trading as bernard matthews ltd type private limited company industry farming food products founded 1950 founder bernard matthews headquarters great witchingham norfolk england key people robert burnett chief executive officer products turkey products revenue 341.4 million 12 months ended 1 july 2012 1 operating income 5.3 million 12 months ended 1 july 2012 1 net income 2.0 million 12 months ended 1 july 2012 1 owner matthews family number of employees 2 575 subsidiaries bernard matthews limited bernard matthews oldenburg s ga foods website www.bernardmatthews.com bernard matthews holdings ltd. trading as bernard matthews ltd is a british farming and food products business headquartered in great witchingham norfolk england which specialises in turkey products . founded by bernard matthews in 1950 it has 56 farms throughout norfolk suffolk and lincolnshire farming nearly 7 million turkeys each year . 2 it also has poultry production operations in germany and hungary . the company breeds and rears both indoor and free range turkeys on its farms and is an integrated agricultural business . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 products 4 controversies 4.1 turkey twizzlers 4.2 animal welfare 5 avian flu outbreak 6 references 7 external links history edit this section relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this section by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message 1950 company founded 1955 headquarters were moved to its present location great witchingham hall near norwich . 3 1960 bernard matthews entered the guinness book of records as the biggest turkey farmer in europe . 4 1971 the company was publicly listed . 5 1980 the company launched its first tv commercial featuring turkey breast roast with matthews himself introducing the famous bootiful catchphrase in his thick norfolk accent . 6 2000 bernard matthews successfully fought off a take over bid from us food giant sara lee . 7 2001 the company was bought back by the matthews family and taken private again . 8 2006 two contract workers were convicted of animal cruelty for playing baseball with live turkeys . 9 2007 the company s farm in holton suffers an outbreak of the h5n1 strain of avian influenza . 2007 the company s factory b plant closes and staff moved to a plant causing many to leave or be relocated at its parent plant up the road . 2008 in july the company re branded from bernard matthews foods to bernard matthews farms and stated that all its turkey products would be made with british turkey from its own farms . 10 the company also unveiled a plan to reposition the company comprising three key elements refocusing on british turkey farming and production making products that claim to better meet the needs of consumers today and championing british agriculture . 11 12 2010 in january bernard matthews resigned from the post of chairman coinciding with his 80th birthday . 2010 in april bernard matthews began a new advertising campaign bringing back its bootiful catchphrase that was previously used between 1980 and 2007 . 13 2010 25 november the founder bernard matthews died . 2013 september business is bought out by turnaround experts rutland partners . operations edit bernard matthews has three main operating companies the united kingdom based bernard matthews limited the germany based bernard matthews oldenburg and the hungary based s ga foods . 1 bernard matthews limited is based in the east of england and produces a range of fresh cooked and frozen turkey products which it sells across the uk . 1 it employs around 2 200 staff and farms around 7 million turkeys per annum . 1 it has 56 turkey farms and two production sites located in norfolk and suffolk . bernard matthews limited is assured food standards red tractor accredited 14 and its production sites have iso 14001 accreditation . citation needed jeff halliwell has been managing director of bernard matthews limited since june 2009 . 15 bernard matthews oldenburg is based in the north of germany and employs around 130 staff . 1 it produces a range of fresh cooked and frozen poultry products which it sells across germany and northern europe . 1 s ga foods is based in northwest hungary and employs around 800 staff . 1 it produces a range of poultry products which it sells across central europe . 1 products edit the company produces a range of cooked fresh and frozen british turkey including products such as oven ready whole birds joints cooked re formed meats and meal accompaniments which accounts for over 90 % of the business . bernard matthews also produces chicken products which are made with meat sourced from partners in south america . bernard matthews farms produces turkey for leading uk grocery supermarket chains for use under their own retail brands and also for businesses supplying the out of home foodservice market . under the golden norfolk turkey brand bernard matthews farms provides a frozen turkey range including whole birds in a variety of sizes plus crowns and joints basted and stuffed . new products under the farms brand introduced in 2009 included several new seasonings and an apricot and date stuffing . 16 controversies edit turkey twizzlers edit one of bernard matthews formed meat products turkey twizzlers became a subject of debate in january 2005 when they were singled out for particular criticism by the celebrity chef jamie oliver in his television series jamie s school dinners . the product became an emblem of the mass produced processed food that oliver wanted to remove from school meals . in the wake of the programme several major catering organisations announced that they would no longer serve turkey twizzlers in schools . 