Flourish Magazine

turkeys ranging in finished weight from 10 to 35 pounds. Many of the free-range organic and nonorganic birds – about 3,000 to 4,000 a year – are sold at the Willie Bird retail store on Highway 12 in west Santa Rosa. "People line up out there to pick up their turkeys," says Brodsky. More Willie Birds head to independent markets throughout the Bay Area, and another 11,000 fresh turkeys are sold via mail order through Williams-Sonoma, a business that's grown steadily over the last 16 years. "We also do a brined turkey for Williams-Sonoma," he adds. "We do everything – pack, box and ship. They don't handle anything except the order." Partnering with Williams-Sonoma "has Flocks of free-range turkeys roam the oak-studded ranch in late fall. so they can feed their hungry employees. What keeps customers coming back for fresh Willie Bird turkeys year after year? "The taste of them," says Brodsky. been very good for us," he says. "We didn't "They're broad-breasted with a lot of white have to pour a bunch of money into brand- meat. They're raised the same way that ing. They kept our name on it." And Wil- Willie raised them as a kid." lie Bird has also been able to introduce Growing up in a relaxing, free-range structure as well as superior color and skin texture. Indeed the scenic oak and redwood-studded hills that the turkeys call home makes for a rather idyllic – if short – life. Day-old pullets arrive at the ranch after hatching at breeding facilities in the Central Valley. They're placed in closed new products to a wide audience through environment where they're allowed to houses under heaters and provided with Williams-Sonoma. "It started out with just wander about the ranch, laze in the sun feeders. When they reach 10 to 12 weeks of smoked turkey. This is the ninth or tenth or nibble on bugs results in good muscle age, they're allowed into the fields where year of doing fresh." Brodsky joined the company 38 years ago when he moved here from Australia to help run the Highway 12 store for his old rugby pal, Willie. "They had a little smoker, so I got a book from the library and created a recipe for smoked turkey that we're still using today," he says. Willie Bird smoked turkeys are shipped as far away as Hong Kong and Japan, and they've even been served at the White House. The family also smokes other poultry as well: Willie Bird smoked duck was served to Queen Elizabeth when she visited San Francisco 30 years ago, and each year Barron Hilton (head of the eponymous hotel chain and grandfather of Paris) orders smoked quails for everybody on his Christmas list. "But our biggest thing now is turkey bacon," says Brodsky. "It's so much better than all the other turkey bacon on the market." Willie Bird currently produces three types of turkey bacon – regular, pepper and uncured – and ships to such prominent clients as Apple, Google and Cisco Systems Preconstruction Services Complete Construction Services Design Development Sustainability Planning/Integration Service & Maintenance www.CalettiJungsten.com T: 415.381.3162 WINTER 2013 • FLOURISH 11

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