Bell & Evans Meat & Poultry August 4, 2022
FREDERICKSBURG, Penn. – It didn’t take long for premium poultry producer Bell & Evans to earn well-deserved recognition for its trailblazing Organic-Certified Chicken Harvesting Facility in Fredericksburg, PA. The plant began operating in early December 2021 and was recently named the 2022 Food Plant of the Year by Food Engineering for its innovations, automations and high scores in all categories including team member welfare, animal welfare, food safety, product quality, and sustainability.
The new facility processes 100% of Bell & Evans chickens through harvest, 100% Air Chill, cut up, deboning, case packing and shipping. At 411,500 square feet – roughly the size of seven football fields – it was built linear to minimize turns in production which maximize product quality. Many of its innovations are a first in U.S. poultry. The facility also serves as the new headquarters for Bell & Evans with ample office and meeting space including an executive conference room with a jumbotron video wall for education and adjoining kitchen for preparing The Excellent Chicken®.
“I traveled the world and spent my entire career collecting ideas for this new plant,” said Bell & Evans Owner Scott Sechler. “Over the years, we expanded and retrofitted our old plant to meet our needs, and we were ready to build this state-of-the-world facility using every bit of knowledge and experience we have. We spared no expense to achieve our goals, and we’re really proud of this place.”
Bell & Evans is a 5th generation family business that redefines what sustainability means, as both America’s oldest branded chicken company and the most modern in the U.S. and perhaps the world. With 100% state-of-the-art facilities built new within the past decade, Bell & Evans’ definition of sustainability includes and expands beyond protecting our air, soil, water and natural resources. Continuous and significant investments in land, facilities, equipment, processes, partnerships and its team pave a long and prosperous future for Bell & Evans.
This was Bell & Evans’ third successful collaboration with design-build firm Stellar of Jacksonville, Florida. Stellar completed Bell & Evans’ 2017 Hatchery and 2015 award-winning Further Processing Facility. All are organic certified and located in Fredericksburg, PA. Bell & Evans has permits to build a second organic-certified harvesting facility of similar scale on the same 112-acre campus as its newest plant.
Construction of the new harvesting facility began in March 2020 at the onset of COVID-19. The entire facility was designed virtually with Building Information Modeling (BIM) software to allow Bell & Evans’ operations team and vendors to collaborate on the placement of every wall, wire, pipe, equipment piece, nut and bolt to eliminate interferences. That collaboration plus strong vendor partnerships, support from local and state governments, and the continuous involvement of the Bell & Evans team kept the project on schedule and resulted in an unprecedented startup 21 months later.
Following are specifics within several key categories for Bell & Evans at its new facility.
Thoughtful workspaces and team member welfare
Bell & Evans chicken is sold nationally at Whole Foods Market and at premium, family-owned retailers across the country including Wegmans Food Markets, Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Central Market (H-E-B), Dierbergs, Lunds & Byerlys, and more. Bell & Evans chicken is also on the menus of America’s finest restaurants.
About Bell & Evans – Bell & Evans is a 5th generation family business and America’s oldest branded chicken company. We are the industry pioneer of all-natural Raised Without Antibiotics chicken and maintain the highest animal welfare standards in poultry. We produce 100% Raised Without Antibiotics chicken and organic-certified chicken with no commodity production.
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