We're excited to announce that the expansion to our USDA-inspected poultry processing plant and distribution facility is complete! Last Thursday, December 15th, we held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by our management team, employees, and Mayor Nick Nelson of Clemmons.
The expansion, which began over the summer, adds 10,400 square feet of space to our previously 32,350-square-foot facility. It includes a new warehouse of dry storage space for labels, packaging, and other materials, and a brand new, state-of-the-art hatchery that will greatly improve our capacity to incubate and hatch birds in our Heritage Poultry line.
The hatchery will house birds from our Heritage Poultry line — the Poulet Rouge
President and CEO of Joyce Farms, Ron Joyce stated, “Our Welcome Back to Flavor® message is resonating with more chefs and consumers as we have moved back to older breeds, old world farming methods and small scale processing. We have seen increased demand for our pasture raised, heritage products, and we’re thrilled by the response. We look forward to making Joyce Farms available to even more chefs, restaurant goers and home cooks.”
With the addition, we will retain the artisanal processes and strict quality control measures for which we are known. Birds will continue to be individually processed by hand from start to finish, allowing for precise inspection. Our plant has consistently earned a 100% score in animal welfare by a third party auditing company.
Our facility was originally constructed back in 1991, ten years after Ron purchased the company from his father. In 2002, we added a kitchen facility for research and development. The new expansion project marks our first major expansion to the building since it was constructed.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ryan and Stuart Joyce (Ron's two sons and Joyce Farms' VP of Finance and VP of Operations respectively) officially cut the ribbon together. It marked a special moment for them, because they quite literally grew up here (as you can see below).
Pictured Left: Joyce kids at construction of the original facility in 1991 -- Ashley (left), Stuart (middle), Ryan (right).
Pictured Right: Stuart (left) and Ryan (right) cut ribbon to new expansion.
The design and construction team for the expansion includes Landmark Builders, West & Stem Architects and Landwehrmann Engineering PLLC.
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