Бернар Мэттьюс: История британской индейки и семейного бизнеса.

Farming and food products business in Norfolk

Founded by Bernard Matthews in 1950, it has 56 farms throughout Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire farming nearly 7 million turkeys each year. It also has poultry production operations in Derby and Sunderland. The company breeds and rears both indoor and free range turkeys on its farms, and is an integrated agricultural business.

The company was founded in 1950 by Bernard Matthews from his home with his wife, twenty turkey eggs and an incubator. In 1955, its headquarters were moved to its present location, Great Witchingham Hall near Norwich. In 1971, the company was publicly listed. In 1980, they launched their first TV commercial featuring Turkey Breast Roast, with Matthews himself introducing the famous 'Bootiful' catchphrase in his thick Norfolk accent. The following year, the company was bought back by the Matthews family and made private again. There were further troubles in 2007, when the company's farm in Holton suffered an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. The same year, the company's factory B plant closed, with staff moved to A plant, causing many to leave or be relocated at its parent plant up the road. By July 2008, the company had re branded itself from Bernard Matthews Foods to Bernard Matthews Farms, and stated that all its turkey products would be made with British turkey from its own farms. The company also unveiled a plan to reposition the company comprising three key elements: refocusing on British Turkey farming and production, making products that claim to better meet the needs of consumers today, and championing British agriculture. In January 2010, Bernard Matthews resigned from the post of Chairman, coinciding with his 80th birthday. In April that year, the company began a new advertising campaign, bringing back its 'Bootiful' catchphrase that had previously been used between 1980 and 2007. On 25 November 2010, founder Bernard Matthews died. In September 2016, the company was sold to an investment company owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan for £87.5 million.

The company produces a range of cooked, fresh and frozen British turkey, including products such as oven ready whole birds, joints, cooked re formed meats, and meal accompaniments, which accounts for over 90% of the business. Bernard Matthews also produces chicken products which are made with meat sourced from partners in South America. Fish was another product they once had in the 90s and 2000s with Golden Fishies before discontinuing. Bernard Matthews Farms produces turkey for leading UK grocery supermarket chains for use under their own retail brands, and also for businesses supplying the out of home foodservice market. Under the "Golden Norfolk Turkey" brand, Bernard Matthews Farms provides a frozen turkey range including whole birds in a variety of sizes, plus crowns and joints, basted and stuffed. New products under the Farms brand introduced in 2009 included several new seasonings, and an apricot and date stuffing.

One of Bernard Matthews' formed meat products, Turkey Twizzlers, containing 34% turkey, became synonymous with cheap food for children. They became a subject of debate in 2005, when they were singled out for particular criticism by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in his television series Jamie's School Dinners. The product became an emblem of the mass produced processed food that Oliver wanted to remove from school meals. In the wake of the programme, several major catering organisations announced that they would no longer serve Turkey Twizzlers in schools. Bernard Matthews discontinued the product in 2005 to avoid any further criticism and negative press coverage, although the publicity had increased consumption. In 2020, Bernard Matthews' relaunched the Turkey Twizzler brand, and they went back on sale in Iceland Stores and other major retailers in the United Kingdom.

On 7 September 2006, two contract workers were convicted of animal cruelty after being covertly filmed by a member of staff from Hillside Animal Sanctuary, playing 'baseball' with live turkeys. The two men were sentenced to a 200 hour community service which was later criticised as being 'derisory' by some animal welfare organisations. Palmer's and Allan's defence lawyer, Simon Nicholls, stated that their actions were part of a 'culture' at the Norfolk plant and, describing the conditions in the unit as "appalling", said: "You can see why people move to an organic, more open type of farming." In response, the company took out a newspaper advertisement condemning the animal cruelty, stating that the men concerned were sub contractors, and that none of its employees abused livestock.

The 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 outbreak was an occurrence of avian flu in England that began on 30 January 2007. The infection was caused by the H5N1 subtype of the Influenza A virus and occurred at one of Bernard Matthews' farms in Holton, Suffolk. A range of precautions were instituted including a large cull of turkeys, the imposition of segregation zones, and a disinfection programme for the plant. It emerged in a highly critical report from Defra that there was a series of biosecurity failings at the Holton plant, some of which had been drawn to the company's attention in the past. Though the cause of the outbreak has not been determined, Bernard Matthews regularly transported turkeys and turkey products between the UK and its plant in Hungary, and the H5N1 bird flu strains found in Hungary and Britain were effectively genetically identical. Consequences of the outbreak included bans by a number of countries on the importation of poultry from Britain, a sharp fall in sales of Bernard Matthews products resulting in workers being laid off and a collapse in confidence in the brand.

A Channel 4 Dispatches investigation broadcast in December 2023 sending two undercover reporters into a Bernard Matthews factory in Suffolk. Employees were recorded falsifying safety records and instructing the recruited reporters to do the same. Inspected frozen food that was 2 degrees Celsius was recorded as 18. An employee was recorded kicking a piece of turkey that had fallen from the production line and then picking it up and discarding it before touching an active conveyer belt carrying food with the same gloves. Both the undercover reporters found that food was contaminated with plastic and machinery to detect metal in products was defective, but neither was investigated when brought to the attention of superiors.