DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment, a specialty poultry equipment parts manufacturer, has carved out a niche in an industry dominated by one-stop poultry machine shops. When owner Mary DeLong Murray set her sights on expanding her company’s export business five years ago, she turned to the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) for expert advice and training. Today, international sales account for 20% of the firm’s annual revenues.
The Macon-based company provides a full array of poultry processing machinery — offering replacement peeler rollers and parts to rebuild old machines or repair and enhance newly manufactured machines. Its roots stretch back more than 50 years to Murray’s grandfather, Horace DeLong, who originally founded the business in Gainesville as a maintenance service for poultry processing plants before expanding into parts and equipment.
Under the leadership of Murray’s mother, former CEO Pat DeLong, the company contacted Dimitris Kloussiadis at the UGA SBDC’s International Trade Center in the mid-1990s, launching a long-standing partnership that continues to support DeLong’s global growth.
“Pat was invited to attend a trade show in London,” Kloussiadis said. “So, we met, and I helped her identify the top poultry-processing equipment distributors in the United Kingdom. Together, we worked out methods to negotiate pricing and international logistics, and they started exporting.”
Kloussiadis soon identified additional world markets, and Pat DeLong pursued those opportunities aggressively. Within a year, DeLong’s was selling in parts of South America and Canada.
The partnership continued, and by 2021 the Georgia Department of Economic Development honored DeLong’s Gizzard Equipment with a GLOBE Award in recognition of its success in expanding into new markets. Around that same time Murray, who had been with the company since 1997, stepped into her leadership role and began guiding the business into its next phase of growth.
“The SBDC has done several things to help us grow in this area. Dimitris helped us do a detailed worldwide market analysis and provided us with a list on who’s importing most of the products we sell. Then he connected us with the right people. We don’t have to travel anywhere. Dimitris feeds us this information so we can get in touch with the customer.”
Kloussiadis recommended that Murray’s company focus on Colombia and Mexico, the top two markets in Central and South America for poultry processing equipment. He then connected Murray to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Gold Key Service, which provides matches with up to five potential partners in another country. He briefed her on Colombian business and culture before she traveled to meet potential distributors.
“Mary was pleased with all the assistance provided for her preparation and the effectiveness of her first overseas business trip,” he said. “She came back with about four good distributor leads, and we’re working now on following up with companies in Colombia and next, Mexico.”
Murray participated in the UGA SBDC’s ExportGA program in 2021 and found it so helpful she returned with her staff in 2024. Led by the UGA SBDC International Trade Center in partnership with the UGA Terry College of Business, ExportGA is an intensive, four-session course designed to prepare businesses for exporting. Terry College students engage directly with business owners to provide targeted research to support their specific industries.
“ExportGA is hands-on,” Kloussiadis said. “Georgia companies learn how to set their international pricing, work through foreign trade regulations, manage international payment methods and develop an international marketing plan they can readily execute by the completion of the program.”
Murray has used her ExportGA training to introduce new staff to these skills until they, too, can participate in the program.
Exports now stand at 20% of DeLong’s total business, and Murray believes they make a significant contribution to the company’s success.
“Every time we do something to increase our exports, we see at least a one percent increase in sales,” she said. “However, we’re only a small part of what goes into a poultry plant. Many want to buy from a one-stop shop. We specialize, but we got that business. That one percent in a new market makes a difference.”
Murray and Kloussiadis meet every quarter to further explore ways she can maximize the export potential of DeLong’s.
“The more you get into international business, the more you realize the world is smaller than you think it is,” Murray said. “The UGA SBDC gives us the feedback and exposure we need to expand and learn about our product and what it looks like in the international community.”
