History
The company was founded in 1918 when Walter Ingham Sr. purchased 42 acres (170,000 m2) of bush land in Casula as a gift to 18-year-old son, Walter Ingham. Walter Jr. embarked on a fruit and vegetable farming venture, eventually moving into the poultry business. Starting with just one cockerel and six hens, his flock quickly grew to 1,000 birds. On his death in 1953, his two sons, Jack and Bob took over the small breeding operation and built it into the largest producer of chickens and turkeys in Australia.
In the 1920s, as with most farmers during this time, Walter Ingham was self-sufficient and produced feed for his own poultry and horses. Most work was pre-mechanised, so back-breaking work included ploughing the fields. Due to a lack of meat during WWII, Inghams provided Australians with poultry products. Women contributed to the war effort by working on farms owned by the Ingham family.
In 1958, the company built first processing plant at Casula. By the early to mid 1960s, new styles and techniques of packaging and processing led to the company's involvement in the rapid process of expansion and development of the poultry industry. Ingham became a household name throughout Australia. In 1963, Inghams had acquired 50% of A.A. Tegel turkey, and took the company over completely in 1994. In 1968 the first KFC restaurant opened in Sydney. In 1976, KFC and Inghams aligned in a business partnership, providing new opportunities for both companies.
Acquisitions included Chickadee Food Pty Ltd (26 per cent in 1972; Harvey Farms in 1990, the number two chicken processor in New Zealand.
By the mid 1980s there was a dramatic shift to food processing creating a revolution for the poultry industry. The McDonald's chicken nugget product, developed by Tyson in the United States, was launched in Australia. By 1995, due to enormous popularity, Inghams built a dedicated plant strictly to produce McDonald’s nuggets.
In 2001, Inghams established Murarrie poultry processing plant, the largest in the country with the most sophisticated machinery, production and supply chain technologies employing approximately 1,200 workers.
Read more about this topic: Inghams Enterprises
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