brand industry food distribution founded 1938 founder joseph n. katz headquarters mifflintown pennsylvania key people jeff brown president rabbi israel weiss vp for rabbinic affairs products chicken turkey prepared foods number of employees 750 website empirekosher.com empire kosher poultry inc. is the largest producer of kosher poultry in the united states . 1 the company s headquarters hatchery and processing facility are located in mifflintown pennsylvania . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 relocation and expansion 1.3 competition and debt 1.4 investment and growth 2 production and distribution 2.1 hatching and growing 2.2 kashrut and processing 2.3 distribution 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit early years edit empire kosher was founded in 1938 in liberty new york by joseph n. katz an austrian jewish immigrant to the united states . the katz family including joseph s son murray owned and ran the business for the first five decades of operation . 2 3 in the 1930s and 1940s the katz family recruited the rabbis required for the kosher production process from mandatory palestine as well as jewish communities in europe and the company initially operated out of a garage in liberty new york . the company s name comes from the nickname for new york state . 4 in the 1950s empire became known as an innovator in kosher food production . 5 relocation and expansion edit early in the 1960s while still owned by the katz family the company relocated to mifflintown pennsylvania approximately 40 miles outside of harrisburg pennsylvania where it is still headquartered today . katz purchased a processing plant in mifflintown and expanded production in order to meet the demand provided by the growing jewish middle class . 5 empire became the first kosher food company to move into mainstream supermarket distribution . 2 competition and debt edit in 1986 a fire destroyed the production line at the mifflintown plant and the katz family invested nearly 20 million to rebuild and modernize the plant . 5 empire began to face increasing pressure from other kosher poultry processors notably agriprocessors which has since ceased operations following immigration and labor raids and the conviction of its owner and ceo sholom rubashkin on felony financial fraud charges . 6 in 1992 empire was sold to private equity firm apollo management and several years later sold to another private equity firm j.w. childs associates and the company carried a high debt burden . 2 investment and growth edit in 2003 empire was purchased by a consortium of private investors led by greg rosenbaum . the company modernized and expanded its plant and production line more than doubling production capacity by 2009 . 7 empire currently processes 240 000 chickens and 27 000 turkeys per week with annual revenue over 100 million making it the largest u.s. producer of kosher poultry . 1 empire s workforce is unionized and are members of the united food and commercial workers local 1776 . 2 under its current ownership empire has donated kosher food to community food pantries . 8 9 in 2011 the metropolitan council on jewish poverty granted empire s ceo its humanitarian award . 10 in addition empire has received positive press coverage regarding its animal welfare and environmental standards . 1 11 devito verdi the nyc advertising agency was hired to strengthen the brand . production and distribution edit hatching and growing edit empire states that it hatches its own poultry eggs at an on site hatchery in mifflintown and that all of its chickens and turkeys are grown on small family farms within a 90 mile radius of the mifflintown plant . 1 empire claims that its quality control inspectors are five times stricter than usda inspectors and says that its poultry also adheres to the following standards animal feed is all vegetarian . no antibiotics . no growth hormones . animals must be traceable to the farm where they were raised . animals are cage free and free roaming . empire passes regular third party animal welfare audits including those conducted by customers such as whole foods and costco . 12 in addition empire offers a line of organic products . the company recently launched a green kosher marketing campaign . 13 kashrut and processing edit a team of 65 rabbis oversee the kosher slaughter process in mifflintown . 14 the rabbis live in on site dormitories during the week and the plant has its own mikvah and shul . empire poultry is raised slaughtered and processed in accordance with the rules of kashrut and is certified by the orthodox union k hal adath jeshurun kaj and the star k. as part of the kosher production process salt is used to cleanse blood from the animal . a result of this is that kosher poultry is preferred by some non kosher consumers for the alleged juiciness provided by this brining . 15 cook s illustrated regularly recommends empire kosher chickens and turkeys in part due to this distinctive taste . 16 distribution edit empire products are available in national and regional supermarket chains including trader joe s shaw s star market safeway and giant . empire is also available at many costco stores and through a number of online grocers . it sells its kosher valley line exclusively for whole foods . in 2010 empire acquired the kosher valley brand from natural and organic foods producer hain celestial group . 17 in march 2015 the hain celestial group inc. nasdaq hain hain celestial group announced the acquisition of the remaining approximately 80 % that it did not already own of ek holdings inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary empire kosher poultry inc. for a purchase price of 57.6 million which included net debt that was repaid at closing . 18 references edit a b c d heilman uriel inside empire s slaughterhouse the life of a kosher chicken jewish telegraphic agency august 11 2011 . a b c d popper nathaniel empire strikes back the forward august 12 2009 . the new york times weddings faith t. mervis alan l. katz the new york times june 9 1996 . empire kosher history empire kosher poultry inc. a b c kosher eye empire kosher poultry ruling the roost kosher eye november 2010 . preston julia life sentence debated for sholom rubashkin of agriprocessors the new york times april 28 2010 . failed messiah empire doubles production failed messiah july 3 2009 . ny1 news city pantries to receive 25 tons of poultry feb. 6 2009 . new york city government news from the blue room . jewish telegraphic agency empire kosher chief recognized for food donations april 11 2011 . pine dan hazon speaker trying to push kosher to the next level jweekly.com august 11 2011 . empire kosher top quality empire kosher poultry inc. geller jamie empire kosher is now green kosher joy of kosher august 11 2011 . lacter mark what goes into an empire kosher chicken la biz observed august 4 2011 . severson kim for some kosher equals pure new york times jan. 12 2010 . cook s illustrated 2010 buying guide for supermarket ingredients cook s illustrated 2010 . pr newswire hain pure protein corporation closes on sale of kosher valley brand to empire kosher poultry inc. pr newswire may 17 2010 . http www.bizjournals.com prnewswire press releases 2015 03 04 ny47284 further reading edit boehm arthur march 1999 empire kosher chicken cookbook 225 easy and elegant recipes for poultry and great side dishes 1st ed . new york new york clarkson potter isbn 978 1 58008 520 5 heilman uriel august 11 2011 inside empire s slaughterhouse the life of a kosher chicken jewish telegraphic agency popper nathaniel august 12 2009 empire strikes back the jewish daily forward external links edit empirekosher.com official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title empire kosher & oldid 743230690 categories agriculture companies of the united statescompanies based in juniata county pennsylvaniafood manufacturers of the united statesmeat processing in the united statesbrand name meatsamerican 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