Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 7/24/18

While many major poultry companies are moving away from antibiotics use in their chickens, Sanderson Farms has taken a stand on continuing their use, and that strategy is working well.

Sanderson Farms President Lampkin Butts told attendees at the Chicken Marketing Summit here the company continues to expand production, including a new plant now under construction that will open next year.

While Sanderson expanded for many years as others in the industry grew by acquisition, he noted that between now and 2022, six other companies are also building new plants. Together, these expansions would add 11 million head per week, an 8 percent increase in live pounds over the next three to four years, he said. U.S. consumption could reach 100 pounds per person by 2022, Butts predicted. This would be up from about 93 pounds per person currently.     

The reason for Sanderson’s success, he notes, is that most consumers are focused on taste, food safety and price. Also, the company can find no research that ties the type of antibiotics use the company practices (prevention and treatment, not for growth promotion) to antibiotics resistance in humans.

“If that is ever found to be the case, we will change immediately,” he said.

He also attributes the company’s success to its marketing message of transparency about how it raises chickens. Its most recent advertising campaign, using humor, makes the point that “chickens are not vegetarians.”  

“We believe if we continue to tell consumers what we do and why we do it, people will continue to feel better about what they buy and feed their families,” said Butts.

Poultry growth slowing down  
While agreeing that poultry has had a great run, Performance Food Group Vice President Protein Steve Sands warned that poultry consumption expansion is slowing down, and the industry would do well to take a look at strategies used in the beef and pork industries in terms of how to build market share through branding.  

Performance Food Group is a distributor, but has had great success in creating its own beef brand and being able to trace products back to the animal and tell a complete story about the brand.

Its Braveheart Black Angus Beef product is the company’s fastest growing, most profitable protein brand, growing by 16.4 percent last year while its commodity beef grew by just 1.4 percent. The company works with both producers and processors, demanding (and paying for) specific raising, slaughter and processing protocols and auditing and tracking where the best products are coming from.

He acknowledged the proposition is trickier with poultry, where shelf life is shorter and niche/branded products must be transported along with commodity products to pay for the transportation costs.    

“We are starting to brand chicken products, and the results are very encouraging,” said Sands, noting branded products offer more rapid growth, better margins and better customer loyalty.

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