Meat+Poultry - July 2021 - 49

F
ounded in 2015, Premier Custom Foods,
based in Kansas City, Kan., started out
producing value-added meat and poultry
products and specialty items from a modest
4,000-square-foot building, with about 60
employees working at the plant. Within the
first two years the company was bursting
at the seams at the original facility, where it
specialized in processing portioned, marinated
chicken breasts and tenders as well as a
growing line of pork and beef products. To
accommodate the growth, Patrick Williams,
general manager and founder, would ultimately
purchase, renovate and move the company's
operations in 2018, to a 42,000-square-foot
building and more than double its staff to keep
up with the demand from retail grocery chains
and a handful of foodservice customers.
Williams has lived in Kansas City all his
life and has spent more than 33 years in the
meat industry. He worked at an established
Kansas City, Mo.-based meat processor/
distributor and earned ownership shares in
the company during his 28-year stint before
going it alone. He had high hopes before
ramping up operations at Premier on Jan. 1,
2015, but never fathomed the rapid growth he
would experience in the first two years of his
new venture. His business plan focused on
manufacturing specialty products that highvolume
and commodity-based processing
companies can't afford to take on.
" We do all the stuff, the labor-intensive
products, that all the big boys don't want to do, "
Williams said. " I found a little niche for products
we can do a good job with and allow us to make
money. It's not about volume for us, it's about
quality. And we can make a profit from it. "
Those products include a variety of
pre-packaged beef and chicken kabobs,
stuffed peppers, pork chops, steaks and
cut-up chicken.
AN EYE FOR D.I.Y.
When it became obvious that more space
was needed, Williams looked to move from
the small space he rented to a much larger,
nearby facility that he could own. After finding
the right location, in an established industrial
area of Kansas City, Kan., the next hurdle
was transforming the older building to a
state-of-the art food production facility. That
transformation and the cost to pull it off was
significant. Getting the new location ready for
food production meant thinking outside the box
and executing a strategic approach focused on
using existing resources and the flexibility of
the employees at the original plant.
" We didn't have the capital to hire a
contractor here to get it all done; it was too
expensive, " he said.
So, the only viable option was to use his
own workers to help renovate the new building
while still producing product each day.
" We would produce every day until 3:00, "
Williams said. " And we would come over here
at 3:30 and watch YouTube videos to learn how
to build this place ourselves.
" We would come over, rent tools, dig up
drains, cut floors out, hang panels; and learned
how to use jackhammers, " he said, adding that
plumbing and electrical work was done by
licensed professionals after Williams and his
crew did the grunt work.
It wasn't uncommon for those workers'
days to last until 10 p.m. during what was a sixmonth
process.
" We would go home and go to bed, get up in
the morning and cut chicken the next day until
3:00 and do it again. "
Once the $2.5 million project was
underway, line workers quickly realized their
role changed every afternoon during the
process, Williams said.
" You're a construction person now, " he said.
" None of us knew what to do or how to do it.
We learned and adapted. So, it was truly built
from the ground up, by us. "
The finished product was a plant that those
workers and Williams are proud of.
" My workers take great pride in having skin
in the game from when we built the building.
It's truly a blessing that they helped me do
this, " he said.
And the move to the new plant was swift, as
the last shift at the old facility ended on a Friday
and production at the new one started up the
following Monday. Williams added that many
visitors to the plant would attest that judging a
book by its cover can be deceptive as the aged
rough look of the exterior of the building hides
the technology-rich operation inside. Plans are
to give the exterior a makeover soon.
" I've worked in a lot of facilities in Kansas
City, and this is the nicest I've ever worked in, "
he said. " We are very, very proud of this place. "
" My workers take
great pride in
having skin in
the game from
when we built
the building. It's
truly a blessing
that they helped
me do this. "
- PATRICK WILLIAMS
Patrick Williams (right),
general manager of
Premier Custom Foods,
looks forward to working
alongside his son Joe,
who will assume the role
of CFO after graduating
from Drury University.
www.meatpoultry.com | 07.21 | MEAT+POULTRY 49
Photos: Sosland Publishing Company - Joel Crews
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - July 2021

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