Irvine's

Our Roots

Bill Irvine started Irvine's Day Old Chicks with his wife using their spare bedroom in Waterfalls in 1957. Today Irvine's produces over 50 million chicks per year, over 18 million dozens of table eggs per year and over 15 000 tonnes of frozen chicken per year.

Key Milestones Along Our Journey

In its over 60 years of existence, Irvine’s has achieved some signi cant milestones the most notable being:

1960 - Irvine’s built a basic processing plant at Huxton Road which enabled them to start the production of frozen chicken.
1962 - Bill Irvine met with Tony Barnes and John Knowles of Cobb Breeding Company. They organised the first importation of COBB100 birds. These birds were placed in open sided housing at Huxton Road.
1963 - Irvine’s installed layer laying cages at Huxton Road and the commercial production of table eggs commenced.
1980 - Construction of breeding houses and Grand Parent Hatchery commenced at Harare South Farms.
1991 - A new Commercial Hatchery was built at Derbyshire Farm.
1998 - The Processing Plant was upgraded to international standards.
2000 - The Company built a second Commercial Hatchery.
2001 - Automatic egg grading machines were purchased to improve and automate operations.
2007 - Irvine’s celebrated 50 years of poultry production.
2008 - Irvine’s ZIMVET Laboratory receives ISO17025 Certification.
2009 - Irvine’s began a joint venture with Innscor. There was a good synergy between the two groups and Irvine’s grew from strength to strength.
2010 - Irvine’s implemented further processing upgrades and installed an individual quick frozen (IQF) spiral freezer.
2011 - Controlled environment houses were introduced Irvine’s Processing Plant receives ISO22000 Certi cation.
2012 - Irvine’s and Cobb celebrated 50 years of partnership.
2013 - Irvine’s receives ISO22000 Certi cation for Commercial Hatchery and FSSC22000 for the Processing Plant.
2015 - Irvine’s commissions its new fully automated world-class Feed Mill.
2018 - Irvine’s Feed Mill receives its ISO 22000 Certi cation. The ISO 22000 was the Management System of choice due to the fact that the Processing Plant and Hatchery within Irvine’s Zimbabwe are also ISO/ FSSC Certified, therefore completing the food chain within the company and living up to the Irvine’s pay- offline, ‘Trust Earned’. The ISO 22000 system enables Irvine’s to continuously improve on feed safety, its operational processes and service so that it can consistently deliver safe, wholesome, high quality feed to its customers at the least cost and on time. It gives Irvine’s and its customers confidence that the feed made at the Irvine’s Feed Mill is made to the highest quality standards and is very safe for its birds and ultimately all consumers of the company’s poultry range of products.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Irvine’s Zimbabwe has made a difference in the community through its various sustainability programs. It supports education and vulnerable children through charity organizations, as well as backup and training communal farmers, youths, and women.

The company has been at the forefront of economically empowering local people in line with the company’s business objective of changing lives in Africa by producing affordable protein.

Irvine’s has partnered Command Livestock Agricultural Programme through the provision of 12 poultry demonstration houses complete with equipment in each province of the country. Each house has a capacity of 2 500 broilers, Irvine’s provided the first batch of chicks and the necessary feed free of charge, beneficiaries then sold these chickens and used proceeds to purchase the next batch. These facilities are also used to train producers in poultry production. The training has been extended to radio programs as well.

The company has also put in place free trainings in rural areas on best poultry farming methods and these farmers are achieving results of 95% success rate, which equates to a commercial grower in the region. Irvine’s prides itself in contributing towards the local empowerment of farmers in Zimbabwe with about 90% of the broiler chickens that are processed in Zimbabwe being grown by contract farmers.

Irvine’s has a huge investment in infrastructure which includes housing and amenities for team members with power, water borne sewage and water reticulation, a recreational centre,2 modern clinics staffed by state registered nurses and 2 schools that are manned by qualified professionals from the health and education sector. There are 29 dwelling houses for management, 17 on Derbyshire and 12 on Lanark Farm, a total of 704 five roomed worker houses which accommodate and cater for over 2 500 people with power and water supplies clustered at Derbyshire, Carnock and Lanark village communities. All this is done to take care of the employees’ welfare. This makes the employees to be more focused and diligent in the exercise of their duties, consequently boosting company productivity.

The company also supports various charity organisations, orphanages, childcare centers and other needy institutions. These include Jairo’s Jiri, Danhiko Project, Emerald Hill Children’s Home, Harare Children’s Home, St Joseph House of boys, Athol Evans, Harare Senior Citizens Club, Waterfalls Trust, Beezer Organisation, Fairways home and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Waterfalls Dog Section.