The CBP file’s highest 500-plus share is 3.05 percent
Census CBP 2023 printed 2,526 Arkansas manufacturing establishments, 164,240 employees, a 65.0 average, 64.0% under 20, and 3.05% at 500-plus — the highest large-plant share in that state table. Rank is thirty-three. Those cells describe a heavier tail than most Main Street maps. They do not describe your letter. Confirm the plant’s actual headcount. A 65-person food plant is not a 500-person complex.
Buy a manufacturing business is the nationwide pillar. This page is the Arkansas overlay. Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, and Pine Bluff are sourcing labels. If you will not relocate, say which bench you can staff.
The sell page is the owner’s voice. Mississippi prints the highest average headcount. Do not copy that cell onto this 3.05% share.
Poultry, steel, and trailer plants are different animals
Research allows qualitative clusters only: food processing, steel and metals, truck and trailer, poultry-adjacent plants. Confirm any NAICS count before you put it in a teaser. Sub-sectors keep those packets apart. A Fort Smith steel file and a Jonesboro food plant share a flag. They do not share inventory classes or customer audits.
HedgeStone will not invent listings against the 2,526-count file. “Any plant in Arkansas” wastes seller goodwill.
| Animal you named | Scale honesty | Statute overlay |
|---|---|---|
| Food or poultry-adjacent | 65.0 average vs 3.05% campus tail | Transfer-act N; Phase I still budgets |
| Steel and metals | Serials and rebuilds | MfgEx / Occ on the conveyance |
| Truck and trailer | Tooling ownership | Successor tax F — fact-dependent |
| Other process you can run | Confirm headcount | Mini-WARN N; federal WARN if facts fit |
Can an Arkansas buyer use Main Street SDE on a large-plant remnant?
Only if the remnant is actually a Main Street earnings animal. A file that sits on the 3.05% 500-plus tail is often an EBITDA file with platform concentration. BizBuySell’s manufacturing median 2.75x SDE is the wrong instrument if the seller is already talking EBITDA and campus headcount (Source: BizBuySell). Ask which earnings base the CIM uses in week one.
Valuation stays on national size bands. Rank 33 is not a sponsor multiple. IBBA Pulse Q1 2026 said 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers. Most 2,526-shop files never enter that room.
Little Rock versus Northwest Arkansas labor
Two benches. Do not paste one burdened-payroll story onto the other. The research file has no Arkansas wage table. National May 2025 OEWS medians — machinist $58,750, welder $53,750 — are backdrop (Source: BLS OEWS). Recast the plant’s actual burden. Do not invent a Northwest Arkansas print.
A 65-person shop usually still has an owner who quotes. If you cannot replace that person in Pine Bluff or Fort Smith, the teaser is a brochure. How it works still puts returns before a walk.
Business-broker licensing shows no dedicated rule widely cited for Arkansas. Confirm the engagement anyway. Jason Taken markets the company. An Arkansas deed still requires a licensed real-estate broker if you take title.
Environmental transfer is N. Sales tax on M&E is MfgEx / Occ. Bulk / successor tax is F. Mini-WARN is N. An Arkansas CPA owns the conveyance. Phase I supports All Appropriate Inquiries (Source: EPA / 40 C.F.R. Part 312). Phase I and Phase II ESA follows ASTM E1527-21. A food plant or a coating bay is not exempt because the transfer cell is N.
If you later cut or move work, federal WARN tests 100 or more full-time employees. Mini-WARN N. A 65-person shop can sit under the federal test. A remnant on the 3.05% share may not. Do not invent a headcount.
Financing when average headcount is 65.0
SBA 7(a) for manufacturing acquisitions is the product page. Published 7(a) still caps at $5 million with a 10% injection (Source: SBA). Little Rock seller paper counts toward the 10% only on full standby for the 7(a) term and only for half. A monthly coupon is debt.
