By Trisha Marczak, staff writer

Hormel Foods Corp. doled out a record $16.3 million in profit sharing to its plant employees, including those employed at the Austin plant on Wednesday.

During the 72nd annual Thanksgiving Eve Day profit sharing day, Austin plant employees took part in the day-long celebration, complete with presentations on Hormel’s history and the ultimate holiday gift: their seasonal bonus checks.

“Today is a fun day,” said Austin Plant Manager Mark Coffey to a room full of plant employees. “Today is a hoorah day.”

Checks dished out were compiled based on 2.2 regular week’s pay — enough to make most plant employees smile.

“This money helps out a lot with the bills we all have, and, of course, Christmas shopping,” said Maribel Mendoza, a nine-year employee of the plant’s dry meats division.

Presentations began at 8:30 a.m. and continued throughout the day and into the evening, with 125 employees present at any given time.

Employee Bob Lee, who has worked at the plant for 27 years, said the annual Thanksgiving Eve profit sharing celebration creates an overall sense of excitement in the plant.

“It’s nice to come in today,” Lee said. “And the check just keeps getting a little bit bigger every year.”

That’s the goal of supervisors, who look at the day as an opportunity to thank employees and celebrate the company’s success with them, which this week included Hormel Foods Corporation’s record $7.2 billion in yearly sales.

“There are companies out there struggling to find the recipe for success,” said Coffey, who attributes Hormel’s growth to its foundation policy based on innovation, not imitation.

Coffey said it’s nice to give back to employees who have played a key role in getting the company to that point.

“I’m proud of all the employees and their contributions to the company’s success,” he said.

To give employees a sense of the company’s founding principles, all plant employees viewed a short video during Wednesday’s presentation, which gave the history of the company and its founder, George A. Hormel.

The checks were given to plant workers who had been employed for the entire fiscal year, making up roughly 1,500 of the total 1,700 currently employed.