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Epicures Catering to continue holding annual Thanksgiving feast despite bird flu

In spite of a bird flu that has been affecting turkey sales for the past few years, Epicures Catering founder Danny Morrison has predicted a similar declining trend.

BRYAN, Texas — Thanksgiving may be a more than a month away, but many fear that unexpected challenges could put a fork in everybody's holiday plans.

Epicures Catering in College Station has provided Thanksgiving for the Brazos Valley for 39 years as part of a holiday tradition. However, founder Danny Morrison shared that they're still cooking up a feast, despite a bird flu that is looming.

Morrison said that it could lead to a turkey shortage, but there has always been a turkey shortage. According to the USDA, in 2020, 6.4 billion pounds of turkey were sold. Year after year, sales have continued to trend downward. 

"This year is our 39th annual," Morrison said. "Actually the turkey shortage has been going on now for four years, every year it's been dropping."

Morrison predicted this year will not be any different, stating that the USDA anticipates 5.4 billion pounds of turkey sales.

However, the turkey problem isn't as clear cut as it might appear, according to Morrison.

"It's a problem we're going to be on deli meats and turkey breasts and processed food that are slowing down and getting stuck in the chain but whole turkeys are not in that problem," said Morrison.

Their strategies aren't perfect, however. Hefty birds can pose issues for the catering service, which on the surface is an odd problem to have, considering the volume of food Epicures prepares for the Thanksgiving holiday.

"What may affect us is normally we ask for birds to be somewhere around 10 to 12 pounds they may wind up be 14 to 16," said Morrison. 

While uniformity is what Epicures aims to see in their turkeys, that's the least of their worries, as Morrison is thrilled to continue carrying on this decades-long feast.

"We're planning on at least 2,100 meals this year. We won't have storage or any supply issues, or any problems getting ahold of them so we'll be feeding everyone who calls us," said Morrison. "We bring Thanksgiving to a lot of people."

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