About Us
Company History
Maple Lodge Farms has never forgotten its humble beginnings - family is what got us started, and family keeps us going.
Hard work and new ideas - that's what the May family brought with them to Norval, Ontario when they settled there in 1834. Since then, generations of the May family have farmed and raised livestock on the same property, and as the family grew, so did their humble farm. But times were tough during the Great Depression, so Lawrence May decided to make some much-needed extra money by putting a few boxes of eggs in the back of his truck and selling them door-to-door in the city.
That decision turned out to be the start of a true Canadian success story! His sons, Jack and Bob, eventually joined their father on those trips, and years later took the family business in a new direction by growing broiler chickens. That's when they added a cooler to the truck and began offering their customers home-grown, fresh chicken direct from the May family farm. By 1955 Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. was formally established, and today we continue to supply quality chicken products to Canada and the world.
Jack and Bob May (the same brothers who rode with their dad in his truck long ago) are now Co-Chairmen of Maple Lodge Farms Ltd., and to this day the company remains 100% family owned.
Today, Maple Lodge Farms employs approximately 2,200 people. We operate a primary/further processing facility in Brampton, Ontario; a primary processing facility in St. Francois, New Brunswick; a further processing plant in Mississauga, Ontario; and a primary processing plant in Kentville, Nova Scotia (a joint venture with a Nova Scotia chicken farmers' co-operative). Our Ontario operations also include hatcheries, feed mills, and a modern laboratory which supports the processing facilities and ensures product safety.
While the Maple Lodge Farms' headquarters still stands on the same land as the original May family homestead, there is nothing old-fashioned about the company! We operate to the latest in technological, health and safety and quality standards. We are still guided by the same philosophy as Lawrence was when he drove his truck door-to-door; to produce the best quality chicken products at the best possible price.
