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The Bell & Evans Timeline

1894

Howard H. Bell of Bellmawr, New Jersey, starts a poultry business on his family’s farm.

1894

1910

Bell expands his poultry business by partnering with another local farmer, Carlton Evans, forming “Bell & Evans.”

1910

1926

Bell & Evans opens its first poultry plant in Camden, NJ.

1938 Camden Ad

1927

Bell & Evans is officially incorporated.

1927

1958 A Bell & Evans First

C.F. Manbeck, Inc./Farmers Pride began private labeling Bell & Evans poultry to Bell & Evans’ stringent specifications.

1958

1984

Clarence Manbeck (right) retired and sold his company to Scott Sechler (left).

1984

1985 A Bell & Evans First

Sechler started requiring cement floors and disinfecting and cleaning the chicken houses between each flock.

1985

1986

Sechler (left) purchased the Bell & Evans brand from the Bell family and merged it with Farmers Pride.

1986

1998 A Bell & Evans First

Bell & Evans introduced an all natural feed and started raising birds without antibiotics.

1998

2000

Bell & Evans completed its $10 million plant expansion, doubling the size of the facility. This brought its total number of employees to over 700 and total farm families to over 90.

2000

2001

Bell & Evans introduced chicken nuggets.

Bell & Evans Breaded Chicken Nuggets

2005

Bell & Evans Retail Outlet opened for business in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania.

Bell & Evans Retail Outlet

2005 A Bell & Evans First

Bell & Evans opened its $26 million state-of-the-art 100% Air Chilling facility.

2005

2005

Bell & Evans launched gluten free nuggets and gluten free tenders.

2005

2009

Bell & Evans launched its organic line of products.

2009

2010 A Bell & Evans First

Bell & Evans introduced innovative freezer-safe recyclable packaging, made with #1 PETE recyclable materials.

2010

2011

Bell & Evans introduced Slow Induction Anesthesia (SIA) and the Bell & Evans Humane Animal Welfare standard, which garnered praise from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Temple Grandin.

2015

Bell & Evans opened a $110 million, 160,000 square-foot Further Processing, Packaging and Par Frying Facility.

2015

2016

Bell & Evans launched a premium line of ready-to-cook, gluten free, organic items.

2017 A Bell & Evans First

In July, Bell & Evans opened the world’s first Organic Certified, Animal Welfare-Focused Chicken Hatchery.

Bell & Evans Hatchery

2017 A Bell & Evans First

In November 2017, we had the first hatch of our New Breed, Das Klassenbester™, higher-welfare chickens.

2017

2021

In December 2021, we opened our brand new Organic-Certified Chicken Harvesting Facility.

Bell & Evans Headquarters / Plant 3