5.5.7.2Vertical

Poultry Processing

Companies processing broiler chickens and turkeys for retail and foodservice.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Meat, Poultry & Seafood Processing (5.5.7), the segment that Poultry Processing sits within. They are not figures for Poultry Processing on its own.

Market size
~$318B
Growth
~6.8%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~3,459 firms
Firms by employee count

66.6% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 2,304 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe1,155 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
66257%
100–499
26823%
500+
22519%

The largest segment in food manufacturing and the one where concentration is a live political question: a handful of packers control most beef and poultry capacity, and the growth here is protein pricing rather than volume. What is acquirable sits downstream in further-processing and value-added protein, not in primary slaughter.

NAICS 311611, 311612, 311613, 311615, 311710. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Commodity and value-added protein shipments

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$92,013,646
Revenue per employee
$561,990
Employees per firm
162.9
Recurring revenue
High

recurring protein demand

EBITDA margin
Thin commodity; richer value-added/branded
Capex intensity
High

Characteristics

  • Scale-driven: payroll is only 9% of revenue, so the cost base is assets, not headcount
  • Deep strategic-buyer pool: 225 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has trade buyers
  • Largest, most-concentrated food segment (protein majors).
  • Growth in value-added, branded, prepared proteins.
  • Input-cost, labor, and welfare/antibiotic pressures.

NAICS 311611, 311612, 311613, 311615, 311710. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandKansasIowaMontanaNebraska

Packing plants sit with the cattle: Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas form the beef corridor, where processing is three to five times more concentrated than the country as a whole and a single plant can anchor a county's economy.

NebraskaIowaMontanaKansas

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 311611/311612/311613/311615/311710. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Protein majors
  • Value-added & branded-protein acquirers
  • PE-backed specialty processors

What’s driving deals

  • Value-added and branded-protein growth.
  • Vertical integration and scale.
  • Specialty and prepared-protein M&A.

Find Poultry Processing acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Poultry Processing (5.5.7.2) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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