What Peco Foods does

Peco Foods, Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned integrated poultry producer founded in 1937 by John Herman Hickman in Gordo, Alabama, currently led by Mark Hickman as President and CEO. The company operates 12 facilities across Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi with a stated headcount of 7,500+, ranking as the seventh-largest poultry producer in the United States. Peco is fully integrated from hatchery (Gordo, Bay Springs, Sebastopol), feed milling (Gordo, Corning, Newark, Lake), contract grow-out with hundreds of growers, processing (six facilities), further processing (two marination plants, an individually frozen plant, three par-fry facilities, two chopped-and-formed plants), through to its first centralized distribution center in West Point, Mississippi.

The product portfolio spans raw chicken parts (bone-in dark meat, boneless white and dark meat, mechanically separated chicken, paws), value-added items (par-fry, marinated, battered, breaded, individually frozen), and wings, sold under the Peco Farms retail brand, as private label, or as bulk product. Technical differentiation rests on the FlockFocus® PAACO-certified animal welfare program, two ISO 17025 accredited in-house labs, USDA Process Verified Programs for responsible antibiotic use across eight facilities, X-ray verification on boneless breast, and the Safety Chain automated digital safety system. R&D and customer co-development are concentrated in the Culinary Center for Innovation in Tuscaloosa, with R&D Food Scientists and a poultry nutritionist with nearly 45 years of experience.

Peco generates revenue through B2B direct sales organized across five channels: Quick Service Restaurants (QSR, where it is described as one of the largest poultry suppliers in the space), sports bars and casual dining, retail (supermarkets, supercenters, clubs, and specialty stores), industrial further processors, and international markets exporting paws, leg quarters, and dark meat. Go-to-market relies on dedicated national-account sales teams and internal cold-chain logistics; pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Customer co-development via the Culinary Center and ongoing compliance programs (USDA PVP, PAACO, ISO 17025, conventional/NAE/vegetarian-fed antibiotic programs) anchor account retention.

Name

Peco Foods

Legal name

Peco Foods, Inc.

Website

https://pecofoods.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1937

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Peco Foods is a fourth-generation, family-owned integrated poultry processor founded in 1937, operating 12 facilities across Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi with 7,500+ employees. It produces par-fry, individually frozen, marinated, and raw chicken products for QSR, retail, foodservice, industrial, and international customers under the Peco Farms brand.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Poultry Processing

NAICS

Poultry Processing (311615), Animal Food Manufacturing (31111), Poultry and Poultry Product Merchant Wholesalers (42444)

SIC

Poultry Slaughtering And Processing (2015), Grain Mill Products (2040), Miscellaneous Food Preparations & Kindred Products (2090)

akta.pro primary industry

Poultry Cured/Smoked & Deli Products (Turkey Ham, Deli Slices, Bacon-Style) (AFANACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pelleted & Crumbled Feed Manufacturing (AFADAIAD), Grower Feed (Poultry Grow-out) (AFADACAI), Co-Products & Pet Food Ingredients from Meat (Offal, Trimmings) (AFAKALAI)

Keywords

• Poultry processing
• Chicken products manufacturing
• Further processed chicken
• Foodservice poultry supply
• Antibiotic-free chicken

Headquarters

HQ city

Tuscaloosa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Poultry Product Sales: Peco Foods generates revenue through the production and sale of poultry products including par-fry, individually frozen, marinated, battered and breaded products, bone-in and boneless chicken parts, wings, and value-added products. Products are sold to retail, foodservice, industrial, and international customers through direct sales relationships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Peco Foods produces and sells a comprehensive portfolio of raw and further-processed chicken products, including par-fry, individually frozen, marinated, battered and breaded items, wings, boneless and bone-in dark and white meat cuts, mechanically separated chicken, and chicken paws. Products are sold under the Peco Farms retail brand or as private label through direct enterprise sales to national restaurant chains, foodservice distributors, retail grocers, industrial further processors, and international export markets.

Product overview

Peco Foods is a fourth-generation family-owned poultry company operating as a single integrated business rather than a modular platform. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of chicken products organized across two main product lines: raw commodities ( Individually Frozen, bone-in, deboned, mechanically separated, and paws) and further processed items (par-fry, marination bag & blast, and wings). Products are sold under the Peco Farms retail brand or as private label, serving retail (supermarkets, clubs), foodservice (QSR, casual dining), industrial processors, and international markets. The portfolio is supported by the Culinary Center for Innovation for customer collaboration and a USDA Process Verified Program for quality assurance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Peco Farms: Retail brand for individually frozen bone-in parts and boneless white and dark meat products.

