Founded 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 high-volume and commodity-based processing companies can't afford to take on.
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