Slower-growing broiler company Cooks Venture formed

A new company has formed that will specialize in the production and processing of pasture-raised, slow-growth chickens that are third-party verified through the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Step 4 program.

Roy Graber Headshot
Newly-formed company Cooks Venture will be raising slow-growth, Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Step 4 program-certified chickens. (Cooks Venture)
Newly-formed company Cooks Venture will be raising slow-growth, Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Step 4 program-certified chickens. (Cooks Venture)

A new company has formed that will specialize in the production and processing of pasture-raised, slow-growth chickens that are third-party verified through the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Step 4 program.

Cooks Venture announced its official public launch on March 19, as well as its acquisition of an 800-acre farm in Arkansas and two processing facilities in Oklahoma.

Effective immediately, Cooks Venture has begun the pre-sale of pasture-raised, heirloom, slow-growth chickens. It will offer direct-to-consumer and in-store distribution, starting July 2019.

Founded by Matthew Wadiak, former chief operating officer of Blue Apron, Cooks Venture describes itself as a “next-generation food company rooted in regenerative agriculture and transparency.” The company says its goal is to build a better food system with a superior supply chain, starting with poultry.

Matthew Wadiak Ceo Cooks Venture

Matthew Wadiak Cooks Venture's founder and CEO. (Cooks Venture)

Cooks Venture’s Arkansas farm has more than 800 acres of wooded land, encompassing a hatchery, pedigree chickens, barns and a biodiverse vertically integrated poultry operation, according to a press release from the company. The slow-growing, pasture-raised birds have unrestricted access to the outdoors.    

 “We are building better communities through progressive agriculture processes, while allowing consumers to vote with their dollars, to ultimately reverse global warming and create better tasting and healthier food,” stated Wadiak, who serves as the company’s CEO. “The research developed over the last decade has helped formalize a truly defining moment in the agriculture industry and we are at the forefront.”

Company leadership

In addition to Wadiak, the company’s leadership team will include:

  • Richard Udale, director of genetics -- Udale is a former president of the Poultry Breeders of America and the former chairman of the Poultry Breeders Roundtable Symposium.
  • Blake Evans, executive vice president -- The founder of Crystal Lake Farms, Evans spent his career cultivating breeding and building a better farming system to produce a different class of chickens for customers with high standards, a category Cooks Venture says would not exist without his lifetime’s work.
  • Mark Fisher, vice president of operations -- A U.S. Army veteran with 26 years in the poultry industry, Fisher runs Cooks Venture’s facility operations and two plants. He has prior industry experience working for Zacky Farms, Foster Farms and Wayne Farms.

“Richard and I began this journey over a decade ago to breed the best tasting slow-growing chicken in America. This journey has led us to the partnership with Matthew and Cooks Venture,” said Evans. “We are excited to have created an entirely new category and standard that goes far beyond the current green-washed buzzwords like ‘organic’ and ‘sustainable.’ Our team at Cooks Venture knows we can make a global impact and look forward to paving the way for a system encompassing better tasting food, more humanely raised animals and more biodiverse soil, our greatest national resource.”

Future plans

Cooks Venture will expand past poultry in the near future, raising cattle, pigs, grains, vegetables and more under the same regenerative methodology and scrutiny.

Cooks Venture’s team will measure its farms and partners for soil health and sequestration of carbon and publish the results annually. 

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