2025 Processor of the Year: Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Birds of a Feather

When we created our Top 100 list back in August, it was apparent most poultry companies enjoyed a profitable 2024. By contrast, beef was at historically high prices, driven by the smallest cattle inventory since 1951. Pork also experienced large price increases. Chicken prices rose only modestly, causing many consumers to make poultry their animal protein of choice.

Even among the poultry processors, one company stood out. Wayne-Sanderson Farms increased sales by $1.3 billion, nearly 18%, to $8.7 billion. Was it a fluke?

“There has been a long-term trend – going back 50 years – where chicken has been gaining ground over the other proteins,” says T.J. Wolfe, CFO of Wayne-Sanderson. “If you look in the short term, consumers are looking for more protein in their diets. What’s especially helped us in the past year is the affordability of chicken versus the other proteins.” He also notes the surge in popularity of chicken products at quick-service restaurants over the past two years.

All of which conspired to make for a great year, the best so far, for the three-year-old integrated poultry company based in Oakwood, Ga. Wayne-Sanderson Farms as our 21st Processor of the Year? That’s money in the bank.

Business units

Wayne-Sanderson is on an April 1 fiscal year, so that $8.7 billion in sales was for the 2025 fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. Although he couldn’t provide numbers for the midpoint of this FY2026, Wolfe says sales are “in line with last year.”

“The positive trends [for chicken] are continuing, there is broad-based, strong demand,” the CFO says. “Inflation is moderating. Feed costs have been relatively stable. Retail tray packs, that was a capability of Sanderson, have been very strong. At least for the first six months of this year, foodservice in general has been good.”

Exports account for about 5-7% of sales and in the past have consisted of dark meat and paws (feet). But there has been a shift in domestic consumption lately, with American consumers buying a little more of dark meat, particularly deboned thigh meat.

Wayne-Sanderson is vertically integrated, meaning it starts with purchasing breeders and pullets and operating its own feed mills, processing facilities and further-processing facilities. It has three business units: fresh, representing 61% of sales; retail (mostly tray packs) accounting for 30%; and prepared foods, making up the final 9%.

“We over-index the other poultry companies in fresh and tray packs but we under-index them in prepared foods,” says Wolfe. While he acknowledges that Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride have invested heavily in facilities and brand-building in prepared foods, Wolfe sees that category as a priority and growth opportunity for Wayne-Sanderson.

“I see us continuing to put investment back into our business to make that happen, increasing both capacity and capability.” While he doesn’t see a new, greenfield plant in the immediate future, Wolfe says there will be investments in those three prepared foods plants to increase value-added foods and further processing.

A step in that direction was the July acquisition of Harrison Poultry, best known for its Golden Goodness brand of traditional, international and halal poultry products. “They’re much more into retail and foodservice,” says McDaniel. Harrison also brings Wayne-Sanderson medium-sized birds for a different category of foodservice customers.

Has the company changed much since Wayne and Sanderson were independent companies? “Because we are a larger company, we can scale up investments more efficiently,” says Wolfe. “For example, right now we are making a significant amount of technology investments, replacing our ERP system, deploying new technologies not just across the plants but also at the farm level, at the hatcheries, everywhere.”

The chicken business also has changed in the past three years. “Where we are now, compared to even three years ago, there’s a lot more automation in the processing plants than ever before,” says McDaniel. “We don’t always think about it, but there’s some AI [artificial intelligence] coming into our business. We’re getting more efficient, getting better every day from the live production side to the rearing of the bird to the processing. We’re making a better, a more wholesome, a higher-quality product.”

“Automated deboning in the plants, for example, is relatively new,” adds Wolfe. “With AI, these new machines can learn, get better over time. That’s real interesting.”

Being a private company, as opposed to some of its larger competitors, has its advantages. “The difference is, our owners have a long-term view over investments and growth, and Kevin and I can make investments and decisions for the longer-term versus thinking quarter to quarter,” says the CFO.

“We believe this chicken industry is going to continue to grow, so we plan to make significant investments to grow as fast or faster as the industry is growing,” Wolfe continues. “We’d like to leverage our strengths, which are around our fresh business unit, our customer service and our company culture, but also to diversify into the areas where consumer demand is going. We need to not only make more chicken but to provide it in a way that consumers want, at a price point they need and give people all the choices they want in the future.”

Diversification within chicken, yes, but not into other proteins, at least not at this time, says Wolfe. “The reason is our ownership group. Cargill does have beef operations. We envision our future as a pure-play chicken company.”

Wayne-Sanderson has 27,000 employees over 24 complexes across seven states, in addition to 2,000 family farmers they work with. It’s a very local, people-oriented, very rural business where the Wayne-Sanderson plant is a key part of the community, giving back, especially during tough times.

McDaniel sums, “We pride ourselves on being the supplier of choice, but at the same time, we strive to be the employer of choice. We put a lot of emphasis on retention, on employee welfare, we want this to be the place people want to work, from Texas all the way to North Carolina.”