When industry history books look back on the year 2017 for Butterball LLC, there’s little doubt they will consider it one of the more challenging years on record for the Garner, N.C.-based turkey processor. Indeed, the closing of the Montgomery, Ill., plant (and the associated pork business) in May and the accidental death in September of a maintenance worker at the Mount Olive, N.C., plant only added to the strain that market conditions in the turkey industry already had placed on the company.
“We see all the headwinds that all protein companies are dealing with and have been for the past two or three years, and an over-supply situation that’s very specific to the turkey industry,” says Kerry Doughty, president and CEO of Butterball. “In spite of that, we’ve continued to grow not only our whole-bird business, but also our ‘win’ categories [in value-added products].”