American Thanksgiving is being celebrated across the pond today (24 November), and British turkey producer KellyBronze has achieved a major breakthrough with official go-ahead to market throughout the United States.
Kelly Turkeys has been testing the US Thanksgiving market in Virginia over the last six years and has built a pilot processing plant on a small farm near the Blue Ridge Mountains to establish whether they can develop a niche market for a top quality traditional turkey in a market dominated by cheap frozen product.
Ironically, the KellyBronze is produced just like the Americans used to – in the style of ‘New York dressed’ turkeys. The turkeys are dry plucked and hung for 10 to 14 days before evisceration – just like they were in the MidWest before transport to the East Coast markets in the era before refrigeration.
“Getting the US Department of Agriculture to approve our dry process has taken huge amounts of time and effort with meetings in Washington and translating our UK legislation for dry processing so it would meet USDA criteria,” said Paul Kelly, managing director of Kelly Turkeys. “I have to say the USDA has been brilliant and really supportive on getting our unique process approved. They’ve been a pleasure to work with.
“Selling our turkeys in the USA is rather like selling coals to Newcastle since the ‘New York dressed’ process is one that the UK imported early in the last century and has become standard for our traditional Christmas market here. Across in the US this process has become almost unknown.”
For the first three years Kelly Turkeys worked with a small organic farmer in Appomattox, Virginia, to grow 160 of its bronze turkeys to test the Thanksgiving market.
“The few butchers we supplied were very pleased and the KellyBronze has made up around one third of their sales in three years at a price over twice that of the premium bird they were selling.”
$2 million investment
This gave the Kelly family the confidence to buy a small farm of 120 acres and homestead in May 2014 and then build a new processing facility - investing over $2 million in total. The permit for planning permission came through in just seven days from applying to build the plant.
“We just had to confirm that we would not build it within 40 feet of the river that runs through the farm. A bit different to the UK!” he commented.
Carrie Culver is looking after the farm while her husband Judd has past experience in a Butterball turkey plant, and so he gives lots of help and advice.
“Predators have been an eye opener for me!” said Paul Kelly, “In the UK we have the fox and the occasional traveller to contend with. In the US we have coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, bears, possums, rattle snakes, rat snakes and numerous birds of prey.”
“Over the past 15 years since I’ve been looking at the US market. Everyone tells me that turkeys are sold at 1$/lb and that no way would people pay the premium needed to grow the birds to full maturity and then dry pluck and hang them.
“I find it strange that in a country where the sales of fine wines and champagne go through the roof at Thanksgiving, it’s inconceivable there are not enough discerning customers who can afford to have the very best for us not to take a small part of the market. I believe 45 million turkeys are sold at Thanksgiving - our challenge is to get discerning customers among them to try our turkey.
“I am aware the US has been a graveyard for many UK food companies, but we have done the groundwork. I think we’ve made a very calculated decision and am optimistic about developing a very worthwhile niche market there.”
