I recently had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with Julie Berling, Director of Brand Strategy for Gold'n Plump Poultry. Gold'n Plump, located in St. Cloud, MN, is a $200 million + company (as of 2002), and one of the largest chicken producers in the Midwest. In recent years, Gold'n Plump has been taken to task for issues related to employee relations and treatment of chickens. Last fall, the company launched the Just BARE Chicken line of products, whose goal is to "provide chicken that is healthy and wonderful." Here's a quick blurb from the Just BARE Chicken website:
It’s time to get back to good.
To think about needs beyond our own. To honor the earth with a lighter footprint. To raise better food, locally and conscientiously. Just BARE™ chicken is here. And not a moment too soon. It’s nothing but all natural chicken. No antibiotics, ever. No added hormones. Cage free. Vegetable fed. Traceable to the family farm. In a clear, recyclable tray. Simplicity is calling. Don't be too busy to answer. Go minimal.
Sure, it's all about marketing. But what if marketing actually encourages big companies to do the right things? Another post describes how Just BARE Chicken tastes, but first I'd like to give Ms. Berling a chance to describe the product. Read on:
Why did Gold’n Plump start Just BARE Chicken?
We were seeing a growing consumer need for a nothing but all natural chicken product - raised without antibiotics or animal by-products (vegetable fed). We also saw concerns increasing about where their food from, animal welfare and the environment. Just BARE was born out of these insights.
How does it fit into the company’s ideals and philosophy?
It fits perfectly and is a continuation of what we've been doing the company's inception in 1926. For the past more than 80 years, our family-run company has been committed to bringing only the best quality chicken to consumers' tables...and doing it in a way that's respectful to animals and our planet.
How is Just BARE Chicken different from the rest of what Gold’n Plump sells?
Just BARE is different in that the chickens are raised with a special feed formulation that doesn't include antibiotics, arsenicals, or animal by-products. Every tray and package features a family farm code that allows each package to be traced back to the family farm where raised. And the chicken is packaged in clear plastic trays that are leak-proof, peel open with ease and recyclable.
How are the farmers and farms for Just BARE Chicken selected?
We select our most experienced family farmers who have a history of producing healthy chickens to raise our Just BARE flocks.
What are your standards for raising Just BARE Chickens? How does Gold’n Plump ensure that the farms you work with meet them? How closely do you interact with the farms?
Our chickens roam free in comfortable barns under the watchful eye of independent family farmers—some who have been raising chickens for more than three generations. We’re acutely aware that we owe our chickens our livelihoods. So raising happy chickens isn’t just right, it’s our rightful responsibility. Company servicemen, experts in animal care, visit our family farmers frequently. Plus, we product and deliver all of the feed the chickens eat to ensure optimal quality and nutrition. We respect animal rights and work hard to instill humane caring practices into everything we do. From start to finish, our chickens are handled with the utmost care by people well-trained in animal science, nutrition, handling, and rearing. We communicate our animal care philosophy to all new and existing employees and family farmer partners, and anything less than the most humane treatment is not tolerated. A healthy chicken is a well-cared-for and well-treated chicken. That's the basis of how we operate.
How did you come up with your packaging? Are you considering switching to this packaging for all of your products?
In terms of packaging, we wanted Just BARE to solve some of consumers main concerns with chicken packaging:
- Product visibility: the clear package provides a nearly 360-degree view of the product inside. Plus, because trays are fixed-weight with a barcode, they don't need to be labeled with a price-weight label at the store which would otherwise cover up a large portion of the front.
- Wet, leaky hard-to-open: the package is leakproof and peels open with ease, lessening the need to use your finger or dirty a utensil to open the plastic. And it doesn't leak so there's no worries about chicken juice in the refrigerator or counter.
- Get rid of the foam: the plastic tray is #1 plastic - which is currently accepted at most recycling sites.
We are continuing to search for additional packaging solutions for Just BARE and our other products that are more user- and earth-friendly.
How far does the chicken get shipped? Is this also a concern for the company?
The product gets shipped pretty much across the U.S. We're able to do this efficiently because of our existing Gold'n Plump distribution.
What other plans does Gold'n Plump have for the Just BARE Chicken brand?
We may add new items in the future based on consumer response and needs.
Click here to read Part 2 of this article - Just Bare Chicken: the Commentary.
Click here to read Part 3 of this article - Just Bare Chicken: the Wrap-up.
Comments
Lee, thanks for this posting. I am interested in giving the chicken a try to see how it tastes too. It seems the primary focus for Gold'n Plump is the treatment of the birds and raising them organically, which are certainly great reasons. I'm curious about the economics and would guess that the end product is considerably more expensive to produce, otherwise, companies like Gold'n Plump, would migrate all of their production to more eco friendly end-products. Not sure if I'm convinced that their motivation wasn't originally initiated by a new, emerging market. What ever the reason, it seems like a slouch in the right direction. Looking forward to part 2 of the interview!
Thanks for the note, Erik. You make several excellent points. At the end of the day, the motivation might not matter as much as the good it can do. I do think some of the most interesting stuff here is contrasting Just BARE Chicken with the more "usual" practices. I'll take on that subject in my next post.
Lee, as long as you have Julie on the hook, could you ask what the difference is between the Just Bare and the Simply Natural/All Natural Chicken in round 2 of the interview? Perhaps a nice compare/contrast of the two as it seems they are both marketed around the growing trend of simplicity. From the websites, it appears that Just Bare takes simplicity into consideration when dealing with the packaging, as well, (not true for Simply Natural). My main concern is whether or not the chickens are cage free and "happy" :) as well as free of antibiotics/hormones. And, if you already know the answers, please share! As an occasional consumer of chicken, I do my best to look for those that are treated well...but I think the marketplace is lacking in choices and competitive pricing. I find myself wishing that pheasant hunting were a year round sport so my hubby could bring in all the free range, vegetarian chicken we would need and I could avoid the on-going dilemma in the grocery store.