17 bernard matthews discontinued the product in 2005 . despite the popular demand from home users of the product citation needed bernard matthews ceased the production of the product to avoid any further criticism and negative press coverage . animal welfare edit on 7 september 2006 two contract workers were convicted of animal cruelty after being covertly filmed by a member of staff from hillside animal sanctuary playing baseball with live turkeys . the two men were sentenced to a 200 hour community service which was later criticised as being derisory by some animal welfare organisations . 9 18 palmer s and allan s defence lawyer simon nicholls stated that their actions were part of a culture at the norfolk plant and describing the conditions in the unit as appalling said you can see why people move to an organic more open type of farming . 19 an rspca inspector said it was the worst case of cruelty to farm animals of which he had heard . 20 a vet after seeing the footage said it was the most hideous and blatant abuse he had seen in 25 years . 21 in response the company took out a newspaper advertisement saying that the men concerned were sub contractors and that none of its employees abused livestock . 18 a spokesman stated that they were committed to the highest standards of animal welfare . 22 avian flu outbreak edit main article 2007 bernard matthews h5n1 outbreak map of the zones during the outbreak . the 2007 bernard matthews h5n1 outbreak was an occurrence of avian flu in england that began on 30 january 2007 . the infection was caused by the h5n1 subtype of the influenza a virus and occurred at one of bernard matthews farms in holton suffolk . a range of precautions were instituted including a large cull of turkeys the imposition of segregation zones and a disinfection programme for the plant . it emerged in a highly critical report from defra that there was a series of biosecurity failings at the holton plant some of which had been drawn to the company s attention in the past . 23 though the cause of the outbreak has not been determined bernard matthews regularly transported turkeys and turkey products between the uk and its plant in hungary and the h5n1 bird flu strains found in hungary and britain were effectively genetically identical . 24 consequences of the outbreak included bans by a number of countries on the importation of poultry from britain a sharp fall in sales of bernard matthews products resulting in workers being laid off and a collapse in confidence in the brand . 25 references edit a b c d e f g h i j results for the 12 months ended 1 july 2012 pdf . bernard matthews farms . retrieved 1 january 2013 . company history . bernard matthews . archived from the original on 6 august 2009 . retrieved 2009 10 12 . company history the 50s . bernard matthews . company history the 60s . bernard matthews . company history the 70s . bernard matthews . company history the 80s . bernard matthews . sara lee pulls out of bernard matthews bidding . company history the 00s . bernard matthews . a b inquiry call after turkey cruelty . bbc news . 2006 09 07 . retrieved 2010 01 01 . norfolk turkey boss bernard matthews 80 retires . bbc news . 24 january 2010 . retrieved 24 january 2010 . financial times article . retrieved 2009 11 26 . financial times article . retrieved 2009 11 26 . mark sweney 16 april 2010 . bernard matthews brings back bootiful . the guardian . retrieved 23 april 2010 . http www.redtractor.org.uk site redt templates generalnews.aspx pageid 53 & cc gb . red tractor . retrieved 23 april 2010 . external link in title help the grocer magazine . retrieved 2009 11 26 . the grocer . bernard matthews new products . retrieved 2009 11 26 . turkey twizzler sales biting back . bbc news online . 2005 03 23 . retrieved 2010 01 01 . a b turkey firm advert condemns abuse . bbc.co.uk . bbc news . 2006 09 15 . retrieved 2010 01 01 . inquiry call after turkey cruelty . bbc.co.uk . bbc news . 2006 09 07 . retrieved 2010 01 01 . bernard matthews staff played baseball with live turkeys . hillside.org . workers charged . hillside.org . turkey workers played baseball with birds . the guardian . 7 september 2006 . retrieved 18 may 2015 . bernard matthews faces prosecution for failures at bird flu plant philippe naughton times online 16 february 2007 tests confirm bird flu link to hungary john vidal the guardian 14 february 2007 bernard matthews loses sales daily telegraph 14 february 2007 external links edit official website v t e agriculture in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom agriculture companies arla foods uk bernard matthews farms dairy crest faccenda group farmcare frontier agriculture genus m ller wiseman dairies nfu mutual norbrook group openfield vestey group conservation grazing marsh hedgerow removal rare breeds survival trust government and regulation agricultural land classification agriculture and horticulture development board potato council animal health and veterinary laboratories agency british cattle movement service the country code crown estate department of agriculture and rural development northern ireland department for environment food and rural affairs institute for animal health legislation meat and livestock commission natural england rights of way in scotland rural development council rural payments agency scottish government enterprise and environment directorate single payment scheme history agricultural revolution british timber trade celtic field common land corn laws diggers dutch barn enclosure haughley experiment highland clearances highland potato famine lowland clearances napier commission rationing run rig rural reconstruction association scottish agricultural revolution swing riots victory garden women s land army foot and mouth 1967 2001 2007 nations and regions england agriculture in london cuisine cornwall devon fishing scotland animal breeds shetland crofting scottish crofting foundation cuisine factor fishing royal highland show wales cuisine royal welsh show t unnos non governmental organisations unions farmers union of wales national farmers union england and wales national farmers union of scotland ulster farmers union young farmers