Artisanal Processing

All of our Heritage birds are humanely and individually processed by hand. In fact, at our poultry processing plant in North Carolina, almost everything is done by hand using traditional methods. That means:

• Each bird is hand eviscerated, cleaned, and individually inspected by our employees and the USDA, then thoroughly washed and graded. Our slower line speed allows a much closer inspection than in industrial plants.
• Once processed, the birds are moved to a chilling room to be air chilled. This process allows the birds to be chilled without the risk of cross contamination and without absorbing added water or chlorine from an industrial water bath chiller. It also helps preserve the birds' true flavor.
• Finally, the birds are moved to final processing where they are again graded by hand, packaged, and boxed for shipping.

Modern Efficiencies

In 2016, we updated our fabrication floor with the installation of a new scale system, improving the efficiency of our operations while ensuring greater accuracy. We also improved workflow through an additional system of conveyers that move product down the line as it is hand cut. This allows us to maintain our superior hand-cut/hand-trimmed standards while increasing the overall level of productivity. Stuart Joyce, our VP of Operations, led this project.

Animal Welfare

Our poultry processing plant has consistently earned a 100% score in animal welfare by a third party auditing company. It is clean and sanitary, with excelled quality control led by our Quality Assurance Manager.

Our Headquarters

The processing plant also operates as our company headquarters. The building includes:

• Office space for our administrative, management, and sales personnel.
• A loading dock area, temperature controlled to ensure birds are kept at the proper temperature for freshness and food safety.
• A hatchery for birds in our Heritage Poultry product line.
• A large industrial kitchen for product research and development.

In 2017 we expanded our facility by adding an additional 10,000 square feet of dry storage space and a new, state-of-the-art 2,000 square foot hatchery, which greatly improved our capacity to incubate and hatch birds in our Heritage Poultry line.