Bringing Premium Poultry to the Frozen Food Aisle

Named one of the “Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink” by Food & Wine and Fortune magazine editors, Chef Jennifer Johnson and her partner Serafina Palandech are bringing a sustainable ethic to the world of frozen foods with their company Hip Chick Farms. Johnson, a former Chez Panisse chef, develops the recipes, which include spicy wings, meatballs and nuggets, using ethically raised birds from a local farm. With a loan from Whole Foods, Hip Chick has expanded its distribution from 300 stores in early 2015 to 1,200 by the end of the year.

Kelly Hensel: What did you learn from your time at Chez Panisse?

Jennifer Johnson: I was 25 and all I knew about Chez Panisse was it was kind of alternative and that it was hard to get in to eat there. I decided just to go for it—that’s kind of how I live my life anyway. So, I went in there and asked for an internship and they just looked at me and basically told me to get out. I felt so defeated, but I realized later that I had left my backpack there, so I went back the next day. I got all spruced up this time and said “I will not disappoint you. I will work my butt off.” They said I could start the very next day. I didn’t leave there until 10 years later.

I started as an intern and worked my way up very quickly. It’s where I got my passion for fresh and sustainable cooking. She [Alice Waters] basically started the farmers’ markets and really brought so much awareness to feeding children, sustainability, and organics.

Hensel: Are you still working as executive chef for Ann and Gordon Getty? How is that experience?

Johnson: So, they used to run a private preschool out of the home here for more than 20 years. Actually, they just moved the preschool to a new building of its own. So, sadly the dynamic of my job changed. I used to cook lunch for the kids every day. Now, I cook for the family and for all of their events they have at the house.

Hensel: What was that experience like, cooking for the kids there?

Johnson: Oh, I loved it. I have a child of my own, Rubyrose, she’s 5 now. I love that preschool age. They would sometimes come back to see me and they would tell me how terrible the food is in their new school and how much they missed the lunches I would make them.

The kids were my test group for 15 years. They especially loved my chicken fingers and the moms would always tell me how much the kids loved them and ask why I didn’t sell them so everyone could have them. So, my wife and I decided to start our own company. We decided to start with the chicken fingers, but I didn’t want to be irresponsible about just choosing one part of the chicken—I wanted to use the whole chicken. That’s how I came up with the meatball recipe and then the wing recipe.

We use Mary’s Chickens from the Pitman Family Farm in Fresno [California] as our sole supplier, and then we have co-packers—one in Southern California and one in Oregon. I’d love to have my own facility, but it just isn’t realistic. You know, when you start your own business, you don’t get to quit your day job. It’s very expensive, we’re still very aggressively looking for funding.

Hensel: How did the partnership with Whole Foods come about and how has that impacted your distribution and sales?

Johnson: We received their local producer loan and we felt very honored to be selected to get that. And get got into a number of their stores. It was a really great leg up for us, and we love working with Whole Foods. That was really our main objective—to get into Whole Foods. We want to make Hip Chick Farms a national brand. We could have gone the farmers’ market route but as I said before our personalities are kind of more “big or go home.” My wife Serafina runs the company, and I handle R&D.

Hensel: Why did you decide to go into the consumer packaged goods business, specifically frozen foods?

Johnson: As chefs we definitely do not rely heavily anything frozen, but I think that’s changing. I wanted to start a frozen food company because I knew I could produce a product that, when heated in the oven, tastes like I just made if for you fresh in your kitchen. People are constantly telling us, “This doesn’t taste frozen.”

I'm able to select and add ingredients to my products without it having to put anything in there that I am not okay with. It’s a really pure list of ingredients, so it’s super transparent. It’s frozen because it maintains the quality of our products and the shelf life.

We make our products in very small batches and then they get immediately frozen. At Chez Panisse, I learned how to cook very simply. It’s hard to keep it simple and still make it taste good. That’s what Hip Chick Farms is all about. My recipes are very simple, and I maintain the integrity and quality of that product by being able to freeze it.

Our margins are really low because we’re using really good products. We’re not making any money really because we want to do it differently. We want people to rethink processed foods. This is a day and age where people are looking for food like this. They don’t have time, but they still want high quality food that is made with integrity. I have time, so I have made it for you and you can heat it up in your oven and you have a delicious quality product.

Hensel: How many stores is your product in?

Johnson: I think by the New Year we will be in 1,200. When we started a couple of years ago we had different packaging—it was a cute little bucket, but it was problematic for stores to stock and ship. So about a year later, we switched to our new packaging—the boxes—and we saw an 815% sales increase.

Hensel: Do have plans to expand the brand beyond chicken?

Johnson: No. We are going to introduce new products, and I think there's maybe even a book on the horizon, but it will all center around chicken. I'm very comfortable using that product, and I'm excited about some of our new products coming out. We have a naked chicken nugget coming out very soon.

Hip Chick Chicken Finger Sliders

Ingredients:

• 6 baked Hip Chick chicken fingers
• 6 soft rolls
• 1/2 thinly sliced purple and green cabbage
• 1 tbsp sliced scallions
• 1 tsp of red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 2 tbsp of mayonaise
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl combine and toss together all of your sliced cabbage, scallion, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
2. Split soft rolls add 1 baked chicken finger to each roll, top with a generous amount of coleslaw and enjoy your slider!