Products and services

• Par-Fry Products
• Individually Frozen (IF) Products
• Marination Bag & Blast Products
• Wings
• Deboned Boneless White & Dark Meat
• Bone-In Dark Meat
• Mechanically Separated Chicken (MSC)
• Chicken Paws
• Peco Farms Brand
• Culinary Center for Innovation

Quantifiable outcome

• Seventh-largest poultry producer in the United States
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• Climate-Smart Commodity ProjectstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Program funded by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and facilitated by Mississippi State University and University of Arkansas. Promotes land conservation through climate-smart practices on farms, demonstrating market viability of producing climate-smart grains for poultry feed operations.
• Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPAACO certifies Peco's FlockFocus® animal health and welfare program, which addresses every aspect of flock care including health plans, nutrition, environment, biosecurity and handling practices. This certification provides third-party validation of animal welfare standards.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) AMScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSDA AMS-certified auditors oversee Peco's Process Verified Program (PVP) for responsible antibiotic use at least once per year. The verification process includes company-led internal audits, USDA desk audits and comprehensive on-site audits across all facilities.
• Together We FosterminorOthersNortheast Arkansas organization supporting anyone involved in the foster care reunification process. Peco team members volunteer at the Pocahontas location, helping organize clothing closet, clean facilities, and donate items for fundraisers.
• John Herman Hickman FoundationcoreOthersEstablished in 2011 to support Peco team members, their children, and communities. Provides disaster relief in operating regions and scholarships for children of Peco team members and contract producers.
• Contract Farmers/GrowerscoreOthersPeco partners with hundreds of contract growers across Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Farmers supply housing and labor while Peco provides chicks, feed and a market. The company sources more than 90% of grain locally from regions surrounding feed mills.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Simmons Foods: Privately held integrated poultry producer serving retail and foodservice (notably as a key supplier to KFC/Yum! Brands). Comparable to Peco in private structure, scale, and value-added product focus including prepared and pet food.
• House of Raeford: Family-owned, vertically integrated poultry producer operating in the Southeast (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana). Directly comparable to Peco in private ownership, regional focus, and integrated model serving foodservice and retail.
• Mountaire Farms: Privately held, family-owned poultry processor of comparable scale to Peco, also recognized in Newsweek's Greatest Workplaces 2024. Operates integrated hatchery-to-processing operations primarily on the East Coast, with similar customer mix across retail, foodservice, and industrial.
• Fieldale Farms: Privately held poultry processor headquartered in Georgia with vertically integrated operations. Listed alongside Peco in industry workplace rankings. Closely comparable in family ownership model and Southeast U.S. footprint.
• Koch Foods: Large privately held poultry processor headquartered in Illinois serving foodservice, retail, and international markets. Competes with Peco in further-processed chicken and is one of the larger privately held players in the U.S. poultry industry.

Broad incumbents

• Tyson Foods: Largest U.S. poultry processor with extensive further-processed and retail brands. Operates across foodservice, retail, and industrial channels similar to Peco, but at materially larger scale and with broader protein diversification (beef, pork, prepared foods). Direct competitor in QSR supply.
• Perdue Farms: Major privately held poultry competitor with strong antibiotic-free and organic positioning — directly overlapping Peco's responsible-antibiotic narrative. Serves similar retail, foodservice, and international customers at a larger scale.
• Wayne-Sanderson Farms: Top-three U.S. poultry producer formed through the Sanderson-Wayne merger in 2022. Competes directly with Peco across QSR, retail, and industrial channels at significantly larger scale; key example of mid-tier consolidation pressure.
• Pilgrim's Pride: Second-largest U.S. poultry producer, majority-owned by JBS. Operates a comparable integrated model serving QSR, retail, foodservice, and international — directly competing with Peco for chicken tenders, wings, and value-added accounts.

Regional players

• Amick Farms: Privately held Southeast U.S. poultry processor focused on foodservice and further-processed products. Smaller than Peco but a regional peer operating with similar product mix and customer types in overlapping geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/peco-foods

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Peco Foods