Best Of: Putting together Costco’s personal supply

MEAT+POULTRY Podcast

*This podcast was originally published on July 30

On this week’s MEAT+POULTRY Podcast, our Operations Executive of the Year, Walt Shafer, discusses some of the details of his latest success as chief operations officer at Costco owned Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont, Neb., Costco’s exclusive and fully integrated chicken supplier.

Shafer begins with his preference to be on the floor of the facility as a plant manager and moves through his ownership of a chicken farm in Virginia and how that experience helped him impart confidence to Nebraska farmers who had never grown chickens.

Shafer also talks about the first employee he hired, Jessica Kolterman, and the ways her expertise played a crucial role in navigating the politics necessary for the needed approvals on the Lincoln Premium project.

Finally, we get a glimpse of the early vision of Lincoln Premium Poultry and how a partnership with Marel allowed that vision to come to fruition.