New Simply Essentials owner: Name will stay the same

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The new owner of the Simply Essentials company had little to say about the acquisition Tuesday, but did say the Charles City poultry processing plant will continue to operate under the Simply Essentials name.

As the Press reported in its Tuesday edition, the private equity company that was majority owner of Simply Essentials has sold the company to Pitman Family Farms, a large poultry company with headquarters in California.

David Pitman, the leader of the family-owned company, said Tuesday afternoon his company likes to “stay low key” and he didn’t have many comments about the purchase.

He did tell the Press that the company will continue to be called Simply Essentials and said much of the management team will remain in place. He also confirmed that the current Simply Essentials CEO, Dennis Krause, would remain in that position.

Krause told the Press Monday that the sale of Simply Essentials to Pitman Family Farms was “very positive” news for the Charles City plant, and that the facility was now in a “high-growth mode.”

Pitman Family Farms is headquartered in Sanger, California, located near Fresno in central California’s San Joaquin Valley.

The California Poultry Association has called the company “one of California’s fastest-growing poultry companies.” A 2015 news report said it had almost 100 ranches in the Central Valley area. David Pitman is a past chairman of the California Poultry Association.

In 2014, Pitman Family Farms earned Whole Foods Market’s “supplier of the year” award for perishable foods. It was one of two companies to win the award that year, among thousands of Whole Foods suppliers.

In 2013 the company expanded its chicken processing plant in Sanger by 25,000 square feet. At that time Pitman Family Farms had a reported 600 full-time employees.

The company has been in business since 1954 and is now in its third generation of management.

According to Bloomberg, Pitman Family Farms Inc. raises, produces and sells chicken, turkey and duck products. The company specializes in free-range and organic poultry products, and markets its products through a network of retail stores in the United States.