Texas Treasures: Greenberg Smoked Turkeys

Sam Greenberg, President

Photos by Karen Altom

As I was growing up, nothing signaled the coming of the holidays more than the arrival of a simple, white rectangular box shipped from Tyler, Texas, emblazoned with a red turkey and the words “The Holiday Aristocrat” on its side. This box released a smoky smell of goodness that made your mouth water in anticipation. Always for Thanksgiving, and sometimes for Christmas as well, the Stevens house was guaranteed to have a Greenberg Smoked Turkey gracing the table.

Because I was unable to remember a holiday season when that box did not arrive, I asked my mom Betty how long we had been getting these delectable birds and who introduced us. She said that we started getting them as gifts from both Mr. Tommy Shine and Mr. William Forrest when she and Daddy moved back to Madison County. During our conversation, we realized that this year is a milestone and will mark the 50th year our family has enjoyed the offerings of the Greenberg Smoked Turkey Company.

When I called to set up an interview, I was told I’d need to speak to Sam. My assumption was that Sam was probably the marketing or PR director…not so. Sam is Mr. Greenberg, one of the nicest, most congenial men I’ve had the opportunity to meet, and also President of Greenberg Smoked Turkey, Inc. After a few minutes of chatting on the phone like old friends, we set an appointment for me to visit him in Tyler.

The building that houses Greenberg Smoked Turkey is a non-descript green cinderblock plant with a small round sign near the road bearing the distinctive red turkey. Entering the plant, you are immediately overtaken by the distinctive hickory smoke smell that is the hallmark of Greenberg. Sam Greenberg, just as comfortable and friendly in person as he was on the phone, invites me on a tour of the plant.

Our first stop (after the obligatory hair net) is the thawing and trimming room for all the turkeys that will be processed tomorrow. According to Sam, “We basically buy turkeys just like you would in the grocery store, just in much larger quantities.” In this room, the birds are thawed overnight in cold running water. Once thawed, they start the magic. Here, a long line of employees tends to the birds by hand, just like Sam’s grandfather did originally. One employee trims the wings from the birds. When I asked why, Sam tells me that they will shrivel up in the smoking process, and there’s no need for customers to pay for weight they can’t eat. He said, “We trim the stuff the customers don’t want. You don’t want the fat, excess skin, and stuff like that.” On down the line, another group of employees is cutting the slits in the bird where Greenberg’s famous secret peppery spices go. “That’s the magic, and these ladies are applying it,” says Sam. Once complete, this group of turkeys will be ready to go to the smokehouse.

Greenberg starts smoking turkeys at the end of September, with orders usually rolling in by the 10th of November. According to Sam, the true season starts when the annual Greenberg letters go out, which is historically the day after Columbus Day. Our next stop – the smokehouses.

The Greenberg plant has 20 smokehouses, some dating back to the late 40s and early 50s. “We’re not really sure when my dad rebuilt the plant. This was all a dairy barn originally – that’s how he started. It was just a by-product of his father doing it, so my dad started doing it for friends and family and other people. We aren’t sure of the exact date, but on Christmas Eve either 1949 or 1950, there was a fire that wiped it out. Dad rebuilt 10 brick smokehouses with a fire below and with pipes on the ceiling. They hang the turkeys on meat hooks on the pipes, roll the fires in, and that’s how they do it. Each turkey is smoked about 18 hours.” At this point, Sam opens the door behind the smokehouses and a billow of smoke rolls out to greet us. (I am acutely aware that I will carry the Greenberg hickory smoke smell with me the remainder of the day.) “Here are some of the fires,” says Sam, “There are three fires in each house below us. Each house has a screen floor where you can walk out to hang the turkeys or take them down, and the fires are underneath that.” Each turkey is cooked with only the heat and the smoke from these hickory fires.

Once the turkeys leave the smokehouse, they are hung on racks and taken for the chill down process. The chilled turkeys are then taken down, placed in a bag, weighed, and boxed – about 2,500 per day. According to Sam, there are about 2,500 turkeys in each step of the process every day. The chilling room where these are hanging remind me of the first Greenberg Turkey I remember seeing as it came out of the box. I told Sam that I truly thought it was burned. He laughs and tells me I’m not the first person to think so. “Some people who get them for the first time are surprised by the dark color. There was one lady from Dallas who called me and said, ‘Mr. Greenberg, it’s all burned up! I can’t serve this!’ I told her, ‘You try it, and if you’re not happy with it, call me back and let me know.’ About 30 minutes later, she called back and told me we needed to send her another one. They had eaten the first one all up!”

The boxed turkeys are sorted according to size, and what doesn’t sell out the front door is frozen and then held until shipping. According to Sam, as they get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, they’ll have 2,000 to 3,000 go out the front door daily, in addition to up to as many as twenty six thousand being shipped per day.

At this point, we pass the only equipment for the plant – a machine that makes the boxes the turkeys are shipped in. In today’s technological age, it’s hard to believe that a company that sells 200,000 turkeys in just a few months isn’t automated. However, it takes only a few minutes of talking to Sam Greenberg to realize that they are committed to doing things the way they’ve always been done. We stop by the mail room where the annual October mailing is being prepared, and I’m introduced to Sam’s nephew, who oversees the mail house aspect of the family business.

Sam’s grandfather originally began smoking the turkeys for family and friends out of his dairy barn, but it was his father Zelick who officially started the business. “Seventy-seven years ago, my father got a call from a man in Dallas who wanted six turkeys. Dad smoked them for him, put them on a train to Dallas and that’s when he said he got into the mail order business.” Today, Greenberg employs 14 people full-time, with that number swelling to around 200 during the holiday season. “I have the greatest people working for me. I can’t answer every phone call or write every order. The people boxing and bagging our turkeys do it like they are going to put them on their tables. Our guideline is, ‘If we wouldn’t put it on our table, it doesn’t go in a box.’ I don’t have a bunch of automated equipment. I have people looking at those turkeys to make sure they’re right. In fact, each turkey goes through about 20 people before it gets to our customer. I never forget how unique this business is – we do in 3 months what everyone else does in 12. I’m a stickler on details and not changing. I want the box you remember coming into your house to be the same ones your kids remember, too. Whether it’s the box, the bag, or the taste – I don’t want a thing to change. I don’t want to be the new Coke® and have everybody go, ‘What did he do?’ One of my nightmares would be for someone to say, ‘He changed it.’ I don’t want that to be me.”

Greenberg Smoked Turkeys are shipped to all 50 states and are loved by senators, congressmen, governors, sports stars, and celebrities. In fact, Oprah Winfrey listed Greenberg Turkeys as one of her favorite things. The year Greenberg was featured on her show, they got 22,000 new customers in two weeks. Most of Greenberg’s customers are regular families, just like yours and mine. I shared with Sam that I had asked my own children what they thought of when I said Greenberg Smoked Turkey. Son Marshall said, “It’s not Thanksgiving without it.” Daughter Abby answered, “Aunt Rebecca.” According to Abby, Rebecca started carving our family turkey a few years ago to keep my three brothers out of it, so more of it would make it to the dinner table. (We girls don’t sneak as many bites as they do!) Sam laughed and said that’s what he wants people to think of when they think of Greenberg—family. Said Sam, “I honestly feel like we have the best product in the world, and I guarantee I’ll make you happy.”

From the Stevens and Altom families to yours, thank you to Sam and the Greenberg family for making us very happy for 50 years. You are a true Texas treasure.

Contact Information:
(903) 595-0725
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