NZ's Favourite Chicken For Over 60 Years

Since 1961, Tegel has been putting chicken on Kiwi tables.

With over 2,300 employees nationwide, we offer a huge range of products to satisfy
New Zealand’s chicken appetite, from nuggets and nibbles to breasts and whole roasts. You’ll find them at your local supermarkets and restaurants, and you can even find premium Tegel New Zealand chicken overseas.

And it isn’t just the chicken-mad Kiwi public we take care of. Our chickens are all cage free, and some are free range. We’re independently audited to meet the highest New Zealand animal welfare standards.

This helps us ensure Kiwi families eat well every day.

You can find our FAQ’s here.

WE'RE ABOUT TOP QUALITY POULTRY

At Tegel, we pride ourselves on the care and consideration we put into looking after
our chickens, so we can ensure our products are of the finest quality.

100% New Zealand Raised

All Tegel's chickens and turkeys are locally farmed here in
New Zealand.

Healthy chickens

New Zealand has world-class conditions for raising poultry. This is just as well, because raising healthy chickens and turkeys is very important to us here at Tegel.

You can find out more on our FAQ's.

No added hormones

The use of growth hormones is not permitted in New Zealand. We guarantee that we’ve never used added hormones in our chickens or turkeys, and we intend to keep it that way.

Not genetically modified

Our chickens and turkeys are not genetically modified in any way. We believe it’s pretty hard to improve on nature.

WE'RE ABOUT FREEDOM

Our free range farms are SPCA Certified, meaning our free range systems meet the needs of the chicken, and support the promotion of positive experiences. SPCA Certified animal welfare standards raise the bar of welfare for New Zealand’s animals in farming sectors.

Our free-range chickens and turkeys are brought up in large, open barns for the first few weeks of their lives. Once fully feathered, they venture outside where they are free to roam, forage, stretch and perform natural behaviours.

Partnering with SPCA, all of our free range farms are SPCA certified and can be independently audited at any time to ensure that our systems meet the needs of our chickens and support the promotion of positive experiences.

Tegel chickens are cage free and are raised in large, modern, well-equipped barns.

They are free to move around and have ready access to food and water. These barns are carefully monitored to ensure our chickens are well looked after.

All our farms are independently audited to ensure they meet or exceed the requirements of the New Zealand Animal Code of Welfare and MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) and Tegel have extensive assurance and monitoring programmes in place to ensure high levels of animal health, welfare and food safety.

You can find our FAQ’s here.

HEALTHY LIVING

Chicken and turkey provide you and your family with excellent nutrients as it's high in protein, iron, zinc and selenium. Skinless chicken and turkey breasts are the leanest meats, and if you’re short on time, chicken is often an easy option for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.

At Tegel we’re also committed to helping Kiwis make healthier food choices. That’s why we put nutrition information, ingredients listings, allergens and the Health Star Rating (HSR) on all our packs.

The Health Star Rating is an independent, nutritional rating developed as part of a government-led initiative. The more stars a food has, the better it is for you and your family. For more information visit www.foodsafety.govt.nz.

We are Tegel

Tegel is New Zealand’s market-leading poultry producer, and has been part of New Zealanders’ lives since 1961. The company is involved in breeding, hatching, processing, marketing, sales and distribution of poultry products across New Zealand and to selected international markets.

OUR BRANDS

Tegel has been part of New Zealanders’ lives since 1961, and we have chicken or turkey for every occasion, whether that’s a BBQ, nibbles with friends, or a full on family roast.

We also know that Kiwis' needs are evolving, and we’re always looking for new ways to satisfy their hunger.

Kiwis aren’t the only ones we look after either – we take New Zealand’s finest chicken all over the globe with our export brand, Tegel Pure New Zealand Premium Chicken.

OUR PEOPLE

Tegel is led by a highly experienced Board and Executive team, and proudly employs more than 2,300 motivated, skilled and knowledgeable employees across the country.

OUR HISTORY

The Tegel name was known to Kiwi consumers as early as the 1950s when a number of small companies across New Zealand sold chicken sourced from the Tegel family of poultry pioneers in New South Wales.

The company as it is today began in 1961 when those small companies were bought up by the General Foods Corporation of Tip Top ice cream fame. General Foods Poultry was born and by 1978 it had processed 100 million Tegel birds “to keep pace with demand from New Zealand housewives”, as a Christchurch Star advertising feature put it that year.

Over the years the Tegel operation was part of Watties, then Goodman Fielder Watties, and then Heinz. In the 21^st century it has been in Australian and Hong Kong private equity ownership and was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2018.

Today it’s fully owned by Bounty Fresh Group, the Philippines-based poultry group.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF TEGEL

Tegel has hundreds of employees at dozens of locations including our main sites at Henderson, New Plymouth and Christchurch.

Check out a day in the life of Tegel, from factory staff arriving pre-dawn, to a grain ship unloading, to food safety testing in one of our labs, to Tegel chicken served at KFC and Pita Pit and at your place.

WE BACK KIWIS

Tegel has partnered with Kindness Collective to support their work providing essentials and moments of joy to children, families and communities in need all around New Zealand.