CHARLES CITY, IOWA — Pure Prairie Farms Inc. announced on May 25 that it plans to begin production in July at a former poultry plant it acquired in late 2021.

The premium chicken company also announced some key leadership roles in the last few days, starting with Bob Wolfe as the new chief operating officer, Santosh Venkataramanappa as vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory processes and David Stanz as director of finance. 

“Though a young company, we are committed to acting like a larger, fully integrated chicken producer,” said Brian Roelofs, chief executive officer and president for Pure Prairie Farms. “To realize our vision for the future, we knew we had to build a rock-solid foundation, today. That meant bringing the best and brightest aboard now to help get us there from the start.”

Wolfe's experience in poultry included key roles in sustainability, general management and business development at past stops including Draper Valley, AgriStats, Petaluma Poultry, Pitman Farms and Foster Farms.

Venkataramanappa joined Pure Prairie Farms from Reno, Nev.-based Armand Agra. He served as senior director of global FSQA and regulatory compliance and as senior manager of FSQA for prepared foods with Tyson Foods Inc. before that position.

Stanz previously worked in agriculture, most recently with Sparboe Farms and, before that, GNP Company. 

Pure Prairie said Stanz played a key role in the acquisition team for the company beginning in 2018, and his appointment boosts analytical capabilities for leadership and investors.

At the end of 2021, the poultry company said it would relaunch the plant which was forced to close in August 2019 due to financial shortfalls when owned by Simply Essentials.

Pure Prairie said it has worked to ensure the operational integrity of each plant area and executed logistical improvements with the purchase of underutilized land surrounding the facility to more easily scale-up to accommodate future growth.