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So began a nearly 80-year journey for Martin Foods, the family business that Israel and Melvin founded and named for their youngest brother, Martin   In the early decades under the first generation of family leadership, Martin Foods blazed a trail first as a local processor and, later, as a regional further processor of fresh poultry – constantly innovating and reinventing their business model to adapt to the ever-changing needs of consumers.  In the 1950s, Martin Foodswas the first company in Houston to offer fresh chicken parts to food service and retail customers when frozen whole birds were the industry standard.  In the 1960s and 70s, Martin Foods was among the first in Texas to service the emerging fast-food industry and one of the first to offer boneless, skinless chicken breast meat butchered fresh off the bone.  

Beginning in the 1980s, Melvin’s son Michael took over as the second generation of family leadership for the company.  Under Michael’s leadership, Martin Foods expanded to become the largest independent purveyor of center of the plate and specialty foods in the southwest, servicing fine dining, hotels, and clubs throughout Texas.  Following the Great Recession of 2007, Mike Tapick redirected the business model to encompass large scale beef and chicken further processing for QSR and casual dining chains, with a specialty in marinated products.  Between 2010 and 2020, Martin Foods more than doubled in size to become a national supplier for foodservice chains across the nation.   

In 2017, Michael’s son Jeffrey Tapick took over as the third generation of Tapick family leadership.  Martin Foods successfully weathered the COVID-19 crisis and its devastating impact on the foodservice and hospitality industry, during which time the company pivoted away from its regional foodservice distribution model to focus solely on being a world-class manufacturer of value-added chicken and meat for foodservice, retail, and industrial clients. 

A lot has changed at Martin Foods over these last 80 years, but what remains the same is our caring family culture dedicated to Going the Extra Mile (“GTXM”) to develop and deliver protein solutions for our customers, along with our entrepreneurial mindset to stay nimble and adapt to the ever-changing needs of our industry.

What sets us apart is the caring culture of our Martin Family, and the trust our customers place in us to serve as a member of their team who looks out for their business as if it were our own.  We are guided by the core values that collectively make us your Friend in the Protein Industry.