last October, the Mets' pitching staff entered the NLCS on fumes after barely making the postseason. Also, they were coming off a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies, an uber-aggressive team and the opposite of the patient Dodgers. For the Mets, the results just weren't there, even dating back to last year's regular-season matchups. Come this October, both clubs' rosters will likely look at least somewhat different than they do now because of health and the upcoming trade deadline. The Mets, however, are demonstrating that they're on the defending champion's level. (Top photo of Mets pitcher Griffin Canning: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
