Like many manufacturers, Eaton, Ohio-based Henny Penny Corp. was founded on innovation. Seeking a better way to cook chicken, restaurant owner Chester Wagner developed a deep-fat pressure fryer and filed for a patent in 1954. Three years later (patent in hand), Wagner formed Henny Penny to market his invention, which the company claims was the world's first commercial pressure fryer.
"Throughout the years, we've been a company that has relied on product innovation as a way to drive our business," says Jeff Kincer, Henny Penny's vice president of engineering.
Nowadays, innovation is just as much a survival strategy as it is a growth strategy for the company, whose customers include McDonald's, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Robust sales of Henny Penny's Evolution Elite open fryer platform -- launched in mid-2008 -- helped Henny Penny maintain relatively flat revenue numbers in 2009, while many of its competitors saw their sales drop 20% to 30%.
"The investment in that technology -- and the timing was fortunate as well -- really made up for the economic downturn for us," Kincer says.
According to Henny Penny, the Evolution Elite cooks the same amount of product with 40% less oil than the standard 50-pound-per-well fryer, and has sensors that continually monitor the oil level. Because the fryer uses "substantially less shortening" and features filtration technology that extends the life of the frying oil, "we really changed the economic equation for the operators," Kincer says.
While the R&D investment in the Evolution Elite seems like a no-brainer now, Kincer notes that the fryer "was an expensive product to bring to market" and required "an extended development time." The key to maintaining the company's focus on long-term innovation investments such as the Evolution Elite, Kincer asserts, is having a group of senior leaders who are willing to "stay the course, invest the dollars and create the priority within the organization."
"We have an enormous advantage in that we are a privately held company and we have ownership that has a very long-term perspective and is patient," Kincer says. "Sometimes public companies don't have that luxury. So that's been an important element of fueling the innovation that we've had in this organization for many years."
According to Kincer, Henny Penny's current strategic plan calls for the company to "really up the ante" with its innovation culture -- particularly when it comes to encouraging risk-taking, promoting unconventional thinking and pushing technical personnel to venture beyond their comfort zones. Company leaders know that they will play an important role in accomplishing those objectives.
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