With the holiday season just around the corner, many families are gearing up for good eating, good football and good company. Traditionally, food has been a major centerpiece when the holidays approach and most people can safely assume that ham is generally accepted as the meat of choice or the complimentary meat of choice.
Honey Baked Ham Co., located in Opelika, is a hot spot during the holiday season for locals to buy their hams and boneless turkey breasts. With many options such as half hams, whole hams, boneless hams, smoked turkey breasts and roasted turkey breasts, customers are presented with a wide variety of tasty delicacies to choose from.
General Manager Crystal Perry has shared information with me regarding the vigorous preparation that goes into planning for the holiday rush. The store receives daily phone calls beginning approximately two months before Thanksgiving Day with orders for hams, turkeys and any other additional items the store provides. Some orders are filled for corporate businesses for clients and some are for individual families. When corporate orders are filled, the numbers can reach up to 140 hams per order, not to mention the order of sides to go along with the hams. With hams high in demand, the store has to keep track of every order up to the day before Thanksgiving and notify the corporate office two days prior to the fulfillment of the order so they can have the hams delivered and ready for sale. The store glazes its hams at the store where the work is the hardest. With hundreds of orders to fill, the store has to be stripped of its regular setup and replaced with shelves to accommodate all of the orders that have been requested. Since this is a hectic time of year, Perry must hire additional holiday help to assure smooth business operation. Roughly, there will be 15 employees working the holiday shift and each individual will most likely be working overtime pulling in 12 hour days two weeks before Thanksgiving Day. To lessen the blow of the crowd, Honey Baked Ham collaborates with its Montgomery counterpart to reassure its mission of smooth business.
Perry has been working with Honey Baked Ham for 4 years as General Manager and has experienced the holiday rush on numerous occasions. According to the books, holiday sales, taking into consideration Christmas and Easter as well, account for roughly 50 to 60 percent of yearly revenue for the store. As Thanksgiving approaches, the orders pour in and the business begins to crank the dormant gears of production to produce the high quality masterpiece that is a Honey Baked Ham.