Perdue Farms, Inc.
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry |
Meat processing Poultry farming |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Founder |
Arthur W. Perdue Pearl Perdue |
| Headquarters | Salisbury, Maryland |
|
Key people
|
Jim Perdue, Chairman Randy Day, CEO |
| Products | Poultry, chicken, turkey, pork, grain |
| Revenue | > $6 Billion |
|
Number of employees
|
19,000 |
| Parent | FPP Family Investments, Inc. |
| Website | PerdueFarms.com |
Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has annual sales in excess of $6 billion.
The company was founded in 1920 by Arthur Perdue with his wife, Pearl Perdue, who had been keeping a small flock of chickens. The company started out selling eggs, then in 1925, Perdue built the company's first hatchery, and began selling layer chicks to farmers instead of only eggs for human consumption. His son Frank Perdue joined the company in 1939 at age 19 after dropping out of college.
The company was incorporated as A.W. Perdue & Son and Frank Perdue assumed leadership in the 1950s. The company also began contracting with local farmers to raise its birds and supplying chickens for processing as well as opening a second hatchery in North Carolina during this period.
Perdue entered the grain and oilseed business by building grain receiving and storage facilities and Maryland's first soybean processing plant.
In 1968, the company began operating its first poultry processing plant in Salisbury. This move had two effects: it gave Perdue Farms full vertical integration and quality control over every step from egg and feed to market, as well as increasing profits which were being squeezed by processors. This move enabled the company to differentiate its product, rather than selling a commodity.
In 1991, Frank's son Jim Perdue was named Chairman, becoming the third generation of leaders from the Perdue family.
In 2013, Perdue was reportedly the third-largest American producer of broilers (chickens for eating) and was estimated as having 7% of the US chicken production market, behind Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson Foods.
In 2010, the corporate structure of Perdue Farms changed. A holding company, FPP Family Investments, Inc., owned by the Perdue family, became the controlling entity for Perdue Farms. The holding company also owns Perdue AgriBusiness, a grain operation; FPP Business Services, a shared business services company; and Coleman Natural Foods.
Other subsidiaries include Heritage Breeders, LLC, which is responsible for developing the breed used by Perdue, and developing other lines of stock for sale to other poultry companies; Venture Milling, which creates proteins for livestock; Perdue Fats and Proteins, LLC, which sells pet and animal feed ingredients; Perdue BioEnergy, LLC, which works in the field of renewable energies; and Perdue AgriRecycle, which converts poultry litter into organic fertilizer products.
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Wikipedia