Pilgrim's Pride
Encyclopedia
Pilgrim's Corp., previously Pilgrim's Pride , is a former U.S.-owned company with its U.S. headquarters relocated to Greeley, Colorado
. As a subsidiary of the Brazil
ian food giant, JBS
, it is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico. It exited bankruptcy in December 2009.
Pilgrim's Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. The company's primary distribution is through retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and in the Northern and Central regions of Mexico. Pilgrim's Pride operates a separate distribution wing, known as PFS Distribution.
Pilgrim's traces its origins to a feed store opened in 1946 in Pittsburg, Texas by Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim and his older brother, Aubrey. The brothers were known to give away free chicks with the bags of feed they sold, thereby expanding their business. Bo Pilgrim, wearing traditional Pilgrim dress, with a pet chicken named "Henrietta" under his arm, is featured in Pilgrim's Pride advertisements. Today, Pilgrim's Pride is vertically integrated
, meaning the company has its own divisions for every process from "egg to table."
Pilgrim's Pride is a supplier of Kentucky Fried Chicken
and was named its "supplier of the year" in 1997. Other customers include Wal-Mart
, Publix
and Wendy's
. Pierce Chicken (formerly of ConAgra Foods
and Hester Industries) is a division of Pilgrim's Pride. Pierce Chicken is best known for its brand-name Wing Dings, Wing Zings, and various other prepared food products.
In May 2004, Pilgrim's Pride experienced an outbreak of avian influenza in Hopkins County
in northeast Texas; 24,000 breeder hens were destroyed to contain the outbreak. http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/vet/alerts.htm
On July 20, 2004, PETA
released a video showing cruelty to chickens at a Pilgrim's Pride plant in West Virginia
. The video showed Pilgrim Pride employees kicking, jumping, throwing, and spitting on live chickens. Pilgrim's Pride held an investigation, fired 11 employees, including managers, and has provided ongoing animal welfare training to its work force after KFC owner Yum Brands threatened to cease purchasing from the company following the incident; none of the employees faced any criminal charges.
Pilgrim's is also is a supplier of cattle feed to various ranching operations in East Texas. The supply of cattle feed was criticized because of the alleged use of "inedible" chicken parts being used for protein content. This is a common practice in the poultry industry known as protein conversion, so as to profit from all parts of the bird. Protein conversion uses techniques to convert inedible parts of the animal, such as keratin in feathers and skin, into digestible protein to be used for livestock and pet food.
On December 4, 2006, Pilgrim's Pride announced the successful acquisitionhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68228&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=938229&highlight= of Gold Kist
(formerly the third largest chicken company) for $21.00 a share. Although there was initial resistance from Gold Kist, the board members of both companies voted unanimously to combine the two companies.
On December 17, 2007, Pilgrim's Pride's CEO, O.B. Goolsby, Jr. died after suffering a stroke while on a hunting trip in South Texas with customers.
On April 16, 2008, after a yearlong investigation US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided plants in Batesville, Arkansas
, Live Oak, Florida
, Chattanooga, Tennessee
, Mount Pleasant, Texas
, and Moorefield, West Virginia
. Officials arrested 311 foreign national employees on suspicion of identity theft
. Of these, 91 have been formally charged.
the largest meat processor in the world and the largest by revenue, so that the monitoring has been the parent company of Pilgrim's Pride.
As a result, Pilgrim's Pride closed its corporate offices in Texas and Georgia and moved its headquarters to Greeley, Colorado; the closings were scheduled to occur within 60 days of April 12, 2010. During the process, 213 job cuts occurred. About 160 of the cuts occurred at the headquarters in Pittsburg, Texas
and at a location in nearby Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Other positions losing jobs included sites in Atlanta, Dallas, and Broadway, Virginia
.
Greeley, Colorado
The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...
. As a subsidiary of the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian food giant, JBS
JBS S.A.
JBS is the largest Brazilian multinational in the food industry, producing fresh, chilled, and processed beef, chicken and pork, and also selling by-products from the processing of these meats. It is headquartered in São Paulo."." JBS S.A. Retrieved on February 3, 2011...
, it is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico. It exited bankruptcy in December 2009.
Description of firm
Pilgrim's employs about 56,000 people with sales of $7.0 billion in 2009, and has major operations in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Mexico and Puerto Rico, with other facilities in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi and Utah. They process about 44 million birds per week resulting in almost 9 billion pounds of product per year, as well as 528 million table eggs. http://www.pilgrimspride.com/aboutus/Pilgrim's Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. The company's primary distribution is through retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and in the Northern and Central regions of Mexico. Pilgrim's Pride operates a separate distribution wing, known as PFS Distribution.
Pilgrim's traces its origins to a feed store opened in 1946 in Pittsburg, Texas by Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim and his older brother, Aubrey. The brothers were known to give away free chicks with the bags of feed they sold, thereby expanding their business. Bo Pilgrim, wearing traditional Pilgrim dress, with a pet chicken named "Henrietta" under his arm, is featured in Pilgrim's Pride advertisements. Today, Pilgrim's Pride is vertically integrated
Vertical integration
In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...
, meaning the company has its own divisions for every process from "egg to table."
