Tysons Foods next big company leaving Chicago during rampant crime

Tyson Foods will relocate around 1,000 corporate positions from the Chicago area as well as South Dakota to its headquarters in Springdale, Ark.

One of the world’s largest meat producers said Wednesday that corporate staff at its Chicago and Downers Grove, Ill., locations and Dakota Dunes, SD, office will begin relocating early next year.

The consolidation of corporate offices is intended to allow for closer collaboration and no layoffs will accompany the shift, the company said. Tyson plans to expand and remodel its headquarters in Arkansas.

The parent company of Jimmy Dean and Ball Park products employs about 137,000 workers worldwide. The announcement follows some recent high-profile corporate maneuvers, including naming John Tyson — the great-grandson of the company’s founder — as its chief financial officer.

Chicago has had a number of corporate departures in recent months.

Boeing announced in May that it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia. The following month, construction equipment maker Caterpillar said it was moving its headquarters from the Chicago suburbs to Texas.

Citadel hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, a billionaire who has been a vocal critic of Illinois’ Democratic governor and of crime rates in Chicago, also recently moved his company’s headquarters to Miami.

In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago last month, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he often fields calls from mayors and governors trying to get him to move McDonald’s headquarters out of Chicago. Kempczinski said McDonald’s has no plans to leave, but has struggled with crime and homelessness in its Chicago restaurants.

“While it may wound our civic pride to hear it, there is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis,” Kempczinski said, adding that it is becoming more difficult for the company to recruit promising employees.