Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Boneless Profitable In Poultry

It's hard to remember a time when boneless chicken wasn't on supermarket shelves.

But, there was, and it led to the creation of Petit Jean Poultry.

In 1982, Leon Milsap had the foresight to see boneless chicken as an industry. He talked his supporters into helping him out and the first plant opened in Danville.

It was a modest plant with less than 40 employees 24 deboners and 12 trimmers.

The rest is history. The concept took off with Tyson Foods making massive orders and helping Petit Jean to expand in order to meet Tyson's demand.

Now, the plant almost exclusively provides boneless birds for Tyson, Ronnie Farnam, general manager of the Clark County Industrial Park plant, told members of the Clark County Industrial Commission Thursday, March 18.

Petit Jean did have a beef procession plant for a while at Stillwell, OK, but it was bought outright by Tyson's for its beef operation.

The company's last expansion, the Gum Springs site, came down to Arkadelphia and Newport.

Milsap had information from the Chamber of Commerce showing photos of the building where Petit Jean is now. However, it wasn't until Percy Malone got involved the decision was made to locate in Arkadelphia.

Petit Jean was the first major industry to locate in Clark County after the economically disastrous decade of the 1980s.

The plant began operation in 1991 in the Clark County Industrial Park and has been successfully operating since.

Farnam said the company stresses safety and takes every precaution possible. The success here is more than a million man-hours without an accident.

When this is taken into account with the fact many of the employees are using razor sharp knives and other cutting tools, it's nothing short of amazing.

Farnam came to the Arkadelphia site three years ago, but wanted to relocate much earlier. When the plant first opened he asked if he could come down, but was denied and had to stay at the Rogers location.

"This is where I wanted to be," he said. His perseverance paid off with him moving in 1996.

The company, he said, is involved in several charitable activities as it tries to give back to the community.

For the past two years, Petit Jean has contributed birds to the Gurdon Rotary Club/Gurdon Times food drive at Christmas, helping to feed area residents during the holidays.

Additionally, he said, the company believes in helping young people. Several young people work at the plant, but not on the lines where sharp objects are used.

The Arkadelphia plant is basically a disassembly site, where the front halves of chickens are taken and deboned.

There are 17 people on this line, each with different duties concerning cuts made to the bird.

Farnam said there are six lines deboning front halves and four lines deboning legs.

And, he continued, nothing is wasted from the birds.

While Petit Jean Poultry is a chicken processing plant, it is not a "chicken plant" in the old sense of the word. No gutting or plucking is done there.

The plant has its own sewer treatment facilities, with the chicken fat skimmed and used for pet food, as are the bones.

The facility is washed down with hot water every five hours, and a full chemical wash is done daily from 12:30-5:30 a.m.

Swab tests are done on the line to make sure there is no bacteria there, as the plant works under strict USDA guidelines.

The plant runs some 500,000 pounds of birds daily and can hold up to 2.5 million pounds before shipping.

Petit Jean employs about 600 people locally and has a payroll in the neighborhood of $11 million annually.

The company offers competitive wages, running from $7 per hour to $13, depending on the job, and will train new employees.

In other business with the CCIC, President Brown Hardman announced Bo Lea has been promoted at Entergy and has been replaced locally by Randy Jerry.

He reminded the group the membership drive continues and membership is up to 273 and growing.