All-Natural Gobble Is Sound of Success

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Call it a new generation of turkey. The all-natural birds at Alison's Family Farms get a vegetable diet, more room to roam, and aren't given antibiotics or drugs to help them grow.

MARSHVILLE, N.C. — Call it a new generation of turkey.


The all-natural birds at Alison's Family Farms get a vegetable diet, more room to roam, and aren't given antibiotics or drugs to help them grow.


And health-conscious supermarkets throughout the Carolinas can't keep them in stock this Thanksgiving season.


Reid's Fine Foods in Charlotte sold "a couple hundred at least," according to Bucky Frick, meat and seafood manager. Earth Fare had sold more than 700 as of last week and was waiting for an additional shipment, said Katherine Fix, the community coordinator of the store near Ballantyne.


Tom Zerbinos, president of Home Economist markets, is glad to have a local option. Other all-natural turkeys sold in his stores in previous years were produced in Pennsylvania and shipped through Atlanta before arriving at his markets.


With Alison's turkey's, produced in rural Union County about 35 miles southeast of uptown Charlotte, sales are up 10-15 percent, Zerbinos said, declining to offer specifics.


"This is about as fresh as you can get," Zerbinos said.


It's the brainchild of Bruce Cuddy, 58, a second-generation turkey farmer who seems to have hit the healthy turkey niche at the right place and right time.


Cuddy won't discuss revenues of his year-and-a-half old Alison's Family Farm, named after one of his five children ranging in age from 6 to 32.


But after selling about 500 turkeys last year -- exclusively through the Internet -- sales in supermarkets this year jumped to about 12,000 birds, Cuddy said Monday.


And Cuddy is looking to grow: He's building a 38,000-square-foot-plant in Troy, about 60 miles east of uptown Charlotte.


Cuddy, born in Ontario, Canada, was 23 when he launched the Union County division of the family turkey business, Cuddy Farms.


As president of the family-owned company, Cuddy also became known in Union County as a benefactor, donating money toward parks and the Wingate College sports complex. He pushed businesses to participate in health events like WalkAmerica.


When Cuddy left the family business in 1994, he already saw a decline in the industry, as factory-produced turkeys by major businesses dominated the market -- leaving local farmers with less business. He got into the turkey egg business for several years, providing producers with eggs to hatch and grow for their own sales.


But a few years ago, Cuddy wanted to get back into the meat business. And he didn't want to produce turkeys the traditional way as he had with the family company.


Instead, he wanted to start small, raising birds on more square footage, allowing them to roam outside, and not injecting them with extra water or chemicals that serve as a cushion during cooking to maintain juiciness.


All this makes for a more expensive production, Cuddy said.


"I really believe in this," he said. "This is what your kids need to be eating."


He says he practices what he preaches, sticking to green vegetables, salads, and protein. His household prepares one whole turkey a year, at Thanksgiving, baked with no seasonings, olive oil or butter, and covered in tin foil.


Cuddy said the all-natural market doesn't have many competitors, with closest producers in New York and Pennsylvania.


Stores say what's fueling the sale boom locally are consumers who are more label-conscious these days, thanks to the Internet, where they can get more information about health and their habits. And Thanksgiving really gets some consumers thinking over how their birds are grown, Cuddy said, especially because it's the only time of year some households bake turkeys.


Sold primarily in the Carolinas, Maine, New York City and Florida, Cuddy said he's looking to expand where Alison's is sold -- both geographically and in the number of food markets available.Alison's Family Farms also has a line of all-natural deli turkeys and will launch its all-natural turkey bacon in December. Chicken and ground turkey will debut in 2006.


"The turkey category seems to be growing," he said. "I really want to do things better."


What's an All-Natural Turkey?


"All-natural" is not the same as "organic" under standards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


Organic is a regulated label for turkeys fed only organic grains and vegetables grown on land not treated with pesticides or herbicides for three years, according to Bruce Cuddy. He's looking to offer some organic poultry products next year.


All-natural is free of antibiotics, hormones, artificial ingredients, and are grown "free range," meaning the birds have access to the outdoors. They are hand selected for sale. They are preferred by consumers who may be sensitive to the ways animals are raised and treated, or by health-conscious purchasers, especially some with food allergies.


Turkeys from Alison's Family Farms are frozen for shipping by truck, except during the Thanksgiving and December holiday seasons. That's when they're shipped fresh, although the bird's exteriors are frozen to handle the jostling of transport and to preserve quality, according to marketing director Angela Pitre.


Fans say that's the hardest thing to describe, until you sample it yourself. "It just has a richer flavor. It has a better 'turkey' flavor to it," said Bucky Frick, meat and seafood manager at Reid's Fine Foods.


At $1.99 a pound, the turkeys are sold locally at Home Economist, Reid's and Earth Fare. But if you haven't placed an order for one, call the stores before you stop by to see if they have one for purchase.


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Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News


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