ROUSES_Summer2023_Magazine Pages-Web

A fter a few years, the Sanderson family decided to go all in on chickens. In 1955, Sanderson Brothers Farms opened their first dedicated feed mill and hatchery. Six years later, they acquired a poultry processing business and rechris tened the company “Sanderson Farms.” They opened a major poultry complex in Laurel at the very same site that once hosted the feed and seed store. In the years to follow, they would branch out to multiple plants across the Gulf South. No one then could have imagined the astounding success that Sanderson Farms would one day become. It was inevitable that they would end up in the Rouses meat department. “The Rouses customers in South Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama — they know Sanderson Farms,” says Steve Barkurn, the company’s vice president of retail sales. “Rouses has been in business for over 60 years, and we’ve been in business for over 70. We grew up together.” Today, Sanderson Farms processes about 16 million chickens a week in five of the newest facilities in the United States, each built from the ground up and including every thing from hatcheries to feed mills. They even make their own feed, which is composed of corn and soybean meal. The chickens love it! Hilary Burroughs, vice president of marketing and communications for Sanderson Farms, says, “We have veterinar ians who check on the birds; we have service

Ruling the Roost By David W. Brown Rouses Markets and Sanderson Farms had similar origins, with the two local, family-owned companies starting out initially in the produce business. In 1947, Bob Sanderson decided to move from produce into the feed and farming supply business, opening a Purina feed-and-seed franchise in Laurel, Mississippi, about two hours north of Gulfport. Not long after, his dad and uncle added poultry to the burgeoning family business, starting a hatchery to sell baby chicks at the supply store.

techs who service the farms several times a week. Houses for chickens must be built a certain way — we handle it all from start to finish.” “It’s all natural, and the quality is the best in the industry because we handle things from the beginning to the end,” says Barkurn. “We lay the eggs, hatch the eggs, raise the chicks.” Sanderson Farms employees go through a rigorous training program to make sure everything remains top of the line. In addition, Barkurn explains, Sanderson Farms “runs to order” rather than “running to inventory” — and in the poultry industry, that’s a big deal. “When we get an order, that is when we run it, which guarantees freshness and convenience.” Barkurn says it takes complex logistics to get chicken on store shelves. “It’s not that easy, with a lot of players involved in it. Once we hatch the chicks and get them to the farm, you’ve got to bring feed there at the same time.” The chicks are monitored contin uously. When they get to the right age, they move to a USDA-approved plant, and from there, they eventually end up packaged and shipped in a cold truck bound for Rouses. Operating humanely is paramount at Sanderson Farms as well. “We take the best care of that bird,” he says. And over the years, because of the reputation his company has built, he reiterates that customers know what they’re getting. “Every one of them, when they walk in a Rouses, they see our label and know what they’re getting. They’re getting fresh, they’re getting quality, they’re getting a good price.”

We’re choosy about our chicken!

ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Find Sanderson Farms always fresh, never frozen, great-tasting, 100% natural chicken right next to our Katie’s Best air-chilled organic poultry, and our own Rouses Market brand of chicken. If our name is on the label you can trust it’s good.

32 ROUSES SUMMER 2023