504 can carry occupied dirt: $5 million standard, $5.5 million small-manufacturer. Occupancy is a fact. Combined programs are not a cash-out story on a thin check. A 65-person shop can still fit the published product if the check is honest. A campus remnant may not.
| Path | Carries a 2,526-shop file when | Breaks an Arkansas close |
|---|---|---|
| 7(a) | EV plus fees plus peg fit the published box | Campus asking price overruns the cap |
| 504 | You occupy the Fort Smith or Jonesboro plant | Empty square footage sold as optional |
| ABL | Eligible AR | Poultry-adjacent WIP the exam kicks |
| Equipment | Clean serialized cells | Hidden UCC on a press |
| Seller paper | Honest stretch | Current-pay note called injection |
Write the peg before anyone counts. Food lots and steel WIP do not share a class. Physical count at close.
Buyer types will not share an Arkansas earnings base. A food add-on will not pay campus money for an owner-quoted trailer shop. A searcher who imported a high-margin study will miss a 65-person metal plant. A 7(a) buyer leaves when the published cap cannot carry the check.
Staff QoE and a Phase I against BizBuySell’s 223-day manufacturing median (Source: BizBuySell). Park ISM August 2026 PMI 54.6 and Fed G.17 July 2026 utilization 76.0% in the year file — they do not underwrite the 3.05% large-plant tail.
After a Fort Smith or Jonesboro close, keep the estimators, lock food or steel accounts, and recount lots. The 7(a) box is already decided (Source: SBA). A 65-person plant will not quote itself.
Pull serials and liens before a Jonesboro walk. Appraise FMV, OLV, and FLV separately. When asking EV is basically iron plus a cleaned peg, you are buying a payroll. Concentration above about 25–30% of sales is still structure. The 3.05% large-plant share does not erase a whale.
Jason Taken will write food, steel, trailer, or poultry-adjacent work — then cut Northwest Arkansas radius language. We will not hide a campus headcount because the teaser photographed well.
Arkansas counsel picks APA or SPA. Neither form answers the 3.05% share. Confirm cells locally. No outcome is guaranteed.
A Jonesboro food plant and a Fort Smith steel file do not share a peg. Food hides lots. Steel hides rebuilds. Trailer work hides tooling ownership. Poultry-adjacent files hide consigned packaging. Price those four differently on a 2,526-shop map.
The 3.05% 500-plus share is the CBP table’s heaviest large-plant tail. Demand actual headcount in week one. If you later fold a Pine Bluff cell into Little Rock, federal WARN can still attach even though mini-WARN is N. Ask how MfgEx / Occ treats this bulk move. Successor tax is F.
Form 8594 still allocates iron. You want depreciable cells. Counsel picks the form after scale is named, not after the town is named.
Jason Taken will write food, steel, trailer, or poultry-adjacent work — then cut Ozarks radius language. Demand actual heads against the 3.05% tail before anyone applies a Main Street print to a campus remnant.
Book a confidential intro call after you can name the process and the actual headcount.
Pine Bluff is not Northwest Arkansas. Jonesboro is not Fort Smith. The 3.05% 500-plus share is the CBP table’s heaviest large-plant tail. A 65-person food plant and a 500-person complex do not share a letter. Demand actual headcount before anyone applies a Main Street SDE print to a campus remnant.
Poultry-adjacent consigned packaging is not steel WIP. Trailer tooling ownership is not a food lot. Write the class before the count. A CIM that leads with “Ozarks platform” is a brochure until the process and the heads are named.
If you will not live in the metro you named, say so. Most operators will not. HedgeStone will not staff a statewide radius for a buyer who will only run one bench.
Pull serials before a Pine Bluff walk. Steel rebuilds are not poultry-adjacent lots. Trailer tooling is not food WIP. Write the class. Physical count at close.
If orderly liquidation plus a cleaned peg is close to asking enterprise value, you are buying iron with a 65-person payroll attached. Deferred capex is a chip. The 3.05% large-plant tail does not erase a whale.
Educational briefing only. Arkansas counsel, a CPA, a lender, and qualified environmental and M&E professionals own the cells. No outcome is guaranteed.
Northwest Arkansas labor is not Little Rock labor. Write which bench you can staff before anyone sends a Jonesboro packet. The 3.05% large-plant tail is a headcount question, not a town name.
Arkansas’s CBP 2023 file counted 2,526 shops, 164,240 employees, a 65.0 average, 64.0% under 20, and 3.05% at 500-plus. Mini-WARN is N. Write scale before town.