DAVIDSONVILLE, Md. — A potential meat shortage is a concern for all of us during this time. The staff at Homestead Gardens teamed up with Perdue Chicken on Saturday to bring the poultry directly to the customer.
Nearly 1,000 cars lined up at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, Md. to pick up their boxes of poultry. The event was so popular that the nearly 30,000 pounds of Perdue chicken sold out the day before during online pre-sale orders.
In fact, so many people logged on to the website to order that is initially crashed the website.
Homestead Gardens CEO Brian Riddle said this is the first time they've hosted a food sale like this and the poultry sold out within hours.
"Unfortunately, even with this full semi load of chicken, there is way more demand then supply," Riddle said.
The team at Homestead Gardens started to hand out items around 8 a.m. and were done several hours later.
Riddle said this was a chance for them to support the poultry industry, farmers and also customers who may not be able to find the product in stores.
"Anything we can do right now to help people in general, and support agriculture is a bonus. But, I think, for this particular opportunity, it was just a practical need in trying to help people out," Riddle said.
One big focus was on keeping everyone safe and still practicing social distancing. All customers stayed in their cars as staff delivered the boxes of poultry directly to their car. Employees also wore gloves and masks to limit physical contact.
"We have all of the preventative measures that have been mandated as well a lot of sanitation equipment to keep our facilities clean," Riddle said.
This is the first time they've hosted this sort of food drive. They are already sold out for this round. They are hoping to do another food sell in the future, but no plans have been set as of yet.
Contact Homestead Gardens here.
