West Liberty Foods - History

History

Prior to 1996, Louis Rich, the brand name for Oscar Mayer's turkey division, owned the processing plant in West Liberty, IA. In early 1996, Oscar Mayer's parent company, Kraft Foods, announced that they would close the plant that December if no buyer purchased it. The Iowa turkey growers who sold to Kraft discussed purchasing the plant to ensure that demand for their birds remained. In May 1996, forty-seven of the turkey growers formed the Iowa Turkey Growers Cooperative(ITGC). ITGC purchased the plant from Kraft and took control of it in December. The growers hired meat industry veteran Ken Rutledge to be President and COO of the company. Oscar Mayer helped West Liberty Foods by promising to purchase half of the plant's output in 1997 and a quarter of the output in 1998 to help the startup company.

Production under ITGC ownership began in January 1997. The company faced financial difficulty because the turkey market was oversupplied and prices hit historic lows. While financial projections assumed a price of US$1.92 per pound for turkey, prices averaged US$1.46 per pound in 1997. During this time period, four of the growers left ITGC. Turkey prices eventually rebounded, and the company was bolstered by sales to Sara Lee near the end of 1998.

Since the rebound, West Liberty Foods’ sales have grown steadily. In 2000, the company acquired a second plant in Sigourney, IA from Pinnacle Foods to meet rising orders.The facility was sold in 2012. The company grew again in April 2003 when it opened a processing plant in Mount Pleasant, IA which was later expanded in 2004. Company leadership changed in 2004 as Ed Garrett was named president and COO when Rutledge resigned to take a position with another growers' organization. In 2006 the company entered into a marketing alliance agreement with Midvale, Utah based Norbest Foods.