It will be business as usual at Granny's Poultry in Blumenort. That is the word from Chief Executive Officer Craig Evans today, after it was announced Granny's is merging with Exceldor of Quebec.

Evans says they have been working on this amalgamation for about 18 months. The deal finally closed July 1st after all hurdles and regulatory requirements were met.

"We're happy now that we're part of a national cooperative and moving forward we'll be operating under the name, Exceldor," says Evans.

According to Evans, the Blumenort plant will continue to process chickens and turkeys. He says there will be no shift in production there.

While the Blumenort plant will probably take on the name Exceldor, Evans says the Granny's brand will continue to exist.

"One of the things that attracted Exceldor to us was our brand, the Granny's brand and the strength of that brand," he says. "We're hoping that through this amalgamation we can grow with it and further expand the brand."

Evans says similar to Granny's, Exceldor is a cooperative. Exceldor has annual sales of $800M, while Granny's has sales of about $180M a year.

"They are run in a very, very similar fashion to Granny's," says Evans. "We've done some work with them in the past, just for that reason, because we're so like minded. So we're really excited."

Evans says their members voted 100 per cent in favour of the merger.

"The members are supportive, staff is supportive and we see a bright future ahead," he says.

Evans notes the largest Exceldor product we see right now on store shelves is the Butterball brand. He notes similar to Granny's, Exceldor is a fresh chicken organization. For shelf life reasons, he says Exceldor chickens will not stretch into southeastern Manitoba. In the same way, Granny's chickens don't hit the shelf in Quebec.

"We're pretty excited about this opportunity going forward," stresses Evans. "The fact that we can remain a cooperative, that we can grow and now become a national player and one of the largest cooperatives in Canada, we just see this as a great opportunity going forward."

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Granny's And Exceldor Combining Operations