Hi Michelle,
Thank you so much for reading the post and for asking such great questions. I don't know the answers, but I've asked Julie to respond and I'm hoping she does.
There's no question that "the marketplace is lacking in choices and competitive pricing," as you say. It's very difficult for consumers to know what to buy, and what the real differences are between our options. As a result, I too often end up going with what SEEMS better, not knowing what really is. I do think things are changing in this area, but you probably know a lot more than I do, yes?
Thanks again,
Lee
Lee -
This is very interesting. I think she was hedging a bit - cage free is different than free range and barn life is not the same as pasture. (Remember "Rosie?") I also expect their motives may be economics driven - more and more consumers are demanding naturally raised meats. I do think it is fantastic that consumer demand can move companies to move in this direction... baby steps, we have the power and it is getting through to some of those big corps! You'll have to let us know how it tastes - since all my peeps are home raised, I don't shop often, but it is nice to know that there are alternatives out there for people who can't raise their own.
Thanks for the note, Maggie. I'm with you - if consumers demand better food, everyone wins. I'm not sure what you mean by Julie hedging a bit - marketing people would never do such a thing! :-)
[...] Good stuff Lee, keep up the good work, and for the rest of you, go read the whole thing. [...]
I'm glad to hear you're going to pursue in your next post the differences between Just BARE and more common practices, Lee. I think G'n P's story would be considerably more compelling if they'd shifted their full line to match BARE. As to taste, I've had Just BARE a few times - might be incrementally better tasting but still seemed a far cry from free range. It IS nice to see strides being made in the right direction!
Hi Lee,
I found this post via Zachary Cohen's blog. I just wanted to make a couple of points regarding Just Bare.
First, Just Bare is not organic as the first commenter suggested. They have merely removed the antibiotics and "aresenicals" from the feed. Hormones are not approved for use in poultry, so there are no added hormones in any poultry in this country.
Second, in the system of vertically integrated poultry production (one should really not call it farming), nearly 100% of the production sites, all of them more or less intensive factory farms, fit the definition of "family farms" as they are privately owned and operated. While "independent," these family farmers do not own the chickens they raise, nor do they own the feed they feed them. They do, however, own the debt on the chicken buildings, and most companies -- I do not know about Gold 'n Plump -- make sure that the "independent" "family farmers" have to make expensive upgrades to the buildings long before they get ahead of their debt payments. This relationship, while definitely profitable for the best producers (otherwise nobody would get into it), effectively brings back indentured servitude. The producers are making pennies on the pound and they never know how many pennies until the birds are picked up -- there are a whole host of penalties -- for being under or over weight, for example.
Third, there are no cages anywhere in broiler production. In that sense, all broilers are "cage free." Just Bare chickens are raised in close confinement in climate controlled buildings, which are more or less nasty depending on the particular producer. The best and most conscientious do an excellent job. Nevertheless, at the end of the grow out period, the birds are very closely confined.
Just Bare seems to me to be nothing but a marketing gimmick. Just Bare chickens do not live better lives, they are not fed better food (industrial feed is mostly grain by-products and very few whole grains; most of the nutrition comes from fortification), and it is very unlikely that Just Bare producers make any more money (profit) than non-Just Bare producers. I could be wrong, but there is nothing in the first part of the interview to suggest that the Just Bare model departs from the conventional integrated factory farm model.
Best regards,
Bob Comis
Thanks so much for joining in the discussion, Alex. You make several terrific points. My desire to applaud every step in the right direction - and it's hard to deny that this is one - is tempered by the knowledge that there's much more to the story.
[...] Simple Good and Tasty’s Lee Zukor interviewed Julie Berling, our Gold’n Plump Poultry’s director of brand strategy, for a three-part discussion about Just BARE Chicken. Berling explains the process of selecting the farms and how the chickens are raised. She also explains how every detail, from packaging to shipping, matters in the production of the Just BARE Chicken brand. [...]
Bob, thanks for your thoughtful post. You make a series of excellent points regarding the care and feeding of chickens. I'm grateful to have you weigh in on the conversation.
[...] a recent post about Just BARE Chicken, I published an email interview I conducted with Julie Berling, Director of [...]
Great stuff! The larger chicken producers are finally taking steps. This is a very good thing.
To the writer: Heavy metals in mass-produced chicken? This is not new. Note, she didn't mention animal cruelty or fecal soup. ;)
I also like how they are addressing the desire for customers to eat more personable food with the farm code idea. Nice Blue Ocean strategy. It's not local, but at least you can point at a farm name and origin.
Now they need to take the next steps:
1. pastured chickens (a more natural environment)
2. animal protein in their feed (they're omnivores - they should be eating insects and other animal proteins as well)
Kudo's to Gold'n Plump for moving in the right direction, at least with some of their production.
-t
I am echoing what Bob had posted. I found this site after I began researching what "natural" meant on the Goldn' Plump chicken and realized it does not mean antibiotic free. Although this Just Bare is antibiotic free I'm actually smart enough to read between the lines of all the info on their website and in this interview. They throw around "family farms" a lot, like that means a better, gentler raising of chickens. And that the chickens are free to roam in a barn. In a barn. Would like to see pictures of that. And the feed. Would just like straight out honest answers instead of playing around with words and trying to decipher just what they mean.
Would be interested in how many days it takes for their chickens to reach maturity?
I think it's time we all were more educated on just how natural or unnatural our food is and I thank you for posting this interview.
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