Dive Brief:

• Poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride is closing its facility in Boaz, Ala., as part of a companywide effort to slash costs by $200 million in 2014.
• The Boaz plant is the smallest of three facilities run by the company. Some 1,000 people are employed there. The company says roughly 100 jobs will be added at plants in Russellville, Ala., and Douglas, Ga.
• The announcement infuriated local officials in Boaz who spent millions in plant upgrades and other incentives when the company moved in just six years ago.

Dive Insight:

Pilgrim's Pride has become a darling of Wall Street in recent months as it instituted a number of cost-containing moves that have allowed it to boost margins as chicken prices have risen. Earnings have quadrupled. Share prices have tripled. Perhaps the cost of that are job losses in places like Boaz. And perhaps that's just part of business. But there's something about the process that leaves a nasty smell behind in a town such as Boaz.