Walk into a breeding room at Fluker Farms in Port Allen and no surprise, it’s crickets.
As Business Report features in its latest issue, thousands of screened boxes in this 90-degree warehouse hold live crickets waiting to be shipped across the U.S. to pet stores, educational institutions, zoos and direct to consumers for feeding their pet reptiles.
Crickets have long been a bread-and-butter item of family-owned and operated Fluker Farms. Founded in 1956 by Richard Fluker, the company spent many years as a cricket supplier to south Louisiana bait shops. A lot has changed since then.
Pivoting from live crickets to manufactured goods happened under the leadership of Richard Fluker’s son, CEO David Fluker.
Along with crickets, Fluker Farms now breeds and ships fruit flies, superworms, mealworms, hornworms, and Dubia and Madagascar hissing cockroaches. And in its manufactured goods division, Fluker makes about 250 SKUs of dried insect and other products that are shipped directly to consumers or sold in Walmart and big box pet stores like Petco and PetSmart. The company is the top reptile consumables brand in North America.
We followed Chief Operating Officer Vance Noland, David Fluker’s nephew and the third generation of family leadership, in a step-by-step tour of the facilities in our latest episode of Business Report’s Bottom Line.
Read the full article and send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
