Tips to Start a Poultry Processing Plant Business

Most farmers or entrepreneurs have engaged in poultry farming, and it has been a profitable business to all. But setting up a poultry processing plant is very necessary because customers may prefer buying their poultry needs directly from farms and others might prefer buying an already processed one.

As a poultry farmer, there is also a need for you to have a poultry processing plant so that you can be able to reach the needs of your customers and also to increase profits from your poultry farming.  

So it is important to know that poultry processing plant is one of the businesses that can hardly go out of fashion, due to the fact that people consume poultry meat on a regular basis.

Below are the tips you should know before starting poultry processing plant business:

1.    Draw a Business Plan

Drawing a business plan helps you to know how you intend going about the business. While drawing your plans, it is important to ensure that it fits into your financial status.

You have to decide on whether to start a small or large scale processing plant and also it is important to have a poultry farm because that is where the poultry products to be processed will be coming from.   

So make sure that you have a workable business plan before running your own poultry processing plant.

It is advisable to come up with a well-detailed business plan that shows how you want to operate your business and what you wish to gain before launching your business.

And do ensure that it is been written on paper so that anyone can read it easily and understand the idea of the business. 

2.   Your Start-up Capital

You have to decide on whether you are going for a large scale poultry processing plant that requires industrialized and automated equipment.

The equipment needed also includes killing and picking equipment, evisceration, de-feathering equipment, and chilling machine or refrigerator.

And all this requires capital so that you can purchase them for your poultry processing plant, though it is not a must to buy all the equipment if you are starting on a small scale poultry processing plant.  

If you are opportune to have family memberss and friends that have strong believed in your business ideas, they can help you with the capital needed for your business.

But if you have a well detailed and fantastic business plan, you won't struggle much on how to raise money, rather you can access grants and loans from government agencies whose purpose is to support investors and entrepreneurs into going into Agric related business.  

3.   Ensure You Have Location

A poultry processing plant requires that you should have a poultry farm to avoid going out to other poultry farms to buy your chicken and process them which might result in not earning any profit from the business.

So therefore in finding a location, it is good that you look for a very nice and large place that you can emerge both the poultry farm and the processing plant.

It will also enable you to take care of your poultry products, as well as earning much profit. You can charge as much as 300 – 500 naira or even more than for each chicken processing.

The location you chose to open your poultry processing plant determines the success of your business.

You should consider some of these key factors before choosing a location for a poultry processing plant:

The demography of the location, the accessibility of the location, the rate of demand for processed poultry foods in the location, their level of purchasing, the number of grocery stores and supermarkets that sales processed poultry foods in the area, the laws and regulations in the community and the security factor.

4.   Marketing Strategies

Running a business requires a good marketing strategy. When you have chosen to start up a poultry processing plant, then you have to introduce strategies that will help youengage more customers, if not you will encounter difficulties with the business because there are renowned brands that determine the poultry processing plant industry, as well as beef and meat.

 You have to visit some fast-food chains, restaurants, and others that make use of poultry chickens on regular basis and also contact your customers and let them know about your poultry processing plant business; because it will make their work easier, while you also make your profit.

It is also good to advertise your business on the internet such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others, so that people will know your kind of processed poultry food and can reach you when they need to buy processed poultry products.

You can also create a website for your business and also list your poultry processing plant business in local directories to boost your poultry produce brand awareness.

5.   Buy the Needed Equipment

Generally, in the food processing industry, hygiene is very essential and that is the reason why government health officials will examine your equipment and facility before giving you the license to start your business.

So, therefore, buying the required equipment, do ensure that it matches the lay standard in the industry.

Some of the equipment that is needed to start your own poultry processing plant includes the following; Automated killing equipment, Eviscerating equipment, Picking equipment, and Chilling equipment.

Automated killing equipment: In a large poultry processing plant, chickens are expected to be killed quickly for quick and large production.

The automated killing equipment is needed in your poultry processing plant so as to achieve a good product that you need to maintain. Killing equipment includes specialized killing cones, stunning knives, killing tunnels and conveyors.

Eviscerating equipment is used to open up the chicken so as to remove all unwanted internal parts. The process is time-consuming and tedious that is why automating it can help to speed up and improve capacities.

Picking equipment can be used for plucking feathers so that it can be skinned later on. It is advisable to use the automated picker that can help to reduce or block bruising incidence that can affect its quality.

Chilling equipment can be used to store chickens and other poultry products and also prevent them from getting spoiled as time goes on from delivery to the receiver's door.

Packaging equipment is an extremely important factor when in the business of processing chicken. The way you package the finished product can determine if you can sell that quicker or even make more money. Placing emphasis on packaging as a way of marketing is a must-do.

6.    Register Your Business

If you have concluded and have convinced to start your own poultry processing plant, then it is necessary that you go for business registration.

You can do that by contacting the corporate affairs commission of your country or the agency that sees for business registration and then start the process.

You can also pay a lawyer that will help you to do the registrations. Once you have gotten your business license, you can now go further to apply for permits to run a food processing plant. You can visit your local authority to know the requirements of your country. 

7.       Feasibility Study 

Before starting up any business, it is important to conduct a feasibility study. Feasibility studies help to provide all details that can guide an inspiring entrepreneur in order to make the right business decisions.

For instance, the report gotten from your feasibility studies will help you to decide if need to source for partners or even determine if you are ready for the business.

However a good idea and money is not enough reason to open up a new business, but there should need for your products and services in the area you want to start up the business.

So, therefore, a feasibility study focuses on the problem that could happen on the cause of running the business and determines if the idea of your business is good.

 It is very necessary to conduct feasibility studies before embarking on any business because it will help to address where and how to operate on that business, competition, obstacles, as well as the capital needed to run the business.  

In Conclusion

In starting a poultry processing plant, you should not think about who will patronize you or where you can supply your products to.

It is a very profitable business when you are into processing them because people will even like it because it will help to reduce their stress of looking for where to slaughter, process and dress them for use.

So embarking on this kind of business requires enough capital, in order to set up the equipment and machines that will help in the operation. But the capital can be gotten gradually from your poultry product sales.

The poultry processing plant is such a profitable business because you will make much profit by selling your poultry products and also from processing them.