Zacky Farms history

By 1942 the couple's venture had succeeded to the point that Max was able to quit his job at the paper and commit himself to the family business full time.

After buying a second farm, the company acquired a feed mill in 1950.

In 1955, Zacky Farms was incorporated.

Expansion in California: 1959-87

Zacky built a chicken hatchery in 1967.

Under his guidance, Foster Farms acquired a distribution and sales center in El Monte, California, in 1973.

In 1982, the company purchased the assets of The Grange Company and its subsidiary, Valchris Poultry.

Zacky added turkey to the mix in 1984 with the purchase of Swift and Company's turkey assets, which included hatcheries, growout ranches, a processing plant, a packaging building, and a cold storage facility.

During that time, the chickens had constant access to the company's own corn and soybean meal feed. 'They are pampered,' a Foster Farms spokesperson explained to the San Francisco Chronicle on June 2, 1987. 'Good chicken is good business.'

Perdue aired a series of commercials featuring the company's eponymous chairman, Frank Perdue, proclaiming that 'it takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.' Recognizing the need to defend its position, Foster Farms also increased its television marketing presence in 1988.

Most importantly, Foster Farms acquired a turkey processing plant in Fresno, California, from Roxford Foods in November 1989.

A new feed mill that Zacky opened in Traver in 1991 was one of the poultry industry's first automated operations.

In 1994, Foster Farms made a more aggressive move into the markets of the Northwest when it purchased Lynden Farms for an estimated $8.2 million.

Though the privately held operation was tightlipped about its sales figures, Foster Farms did announce that its 1996 sales had topped $900 million.

By the close of 1998, Foster Farms processed about 130 million pounds of poultry at its Northwest facilities.

Zacky also had to contend with a misfortune that adversely impacted the company's ability to compete when, in April 2000, Albert Zacky, president of Zacky Farms, died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 71.

In March 2001, Zacky Farms agreed to sell its chicken operations to Foster Farms, with Albert Zacky citing the federal inheritance tax as the compelling reason for the sale.