The UK is the largest broiler breeder market in Europe, and for a long time it has been dominated by 2 UK-based primary breeders. But this has all been changed now through Hubbard’s clear focus on product needs, product development and the investments made by starting up their own production facilities in the UK.

Paul van Boekholt, Director Global Marketing, confirms: “For more than 13 years we have been in contact with the main producers and retailers in the UK to understand their specific needs and the trends and developments in the industry. The UK is a very important market to us, as they really are the leaders in product development and they are always at the forefront of protecting animal welfare”.

Hubbard has been directly involved in the development of the alternative broiler markets, such as organic, free range and more recently the Freedom Food-standards. “With our large range of speciality breeds, we cover the whole range from organic to Freedom Food. Through the range of Hubbard Color PS females and the large range of Hubbard PS males, our customers can make their own combination to suit their specific needs best,” says Jim Hunnable, Manager of Sales and Business Development.

For more than forty years Hubbard's coloured genetic lines have been bred in France responding to the different world market requirements for this type of product focussing on welfare, quality and taste. At this moment the Hubbard JA57 and the Hubbard Redbro PS females and the Hubbard ColorYield male are the main products used in the UK market, but we already have several new products in our pipin consumption patterns and the increased demand for conformation and meat quality.

The recent television coverage has accelerated the growth of the speciality chicken market, but of course Hubbard will never ignore the standard broiler market. Our conventional broiler, the Hubbard Flex, has already entered the UK market about 4 years ago and it has proven to give our customers enormous advantages in animal welfare traits such as active behaviour, very low levels of hock burn and footpad lesions in combination with very competitive technical results in the field and the processing plant”, continues Jim Hunnable.

In 2006 Hubbard also set up its own production locations and a GP hatchery in the UK to secure the continuation of supply.

Stephane Duthoit, Managing Director of Hubbard, concludes that "The final result of all these efforts are that now we supply the major poultry producers in the UK with Hubbard products and that we quickly have become the 2nd largest supplier of broiler breeding stock in the UK. I am very proud of the team effort and we assure our customers that we do not loose our focus to continue this growing success in the UK market”.