Costco, Walmart, and Kroger Meet Growing Demand in Time for Thanksgiving

CHICAGO, IL (November 2021) – The nation’s foremost American pioneer in premium, Halal hand-cut meat and poultry products, Crescent Foods, announced major retailers will carry its whole turkey products for Thanksgiving. Costco Business Center will offer four individually wrapped, fresh whole turkeys per case, while Walmart and Kroger stores will carry single whole turkeys, either in the frozen or fresh meat cases, ranging in size from 10 to 15 pounds. A number of regional, independent, and online retailers are also set to carry Crescent Foods’ Halal turkey items.

To bring turkey products to market safely and responsibly, while following strict Halal hand-cut standards,
Crescent Foods partners with a multi-generational, family-owned farm in Ontario, which is the only federally inspected farm in Canada to have the whole turkey lifecycle on-farm. This includes breeding, hatching, feeding, raising, and harvesting.

“The demand for Halal hand-cut turkey is here to stay and it’s growing stronger each year,” said Huthyfah Abed, executive national sales director for Crescent Foods. “We were able to bring everything together with our offerings: the household name of Crescent Foods, the experience and integrity of our farm partner, and premium attributes like a vegetarian-fed diet and no-antibiotics-ever, all on a national scale. It’s a market advantage we have and want our retail partners to have, as Muslim-Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with Halal turkey on their holiday dinner tables,” Abed added.

To shed more light on how Muslim-Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Crescent Foods surveyed 11,000 of its consumers, of which 96 percent of respondents self-identified as Muslim-American. Here’s what the company learned:
• Nearly 99 percent celebrate Thanksgiving at home, or at the home of a relative, versus at a restaurant or other venue.
• 62 percent celebrate with close family members, and more than half celebrate with at least five, and up to 12, people.
• 57 percent named turkey as their favorite animal protein for Thanksgiving, followed by chicken at 42 percent, lamb at 21 percent, and beef at eight percent.
• 80 percent said it was “very important” that the meat and poultry products they serve are specifically Halal hand-cut; though less than half were “very confident” they would be able to source Halal hand-cut turkey this Thanksgiving.

Additionally, more than 80 percent of respondents said “mashed potatoes and gravy” was their favorite side dish, followed by bread stuffing at 49 percent. Pecan pie was the top favorite dessert at 49 percent, followed by cheesecake at 48 percent and fresh fruit at nearly 45 percent.

“Our survey results demonstrate that Muslim-Americans, just like all Americans, enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving with their families, most often with Halal turkey. Our retail partners are embracing this opportunity to serve an ever-growing, diverse population. When it comes down to it, as Americans, we have a lot more in common than we think we do, especially when it comes to honoring our family and relationships as we share Thanksgiving meals together,” Abed concluded.

Crescent Foods expects its premium, hand-cut Halal turkeys to hit retail store meat cases the week before Thanksgiving. To learn more about Crescent Foods’ turkey products, its family farm partner, and for recipes and store locator tool, visit Crescent Foods’ Turkey Day page here. The company also partners with several non-profit, hunger relief organizations and supports food banks through a special Thanksgiving holiday program, specifically to put more hand-cut Halal turkey on the dinner tables of anyone in need. A list of partners and where to find Crescent Foods’ Halal turkey products at local food shelves are also available on the company’s Turkey Day page.

* About Crescent Foods: American Pioneers in Halal Meat for the Last 25 Years. And for the next. Crescent Foods was founded in 1995 to bring healthy, humanely processed Halal chicken to America’s dinner tables. Today, Crescent Foods is the largest provider of premium quality Certified Hand-Cut Halal poultry and meat products across the United States. It prides itself on its ability to offer choice through a variety of meat and poultry cuts, products, and packaging options to retail stores, restaurants, and institutions. Crescent Foods’ commitment to the highest Hand-Cut Halal standards, state-of-the-art production processes, use of technology, distribution, product development and service helps the company remain at the industry’s forefront in North America and globally.