North Carolina's meat processing industry is diverse and robust, comprising a variety of companies specializing in the processing and distribution of different meat products, including turkey, pork, beef, and chicken. These companies, often working in close cooperation with local and regional farms, offer a range of products from whole roasts and cuts to deli meats and fully cooked offerings. They consistently strive for quality and flavor in their products, with some even prioritizing antibiotic-free and hormone-free meats. As consumer demand evolves, these companies are displaying readiness to innovate and tailor their strategies to new market trends.


Top 22 meat processing companies in North Carolina

1. Butterball, LLC

  • Website: butterball.com
  • Headquarters: Mountain Home, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1954
  • Headcount: 5001-10000
  • Latest funding type: Undisclosed
  • LinkedIn

Butterball is a food company that specializes in producing turkey products. They offer a wide range of turkey-related products, including whole turkeys, turkey roasts, turkey cuts, ground turkey, turkey burgers, turkey sausages, and deli meats. Butterball aims to help people pass love on through food, creating connections between generations and showing care through sharing. They provide helpful recipes and cooking instructions for preparing turkey meals.


2. Coleman Natural Foods

  • Website: colemannatural.com
  • Headquarters: Mountain Home, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1875
  • Headcount: 1001-5000
  • Latest funding type: Series Unknown
  • LinkedIn

Coleman Natural is a provider of high-quality meat products made from pork and beef raised on American family farms. They offer a range of fully-cooked and uncured meat options, including hickory smoked bacon, hot dogs, ham, and kielbasa. Their products are free from antibiotics and added hormones, and they prioritize animal care and quality ingredients. Coleman Natural is committed to providing wholesome and flavorful meat for families to enjoy.


3. Tyson Inc

  • Website: tyson.com
  • Headquarters: Kings Mountain, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1935
  • Headcount: 1-10
  • LinkedIn

Tyson Foods, Inc. is a leading provider of high-quality fresh and frozen chicken products. They offer a wide range of chicken products including sandwiches, sliders, chicken sausage, and meal kits. Tyson Foods is committed to delivering delicious and nutritious chicken options to consumers.


4. Butterball Foodservice

Butterball Foodservice provides turkey products to the food service industry, offering a wide range of options from sliced turkey to turkey burgers and various seasoned turkey products.


5. Mays Meats Inc

  • Website: maysmeats.net
  • Headquarters: Taylorsville, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1976
  • Headcount: 51-200
  • LinkedIn

Mays Meats is a meat processing and retail company based in Taylorsville, North Carolina. With nearly 40 years of experience, they offer a range of fresh meats, including beef, pork, lamb, and poultry, as well as dairy, frozen foods, and grocery products. They operate a full-service retail store and provide delivery services to restaurants and grocery stores within a 150-mile radius. Mays Meats takes pride in their quality products and commitment to supporting the community.


6. The HANOR Company Inc.

Hanor Company is a premier pork producer with operations throughout 7 states and over 650 employees. They are committed to creating and sustaining superior performance in pork production through innovation and world-class standards.


7. Frontier Meats

Frontier Meat Processing is a meat processing company that provides various items such as breakfast sausage, hamburger patties, chicken wings, and seafood options in addition to meat processing services.


8. Piedmont Custom Meats

Piedmont Custom Meats is a USDA inspected animal harvesting and processing facility offering slaughter and processing services. They provide local meat producers with state-of-the-art software for traceability, skilled meat cutters, and automated process and packaging equipment.


9. Firsthand Foods

Firsthand Foods is a women-owned food hub that sells local meats from North Carolina farms. They buy animals from local farmers, coordinate processing and sell fresh cuts and specialty products.


10. Watauga Butchery

  • Website: wataugabutchery.com
  • Headquarters: Vilas, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 2020
  • Headcount: 1-10
  • Latest funding type: Debt Financing
  • LinkedIn

Watauga Butchery is a custom meat processor that offers ground beef packaging. The company was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Vilas, North Carolina, United States.


11. Apple Brandy Prime Cuts

Apple Brandy Prime Cuts is a custom, USDA inspected abbatoir for farmers and meat handlers in western North Carolina and surrounding areas. Apple Brandy Beef derives from cowherds consisting of Hereford and Angus cattle. For generations our family has selected specific genetics in an effort to produce a superior cow herd. The beef available for purchase is the product of these prestigious cow herds. We know the pedigree and complete history, including exact age, of each animal that goes into our beef program.


