Don’t be surprised if you see a police officer directing traffic outside DiPaola Turkey Farm in Hamilton the week of Thanksgiving. After all, this time of season is when the farm and storefront on Edinburg Road “bustles with activity,” said second generation owner Art DiPaola, Jr.
“It’s the greatest time of the year for me because there’s so much history, there’s so much energy that goes into it,” DiPaola said. “It’s a tradition that my father started, and to watch people walk in this door … a woman with her daughter and granddaughter, it’s just—nothing touches it.”
DiPaola has had the same mindset since he began working for his father, Art DiPaola, Sr. at the farm.
For more than 60 years, DiPaola’s Turkey Farm has been a source for fresh turkey products, and that’s still the case today.
But that’s not to say the business hasn’t seen some changes over the years.
In DiPaola’s earlier years, the main product sold was a whole turkey. But over the past 25 years, the farm began to produce a wider variety of products, starting by fulfilling a demand for ground turkey and sausage, and now producing burgers, meatballs and breakfast sausage patties. So far, the only ready-to-eat product sold at the store is turkey salad.
Behind the storefront, which sits at the bottom of the long driveway, the live turkeys, plump and white, meander around their living quarters—made up of three outdoor pens and separated by sex—gobbling and clucking all day long.
DiPaola said that though the Hamilton farm has always been open for business, recent years have brought more local customers to the storefront who had never ventured there before. However, the majority of the business comes from the 21 farm markets in New York City that DiPaola Turkey Farm participates in, the biggest of which are in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
At its height in 1983, DiPaola’s had four farm locations spread throughout South Jersey, and slaughtered about 80,000 turkeys. Up until 1985, DiPaola’s had an account with UPS that became a company tradition of supplying turkeys for UPS employees. The agreement lasted about 15 years; DiPaola’s supplied about 500-600 turkeys the first year, eventually selling 20,000 turkeys in ’85. DiPaola finally had to end the partnership after UPS began requesting more turkeys than the farm could supply.
“Every employee from Maine down to Delaware had one of our turkeys, which was something to be proud of,” he said.
Now, the Edinburg Road location is the only remaining farm, and the number of turkeys has decreased to about 17,000. But the business still keeps customers coming back.
Customers continue to return to DiPaola’s for two reasons, he said. The first reason is the taste, a result of a lack of additives in the turkey and minimal seasoning.
“All these products are natural. That’s one of the things I pride myself on,” DiPaola said. “We don’t use any type of preservative.”
The second reason, DiPaola said, is the fact that the meat is healthy. The sodium count—posted right on the window next to the counter—lists the amount in each product according to milligrams, as opposed to the sodium listed in grams on a hot dog package in a supermarket.
It’s not until Oct. 31 that DiPaola will start taking orders for Thanksgiving turkeys. Customers may request a certain weight for a turkey (the weight varies in roughly 3-pound increments), but they may also order only dark meat or white meat turkey, or a turkey roll.
Customers may place orders until the day before Thanksgiving, but are also welcome to walk in and purchase a turkey without placing an order, though there’s no guarantee a desired size will be available.
DiPaola’s Turkey Farm is located at 891 Edinburg Road in Hamilton. For more information, call (609) 587-9311. On the Web: dipaolaturkeyfarm.com
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