Manchester Farms, Inc.
Dalzell, South Carolina

THE OVERVIEW
Manchester Farms has been producing high-quality poultry products since 1974 for food distributors nationwide. The distributors sell Manchester’s farm-raised Pharaoh quail and chicken products to schools, restaurants, and retail food chains. The company has almost 350 distributors for its quail products alone. Today, Manchester Farms is the United States’ largest producer of farm-raised quail, processing more than 100,000 birds each week.

Manchester Farms employs about 125 people in its family-owned business. The growing company has been assisted the past two years in marketing strategy and implementation with grant monies available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administered through the S.C. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (SCMEP).

THE CHALLENGE
Over the years, the company has faced many challenges, such as changing consumer perception that quail is a white table cloth restaurant item only, that it’s difficult to prepare, and generally learning how to market new products as they’re developed. In 2005, when the company developed a new product called Chicken-on-a-Stick, it needed to find a way to market the product to the appropriate targets markets and sell through the right venues.

The Odom family, who owns Manchester Farms, first met SCMEP representatives when it was exploring employee benefits options and reviewing SCMEP’s health insurance services. The family soon began talking with Tim Sinclair, SCMEP manufacturing specialist, about participation in its USDA rural grant program.

THE SOLUTION
SCMEP introduced Manchester Farms’ owners to Stark & Associates, a marketing firm in Charlotte, NC. The marketing firm helped the company launch its new Chicken-on-a-Stick product – procuring mailing lists and developing and printing literature for direct marketing purposes. In addition, USDA funds enabled SCMEP to help find contacts at restaurants and distributorships to which to sell the new product. Funds also enabled Manchester Farms to show its product at national food shows.

THE IMPACT
Stark’s prices were reasonable and the services good, according to Steve Odom, one of Manchester Farms’ owners. “Having SCMEP’s help was a welcome relief,” says Odom. “SCMEP most definitely helped us,” he says.

The one thing Manchester Farms learned about its Chicken-on-a-Stick product is that it was not right for the marketplace at the time of introduction. Through this test, the company was able to refocus on its quail line and credits SCMEP and Stark & Associates with helping it gain an improved understanding of its customer base. The company was then able to use some grant funds to develop a flyer on a new quail product targeting the retail and food service industries. Odom says retail quail sales have increased by four percent so far as a result of this initiative.

What’s in store for the future? Odom is applying for additional USDA grant funds in 2006, which he plans to use in marketing new quail products. Quail is the company’s largest product line, but there have been no product innovations in several years. Odom plans to change that in 2006.