Pilgrim's Pride is a supplier of Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
and was named its "supplier of the year" in 1997. Other customers include Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, Publix
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...
and Wendy's
Wendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
. Pierce Chicken (formerly of ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods, Inc. is an American packaged foods company. ConAgra's products are available in supermarkets, as well as restaurants and food service establishments. Its headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska...
and Hester Industries) is a division of Pilgrim's Pride. Pierce Chicken is best known for its brand-name Wing Dings, Wing Zings, and various other prepared food products.
News events in the 2000s
On October 12, 2002, Pilgrim's Pride recalled 27.4 million pounds of sliced deli poultry after finding a strain of Listeria monocytogenes in the drain of one of their facilities. It was the largest food recall in the US at the time. The outbreak killed 7 people, sickened 46, and caused 3 miscarriages. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/recalls/prelease/pr090-2002.htm http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?id=28903-us-inspector-blamesIn May 2004, Pilgrim's Pride experienced an outbreak of avian influenza in Hopkins County
Hopkins County, Texas
*Brashear*Dike*Como*Cumby*Gafford*Pickton*Saltillo*Sulphur Bluff*Sulphur Springs*Tira-See also:*National Register of Historic Places listings in Hopkins County, Texas-External links:*...
in northeast Texas; 24,000 breeder hens were destroyed to contain the outbreak. http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/vet/alerts.htm
On July 20, 2004, PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
released a video showing cruelty to chickens at a Pilgrim's Pride plant in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. The video showed Pilgrim Pride employees kicking, jumping, throwing, and spitting on live chickens. Pilgrim's Pride held an investigation, fired 11 employees, including managers, and has provided ongoing animal welfare training to its work force after KFC owner Yum Brands threatened to cease purchasing from the company following the incident; none of the employees faced any criminal charges.
Pilgrim's is also is a supplier of cattle feed to various ranching operations in East Texas. The supply of cattle feed was criticized because of the alleged use of "inedible" chicken parts being used for protein content. This is a common practice in the poultry industry known as protein conversion, so as to profit from all parts of the bird. Protein conversion uses techniques to convert inedible parts of the animal, such as keratin in feathers and skin, into digestible protein to be used for livestock and pet food.
On December 4, 2006, Pilgrim's Pride announced the successful acquisitionhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68228&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=938229&highlight= of Gold Kist
Gold Kist
Gold Kist was a large chicken producing company in the United States south. It was founded in 1933 by D.W. Brooks, a University of Georgia agronomy instructor as the Cotton Producers Association, a cooperative to help farmers in Carrollton, Georgia, market cotton. It soon grew and diversified...
(formerly the third largest chicken company) for $21.00 a share. Although there was initial resistance from Gold Kist, the board members of both companies voted unanimously to combine the two companies.
On December 17, 2007, Pilgrim's Pride's CEO, O.B. Goolsby, Jr. died after suffering a stroke while on a hunting trip in South Texas with customers.
On April 16, 2008, after a yearlong investigation US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided plants in Batesville, Arkansas
Batesville, Arkansas
Batesville is the county seat and largest city of Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles northeast of Little Rock, the state capital. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 9,556...
, Live Oak, Florida
Live Oak, Florida
Live Oak is a city in Suwannee County, Florida. The city is the county seat of Suwannee County and is located east of Tallahassee, Florida. The population was 6,480 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,828 ....
, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, Mount Pleasant, Texas
Mount Pleasant, Texas
Mount Pleasant is the county seat and largest city of Titus County in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2000 census, Mount Pleasant's population was 13,935. It is the county seat of Titus County, and is situated in Northeast Texas. This town, by city ordinance, is dry to sell alcoholic beverages....
, and Moorefield, West Virginia
Moorefield, West Virginia
Moorefield is a town in Hardy County, West Virginia, USA. Moorefield is the county seat of Hardy County. It was originally chartered in 1777 and named for Conrad Moore, who owned the land upon which the town was laid out...
. Officials arrested 311 foreign national employees on suspicion of identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
. Of these, 91 have been formally charged.
Purchased by JBS S.A.
On September 17, 2009 was announced the purchase of 68% of the shares of Pilgrim's Pride by Brazilian multinational JBS S.A.JBS S.A.
JBS is the largest Brazilian multinational in the food industry, producing fresh, chilled, and processed beef, chicken and pork, and also selling by-products from the processing of these meats. It is headquartered in São Paulo."." JBS S.A. Retrieved on February 3, 2011...
the largest meat processor in the world and the largest by revenue, so that the monitoring has been the parent company of Pilgrim's Pride.
As a result, Pilgrim's Pride closed its corporate offices in Texas and Georgia and moved its headquarters to Greeley, Colorado; the closings were scheduled to occur within 60 days of April 12, 2010. During the process, 213 job cuts occurred. About 160 of the cuts occurred at the headquarters in Pittsburg, Texas
Pittsburg, Texas
Pittsburg is a city located in Camp County, Texas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 4,347. It is the county seat of Camp County. It is best known as the home of the giant poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride and the home of racing legend Carroll Shelby...
and at a location in nearby Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Other positions losing jobs included sites in Atlanta, Dallas, and Broadway, Virginia
Broadway, Virginia
Broadway is a town in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,192 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Broadway is located at ....
.