Business View Magazine Feb 2023

154 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 .......................................................... With experience that is unparalleled in the poultry industry, coupled with expert solutions to provide the very best in poultry deboning technology, Foodmate continues to dominate the industry while setting the gold standard for poultry production. Providing cost-effective solutions and cutting- edge poultry processing automation. Foodmate’s machines also help to streamline production and reduce labor costs in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive industry. Foodmate’s mission is to also offer the most efficient equipment for its clients, solidifying its role as one of the most reliable industry partners for poultry production automation. Partners such as AlaTrade who process over 400 million pounds of chicken annually, work closely with Foodmate in key areas such as clients’ yields, tech solutions, and finding the right solutions to increase profit margins. Foodmate simply provides the best technology foundation that consistently cuts through the competition. Foodmate offers leading intelligent deboning solutions for both dark and white meat that include the OPTiX Thigh Deboner that offers integration with the OPTI Flow Cut-up System and accommodates a wide variety of bird sizes. The machine adjusts in real-time for each leg on the line. The company also provides its clients with the ULTiMATE Whole Leg Deboner, the MAX2.0, and the upcoming MAX XL, the breast deboner developed for larger birds, which are all leading examples of next-generation deboning technology for its valued customers. Slicing through the industry, putting the clients first, Foodmate is growing and is working tirelessly to provide the very best for its poultry industry customer base. For more information, contact us at www.foodmateus.com the employees are able to access that money once they reach retirement age” she relays. “I’ve recently run the numbers against what an average 401 K plan looks like. Our expectations are that employees could have an account when they retire of almost double what they would have for a 401 K plan. The beauty is they don’t contribute. Most companies’ employees are going to be contributing two-thirds of the account value for its growth.” Fortunately for AlaTrade Foods, COVID did not shut down any of the three production facilities. “We just had to push through.We’re dealing with a live animal and our offices, and production facilities were never closed,” says Elrod.“We never experienced bad side effects because of that. Any cases that we had in the plant came up like popcorn, but not people who were working side by side. So actually, we were very fortunate and blessed as we made it through the early part of COVID.” During this time, Davis Lee showed his generosity to the company once again, fulfilling another promise he had made during the sale of AlaTrade Foods to the ESOP. As Elrod recounts,“We set a date for a year later, and we had a jackpot drawing in each of our plants. So, we gave out $50,000 in each of our three ALA TRADE FOODS