Unveiling the Secret – Where is Wright Bacon Processed?

Crispy, smoky, delicious Wright bacon is a staple breakfast food for millions of Americans. This iconic bacon brand has been around for nearly a century, becoming a household name synonymous with quality cured and smoked pork. But have you ever wondered exactly where this popular bacon is processed and packaged up before being shipped to grocery stores across the country?

In this article, we will peel back the curtain and reveal the roots of Wright bacon, from its humble small-town beginnings to its current mass production in a modern pork processing plant. We’ll explore when and where the Wright family first started curing bacon, how the company and processing plant have grown over the decades, and what happens behind the scenes today to churn out truckloads of bacon every day.

So sizzle up some bacon and keep reading to learn all about how and where your Wright bacon is transformed from raw pork belly to mouthwatering smoked meat!

The Origins of Wright Brand Bacon

The story of Wright bacon begins back in 1922 in the small town of Vernon Texas. This is where the Wright family, along with in-laws Roy Wright and Egbert Eggleston opened a small grocery store and began hand-curing and smoking bacon using Egbert’s family recipe. Roy Wright eventually bought out his father-in-law Eggleston and went into business with his sons Bill and Bob Wright.

The Wright family continued growing their bacon business over the next few decades, eventually needing to move production out of their grocery store into a dedicated meat packing plant in Vernon. Roy Wright passed the company down to his sons Bill and Bob when he retired in 1978. The plant continued expanding, riding a wave of demand for cured and smoked meats.

In 2001, the Wright brand was acquired by Tyson Foods while still operating the original processing facility in Vernon, Texas. Today, the Vernon plant remains the single processing facility for all Wright bacon products, producing over 20 million pounds of bacon annually!

Inside the Current Wright Bacon Processing Plant

The unassuming small town of Vernon, Texas with a population just over 11,000 may seem an unlikely source for one of America’s most popular bacon brands. But the Wright processing plant in Vernon remains dedicated to tradition and quality, using well-worn but proven curing and smoking methods.

The plant employs over 800 workers who hand select pork bellies, trim them to the ideal thickness, and season them with a proprietary blend of spices for curing. The seasoned pork bellies are then hung on racks and slowly smoked over real wood chips, not artificially flavored, to achieve Wright bacon’s signature taste

Once smoked for up to 14 hours the slabs are cooled then sliced and packaged individually by hand. Rigorous inspections ensure each slice meets consistency and quality guidelines. Automated systems do package and palletize the sliced bacon for shipping. But the curing, smoking and slicing relies on generations of human expertise, not mass mechanization.

While exponential growth over the last century has drastically increased output, the Vernon plant still adheres as close to the Wright family’s original artisanal process as possible on a large scale. Performance metrics focus on quality, not just quantity. The instincts of nose and touch guide production, not just automated timers and temperature gauges.

It’s this blend of tradition and technology that allow the Vernon plant to produce over 20 million pounds of Wright bacon each year while still maintaining the taste and textures achieved by the Wright family almost 100 years ago.

Why Vernon, Texas?

Outsiders may wonder why the tiny town of Vernon, Texas continues to be the sole processing site for Wright bacon after all these years. The circumstances that led the Wright family to settle in Vernon back in the 1920s certainly played a role. But the location continues to offer advantages that have kept the plant rooted in Vernon even as the company grew.

For starters, Vernon lies in the heart of Texas farming country. There are over a dozen massive cattle feedlots within 10 miles of town. Pig farms also dot the landscape, providing easy access to the huge quantities of pork needed daily by the plant. No expensive transcontinental shipping required!

Additionally, the arid climate allows for easier meat preservation and smoke flavoring. The area’s low humidity lets smoke cling longer to the pork as its cured. Drier air also inhibits spoilage during processing and storage.

Lastly, Vernon offered the Wright family not only abundant meat supplies but also business-friendly local governments and economic incentives. This allowed the fledgling company to get started and expand without excessive taxes or oversight. The town’s support in those critical early years forged an ongoing mutually beneficial relationship.

So while it may seem curious that this nationally distributed brand hails from a remote town on the dusty Texas plains, the location makes sense given the history and requirements of large scale meat processing. The town and the bacon brand continue to support each other after all these years.

Why the Obsession with Secrecy?

Wright brand is known to closely guard details about its processing operations, even commonly touting the use of a “secret family recipe.” There are practical reasons large companies limit transparency about facilities and recipes. But this aura of secrecy also provides a marketing angle that feeds consumer fascination.

There’s appeal in thinking your favorite household brand came from some mysterious, proprietary process or unique location. The legend of Colonel Sanders’ secret chicken recipe helped build Kentucky Fried Chicken into a global empire, even though the recipe itself was not actually that remarkable.

In reality, the curing methods Wright bacon uses are well established meat processing science. And health regulations require transparent disclosure of ingredients. But the company understands consumers love intrigue. So details of the “secret” family recipe or the Vernon facility are strategically used to reinforce brand mythos.

While not as glamorous in reality, the true story of how the Wright family built their bacon brand through generations of grit and care is still one worth telling. The loyalty of consumers shows even without proprietary secrets, Wright bacon is special stuff worth sizzling in skillets across America every morning.

The Takeaway on Wright Bacon’s Origin

Hopefully this inside look demystified some of the processes and places behind a beloved bacon brand. While the Wright family may have started small in rural Texas, their dedication to time-honored curing methods helped achieve a distinct flavor profile that took on a life of its own.

The headquarters may have shifted from family store to corporate giant, but the Vernon facility remains committed to quality craftsmanship. And the company’s special sauces and smoke-shrouded secrets keep consumers captivated, even if it’s more branding than reality.

So next time you crack open a package of Wright bacon, appreciate not just the sizzle in the pan, but the generations of work that went into building a bacon empire one pork belly at a time. Those perfectly crisped, juicy strips bear the legacy of a family’s dream launched in a humble corner store almost a century ago.