Joyce Foods, Inc.

Joyce Foods is a specialty producer of all-natural poultry and game products, located in Winston-Salem, N.C., with a farming operation in the Piedmont region of N.C.

After more than ten years in the poultry business, Alvin Joyce started Joyce Foods in 1962 as a small poultry wholesale business selling to local “mom and pop” grocery stores. After college, Ron Joyce joined his dad in the business. Ron purchased the company in 1981, and built a new, state of the art processing and distribution facility in 1991, allowing for expansion of the business.

In 1994 the company began producing specialty products aimed at fine dining establishments and gourmet retail markets. In 2001, Joyce Foods sold the distribution and commodity products portion of the business to concentrate on the production of specialty products.

Today, Joyce Foods produces premium, high quality, branded, all-natural fresh chicken, turkey, duck, and game products, and unique prepared entrées.

In addition, Joyce Foods works with small farmers to produce products offered in European markets but not normally available in the United States. Some of these are old Heritage breeds that are no longer produced because they cannot compete with faster growing, higher yielding commercially produced animals. In a test program, Joyce Foods has grown American Bronze turkeys, French Rouen ducks, and will soon introduce for the first time in the United States, a French Cou Nu chicken called Poulet Rouge Fermier, which is grown as a Label Rouge product in France.

Organizations like Slow Foods USA, whose purpose is to preserve a country’s gastronomic culture, and save cherished foods, are creating consumer awareness and demand for old, rustic breeds.

Joyce Foods markets its products through established gourmet retail stores, and food service distributors who are center-of-the plate experts in fine dining products.

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