12. Acre Station Meat Farm

Acre Station Meat Farm is a retail store that offers a range of fresh and frozen meat and grocery products for delivery to customers' doors. Specializing in pork, beef, sausage, and seasoning meats, the company cuts to order, packages all perishables in styrofoam coolers with gel packs, and uses FedEx Ground or FedEx Express for shipping. The company also provides refrigeration solutions to ensure the safety and quality of its products.


13. Meat Masters Inc

Meat Masters is a neighborhood meat market offering quality and affordable meats, vegetables, and spices for wholesale and retail customers.


14. ANCO Equipment & Services, LLC

  • Website: ancoeas.com
  • Headquarters: High Point, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1902
  • Headcount: 11-50
  • LinkedIn

ANCO Equipment & Services is a manufacturer and supplier of high-quality production machinery in the rendering and food processing industries. They offer custom equipment design and installation services to streamline processes, maximize efficiency, and improve the bottom line. With a commitment to providing reliable equipment and stocked parts, ANCO helps customers increase productivity and output.


15. Greater Triangle Home Consultants

  • Website: mygthc.com
  • Headquarters: Cary, North Carolina, United States
  • Headcount: 11-50
  • LinkedIn

Qijin Food Group specializes in Qinglin Rongchang pig, Qinglin local pork, and Chungking local pork stores.


16. Case Farms, Inc.

  • Website: casefarms.com
  • Headquarters: Troutman, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1986
  • Headcount: 1001-5000
  • LinkedIn

Case Farms is a fully integrated poultry farming and processing group that produces consistent quality poultry products for every customer. They prioritize customer satisfaction, workplace safety, and operational excellence to be the best in the U.S. chicken industry.


17. Prestage Farms

Agriculture has changed a lot since 1983 when Bill and Marsha Prestage started Prestage Farms in North Carolina. But today, we still farm and operate our businesses with the same family values they instilled more than 35 years ago as we strive to produce top-quality pork and turkey. The Prestage Farms family of companies now includes our base in North Carolina as well as farm production divisions located in South Carolina, Mississippi, Iowa, and Oklahoma. In addition, we have two different protein processing divisions: Prestage Foods in North Carolina (turkey) and Prestage Foods of Iowa (pork). Our Prestage Farms and Prestage Foods team of more than 2,700 employees and 450 contractor farm families share a commitment to food safety and the well-being of our animals, our environment, and our communities that we call home. Together, we embrace the Prestage family values of doing each job well and treating people fairly while continually looking for ways to improve and advance the processes that allow us to produce the highest quality pork and turkey at a reasonable cost.


18. Prestige Farms

Prestige Farms is a poultry business that produces over 1 million pounds of fresh poultry product each week, with branch offices located throughout the southeast. They offer home delivery services through their sister company Queen City Poultry, and pride themselves on offering the highest quality products and superior service to customers.


19. Quantum Net Inc

JetNet Corporation is a leading manufacturer and seller of netting, film, slicers, and food service products to various industries worldwide. With more than 40 years of industry experience, JetNet is the largest producer of netting products in the US meat and poultry industry. Its offerings range from netting and film to equipment and supplies for butcher shops and nurseries.


20. Carolina Classics Catfish, Inc.

  • Website: cccatfish.com
  • Headquarters: Ayden, North Carolina, United States
  • Founded: 1985
  • Headcount: 51-200
  • LinkedIn

Carolina Classics Catfish is the premium producer of naturally-raised catfish in North America. They offer fresh, gourmet catfish fillets delivered directly to customers, sourced from native American fish farmed with simple and natural methods that are safe and healthy.


21. Inland Seafood

Inland Seafood is the largest seafood and specialty foods distributor in the Southeast, offering a complete line of premium fin fish, shellfish, antibiotic and hormone-free meats, game, poultry, cheeses, olives, oils, and more. They are committed to providing high-quality proteins and artisan provisions to meet every need.


22. T.L. Herring & Company

TL Herring & Company is a wholesale meat distributor offering beef, pork, and poultry to businesses and individuals. With a highly trained staff, state of the art cooking capabilities and efficient cold chain management, T.L. Herring & Co. offers validated food safety systems to ensure their quality product.


Want to find more meat processing companies?


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