Kelly Turkeys trialling US expansion
Kelly Turkeys is trialing an expansion into the US market, the largest for turkeys in the world.
The firm will sell its birds in butchers’ stores in the run-up to Thanksgiving and send samples to chefs in a marketing experiment. It has hatched and reared about 600 birds from exported eggs on a farm in Virginia.
Paul Kelly, company director, has been in the USA setting up the venture and said one particular challenge was finding people to hand-pluck the turkeys dry. “For many years now there has been no dry plucking in the USA, so the skills needed are no longer in the country.”
The birds are also being sold “New York dressed” – a traditional method that originated in the USA, where birds were sent plucked and whole from the Midwest to the East Coast with their guts intact. “It was the safest way to make the long journey,” said Mr Kelly.
The cost of hand plucking and hanging turkeys means the practice has died out, added Mr Kelly. American consumers are therefore used to white turkeys, that are sold as a loss-leader by supermarkets at a rate of $4/lb. The KellyBronze will be sold closer to $12/lb.
But Mr Kelly said people will often pay more for a premium, traditionally-reared bird.
He has involved chef Jamie Oliver, who he said “has helped us enormously to spread the word among his friends in the US food world. We’ll be getting feedback from some of the top chefs and food critics on the East Coast”.