Reno, Nev.-based Sierra Meat & Seafood looks to build upon its legacy businesses and bring specialty meats to a wider audience, but on a growth curve that doesn’t outrun its ability to offer high-quality products.
Mountain States Rosen accepted a rare opportunity to purchase JBS USA’s Greeley, Colo., lamb-processing facility — a move that improves its story of vertical integration and gives it the flexibility to expand its distribution and advance lamb further into the specialty-protein market.
Where lamb processing is concerned, the team at Mountain States Rosen (MSR) believed it needed to put itself in a better position to take care of its cooperative producer members and deliver lamb product to its customers.
West Liberty Foods won the meat-processing lottery in 2014, when it purchased the former Quantum Foods facility in Bolingbrook, Ill. — a jackpot that already has paid dividends and has an aggressive growth plan in place.
In January 2016, a jackpot of historic proportions grabbed the attention of the nation — those who purchased Powerball tickets hoped the record $1.58 billion prize would land in their laps and change their fortunes.
As consumers pay more attention to what they are eating, they are realizing that protein can satisfy a hungry appetite better than salty snacks or cookies and candies.
Butterball’s calculated bet that bringing all its production in-house would spur growth and innovation in its product lines has paid off handsomely. Plant expansions and the acquisition of two large processing facilities will allow the processor to multiply its jackpot.
It has been a busy couple of years, but the gamble that Butterball LLC has taken to modify its operational approach appears to have paid off, spurred along by several headline-making acquisitions in recent years.
Butterball has made sizeable investments into the Raeford plant beyond the initial purchase, feeding into its goal to become more focused on adding value to its commodity product lines.
In mid-November, Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief, visited Raeford, N.C., in order to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony and get an exclusive tour of the new Butterball further-processing plant there (which was also still under construction at presstime).
In recent years, Hormel Foods has been on the prowl, busy acquiring companies and products as the economic headwinds have eased and sparked growth in the M&A space.