A family owned and operated turkey farm at Charlesfort, Cortown, Kells, Co. Meath. Turkey is not just something we know a great deal about. It is the whole business, and it has been for 64 years.
Martin and Teresa Hogan took over a small dairy farm in Cortown in 1955. Seven years later Teresa decided, as many farmers did then, to rear a few turkeys for Christmas. Seventy birds, sold to neighbours and friends. Everything since has grown out of that.
Now in its second generation, Hogan’s Farm is managed by Fintan and Paul along with their wives Hilda and Sandra. We supply fresh turkey to butchers, retailers and foodservice customers nationwide, and run the farm shop and café here on site.
We consider ourselves a true family business, and not only because of the surname. Some of our team have been here more than 25 years.
Hogan’s Farm is made up of three enterprises that work in unison, all within a few fields of each other.
The original site, and where you will find the main office. The processing facility sits in the reformed stables and outhouses of what was once part of the Charlesfort Estate. Bord Bia accredited.
The cold storage side of the business, working alongside the farm and the shop.
The turkey range plus local Irish produce, with the café next door. Open Wednesday to Saturday, all year.
Our seasonal Charlesfort turkeys are reared under our own supervision, which keeps the carbon footprint of production down and feeds into our sustainability programme.
Sixty years of a family doing one thing. Filter by decade, or read it all the way through.
Martin and Teresa Hogan take over a small dairy farm in Cortown, Kells, Co. Meath.
Teresa decides, like many farmers at the time, to rear a few turkeys for Christmas. Seventy birds are reared and sold to locals and friends. Everything since started here.
Over 1,000 turkeys are reared for Christmas for the first time. As word of the quality spreads through the trade, demand climbs with it.
A first large order arrives: more than 700 New York Dressed turkeys for a Dublin hamper firm. Families paid off those hampers weekly through the year, and we filled them every Christmas for over a decade.
A local tradition takes hold in Cortown. Plucking season began on 13 December every year, and Mrs Hogan inspected every bird personally. A correctly plucked turkey earned a ticket, and tickets were cashed in ten days later.
The Hogan family pack up and move, up the road, to Charlesfort House and Estate. This is where Hogan’s Farm is today.
Mrs Hogan develops the Hogan’s Farm boned and rolled turkey, a revolutionary product at the time. She trained the team to bone out the birds by hand, roll the meat into shape and finish it in a net. It became a huge hit with foodservice customers, and we still sell it today.
The range grows. Catering turkeys reach hotel menus around the country, and the boned and rolled joint catches the attention of local hospitals and health boards.
A fresh turkey processing plant is built behind the buildings in the courtyard, giving the farm room to handle the growth.
Mrs Hogan starts cooking small breast joints in the Aga in her own family kitchen, two at a time, and selling them to local butchers and shops. A first in the market for cooked turkey breast rolls.
Demand for cooked turkey rolls outgrows the Aga. A small cooking unit is acquired in Rathcairn, Co. Meath, to cook in larger batches.
The Hogan’s Farm brand is born, with packaging developed for a new range of value added retail products. Seven vans deliver them to stores across the country, with more retailers added every week.
As sales take off, the branding and packaging are redesigned and new listings follow.
A state of the art cooking plant is built in Rathcairn, adding capacity and meeting new regulations. New packing lines follow, and Hogan’s Farm develops the first range of carved turkey sliced retail packs, breathing life into the cooked meats category.
The large supermarkets take notice and approach us to stock both the fresh and cooked turkey brands.
New listings, new products and a rebrand for the multiples. For the first time, Hogan’s Farm fresh turkey is available nationwide, and the first food awards are won.
Cheaper imported turkey breast takes over supply to the foodservice sector and year round production suffers. Rearing schedules change and the business prepares to compete.
Fifty years in the turkey business. Weekly rearing stops as it becomes unviable, and turkeys are reared seasonally for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. Relationships with European farmers allow quality turkey to continue year round, while cooked meats production keeps expanding.
Price slashing and promotional turbulence take hold in whole bird retailing. Rather than compete on price we go back to basics and protect the core product. A small select range of slower growing birds is introduced, the Charlesfort Turkey, reared the way nature intended with smaller legs and a fuller, rounder breast.
Top food awards for fresh turkey products, proving quality is what matters most when choosing the bird for Christmas dinner. A new website launches for a new generation of customer who wants to order online.
A new look for a generation wanting lean, high protein food, and top prizes for the specialist breeds: Q Food Awards for the Charlesfort Turkey Roulade and the Woodland Bronze.
Hogan’s Farm sells its cooked meats plant, Faughan Foods Ltd., to the established Irish family owned cooked meats producer O’Brien Fine Foods, refocusing the business on turkey.
When Covid hits worldwide, Hogan’s Farm is an essential food supplier to the retail trade and is allowed to keep trading and stay open. Extra footfall to the farm shop leads to the coffee dock and café. The courtyard quickly becomes a destination for coffee lovers, a very safe place to while away a few hours during a very difficult time. The restaurant offering grows to include an extensive breakfast menu, and an extension is built for the growing number of customers.
Sophie Hogan wins the Irish Restaurant Awards for employee excellence in Co. Meath, then goes on to take the Leinster and All Ireland titles. In 2025 the café wins the Irish Restaurant Awards for best customer service. Always with innovation in mind, a range of breaded turkey products is developed for the retail trade: breaded steaks, tenders and burgers, available in Dunnes Stores, Tesco and the farm shop.
Sophie Hogan again takes the accolade for employee excellence in Co. Meath. A further extension is added to the café, so more people can enjoy the summer sunshine in the tranquil surroundings of the old courtyard. The new website goes live, making it easier for loyal customers to order their Christmas turkeys.
No milestones in that decade.
Awards are pleasant, and we have a few. Sixty years of the same family on the same land, with customers coming back every December, is the part we are actually proud of.
Awards and accreditations →
The same family, the same land, and a shop people still drive to for coffee and turkey.
