The spacious 38,000 square foot Elite Foods plant has allowed Cuddy to expand his operations to include evisceration, cutup and tray pack of Air Chilled, Antibiotic Free and Organic chicken and turkey.

The brand, "Alison's Family Farms," was named after one of Cuddy's five children, Alison, a veterinarian.

"All of Alison's Family Farms products are vegetable-fed, antibiotic-free and reared without the use of steroids or growth hormones. Our family is very health conscious, and we wanted to share our great tasting birds with others," Cuddy stated.

"All of Alison's Family Farms products are certified "Humanely Raised and Handled." Alison's birds are grown under Certified Humane conditions where we give them more individual space allowing them to exhibit their natural behavior.

"All birds are grown on our own farms or with selective growers, all within 40 miles of our new plant.

"Alison's offering gives our customers the opportunity to choose a product that has been raised and handled with the highest possible health and moral standards."

A significant key success factor to Cuddy's operation is a technique called "Air Chilling." This cooling process eliminates any water retention in the poultry, adding extended shelf life and tenderness to the rich flavor of the chicken. Air Chilling is a more natural meat chilling method, where cold air is used to chill the product instead of soaking the birds in chlorinated water. Alison's Air Chilled poultry has no retained processed water and therefore is a more natural and wholesome product.

"We are very excited about our new facility being in full operation," noted Cuddy, a veteran in the poultry business with over 36 years of experience. "Charlotte and East Coast markets were able to enjoy the Alison's Family Farms Turkeys last Thanksgiving. We sold out well before Thanksgiving last year and were very pleased with the responses that we have received from stores and customers. We had customers calling us last Thanksgiving with praise for such a clean and great tasting product. That makes it all worthwhile."

The plant currently employs 60 workers but will double within the first three months as capacity expands. The plant will be able to process 60,000 chickens and 5,000 turkeys weekly. "This is a facility focused on the utmost in quality, not quantity. We also designed this facility to be environmentally friendly as a low water use operation," said Cuddy. "This is the only Air Chilled Chicken and Turkey facility in the USA."

The customer base has grown over the last year as well, with stores all along the eastern seaboard eager to participate in Alison's program dedicated to superior quality products and humanely grown birds. Long standing customers such as Earth Fare, Green Life, Hannaford Brothers, Weaver Street Market, Reid's Grocery and Garners are joined by new additions Balducci's, Home Economist, Kash n' Karry, and Albertsons with more signing on daily.

ThePoultrySite News Desk