In 1946 Pilgrims Pride was a feed store. Then, Aubrey Pilgrim and his brother Bo got together for business. They grew baby chicks to the farmers and soon the demand was high enough to create a modern company called Pilgrims Pride.
As the company was walking on, the brothers bought Mt. Pleasant hatchery and paid for grow chicks. Pilgrims Pride adopted an innovative plant that could raise 12000 broilers per day. In 1966, Aubrey Pilgrim died.
The company continued their expansion, not only in quantity but in technology. In 1996 Pilgrims Pride opened a hatchery in Nacogdoches, Texas, where the processes were totally computerized and they established a Prepared Food plant in Mount Pleasant. Now the company offers more than a thousand different products. The expansion reached the ready to cook, the frozen and the egg markets.
Today the production and the size of the company could be described by their numbers: 40 million dozen tables per year, 6 billion pounds of poultry and 40 000 employees. There was a time when chicken needed 9 weeks to grow; now Pilgrims Pride can grow it in six weeks. A dozen eggs took one hour and a half of work, now they can do the same in just five minutes.
Pilgrims Pride Corporation has five product categories for the consumer: chicken (fresh or prepared), turkey, eggs, salads and deli products. Those products are distributed by a dedicated department that secures that Pilgrims products will get to the right place at the right time.
Their distribution centers are located in Arlington, El Paso, Dallas, San Antonio and Texas; Phoenix, Arizona and Mount Pleasant. Their 4000 farms supply all the country with their products. Pilgrim Pride exports their products to 70 countries, and their mainly foreign operation is in Mexico.
There are job opportunities in Pilgrims Pride Company; from their logistics and technical departments to production and distribution specialties.