In the past year, Gold Creek Foods LLC has expanded across state lines, created a chaplain program, expanded its workforce to nearly 4,000, continued donating to local causes and invested in a new headquarters.  

“This is one of the most impactful years we’ve had in our history,” says Mark Sosebee, CEO of Gold Creek Foods, who founded the company that is now one of Georgia’s top poultry processors.  

Gold Creek Foods began its journey in Gainesville over two decades ago in 2000 and by 2004, had already grown to 250 employees. Today, the company has a workforce of almost 4,000 team members, up dramatically from 2,300 in 2021. This 1,500 percent increase in just under 20 years ranks the company among North Georgia’s top employers. 

The company’s roots have always run deep in the North Georgia area. Sosebee’s mother worked in Dawsonville after graduating high school in the early 1960s for a clothing manufacturer, Sweet Orr, which produced Boy Scot Uniforms. Mark Sosebee acquired the Sweet Orr property in 2003 and converted it into Gold Creek’s first poultry processing plant. This year, the company is renovating the old Peach State Bank Building in downtown Gainesville into a new headquarters, where it will permanently move several teams this summer. 

When Sosebee reflects on the past year and a half, he cites several milestones that make him proud: “We’re building new poultry processing facilities, adding lines of business by expanding and customizing our offerings to our customers, and last year, we bought our first plant across state lines in Tennessee.”  

Specifically, Gold Creek Foods purchased Foundation Food Group and Caryville, Tenn.- based Campos Foods LLC including the popular Quick ’N Eat brand.  

Sosebee notes other milestones, including the following: 

• Gold Creek Foods launched a chaplain program, partnering with Marketplace Chaplains. The chaplains, bilingual men and women, are available at all of the company’s 12 poultry plants for employees and their families during first and second shifts.  

• The company continues to give back to their communities. Gold Creek Foods supports local recreational soccer team uniforms, local schools with various projects, that include renovating a teacher’s lounge at Lyman Hall Elementary, donating shirts for Wonder Day at Robinson Elementary, donations to football and soccer programs at Gainesville High School and North Hall High School, donating to a teacher’s banquet at Dawson County Junior High, giving food donations to needy families through Straight Street Revolution and building a freezer for the Hispanic Alliance to refrigerate food that will be given to needy families. 

• The company also continues to make safety, efficiency and sustainability improvements at its plants such as installing LED lights to save energy and creating a robust box recycling plan. 

“It’s our plan to continue to invest in our people, our plants, the places we operate and beyond. We’re so proud of what we’ve been able to grow here in North Georgia and now in Tennessee. We remain committed to the wellbeing of the people who work for us, to our customers, and to the communities where we’re located,” Sosebee says.