To help with this move into charcuterie, it has appointed Hayley Shadwell to the new position of production manager.
Paul Kelly, managing director of Kelly Turkeys, explained the decision.
“British charcuterie is in growth and it’s a category where our premium KellyBronze brand fits well,” he said. “With our breeding stock, we have the perfect supply of raw material. We have the facilities and the brand. The only building block needed was someone to head up production of these new lines within the business and, with her extensive experience, Hayley is ideally suited to this role.”
Kelly Turkeys has been hinting at a charcuterie range for some time now, discussing it with Food Manufacture in November 2018.
Shadwell has 20 years’ experience with the Somerset ready meals producer Oscar Mayer, where she worked as manager of their factory, supplying produce to Sainsbury’s. At Sainsbury’s request, she went on to build a new satellite factory to produce a small niche range of ready meals that contained Class 1 Allergens – with a time limit of 18 weeks from concept to launch.
She studied agriculture with Hons in Animal Science at Newcastle University. Then, after a year working on a sheep station in New Zealand, she went on to complete an MSc in Meat Science at Bristol University.
Kelly Turkeys isn’t the only meat business branching into charcuterie. Suffolk-based pork producer Dingley Dell has invested £500,000 in a new charcuterie facility, which founder Mark Hayward described as a “long-term” ambition for the business.
