Case Farms was founded by Thomas R. Shelton in December 1986. After gaining over 23 years of management experience in the poultry industry, Mr. Shelton realized his goal of owning a Company by purchasing a small family-owned poultry operation in Ohio.

The Company was called Case Egg & Poultry and included a processing plant in Winesburg, Ohio, a hatchery in Strasburg, Ohio and a food distribution facility in Akron, Ohio. In its first year of operation, Case Farms processed 135,000 chickens per week, had 140 employees, and produced 22 million pounds of poultry products. Since 1987, the facilities have been upgraded and expanded and today process 300,000 chickens per week, have 350 employees, and produce in excess of 80 million pounds of production.

In May 1988, Case Farms purchased the Morganton, North Carolina poultry operations formerly known as Breeden Poultry & Egg. The facilities included a processing plant, hatchery and a feed mill. In 1988, the Morganton operation processed 475,000 chickens per week, had 450 employees, and produced 75 million pounds of poultry products. Since 1988, the facilities have been upgraded and expanded and today process 525,000 chickens per week, have 740 employees, and produce in excess of 170 million pounds of production.

In August 1998, Case Farms purchased the Goldsboro, North Carolina poultry operations from WLR Foods. The facilities included a processing plant, hatchery, feed mill and a grain storage facility. In 1998, the Goldsboro operation processed 650,000 chickens per week, had 750 employees, and produced 168 million pounds of poultry products. Since 1998, the facilities have been upgraded and expanded and today process 775,000 chickens per week, have 900 employees, and produce in excess of 230 million pounds of production.

At the same time of the Ohio acquisition, Case Farms began a genetics program. As the program expanded, it was moved to Troutman, North Carolina in 1993 when Case Farms leased the former breeding facilities of Pilch, Inc. In 1995, the facilities were purchased and included an office building, hatchery and two breeding farms. A breeder and broiler research farm was later added. When the acquisition was completed, the Company's financial department relocated to the office building in Troutman.

In 2005 Case Farms added a 40,000 square foot par-fry addition next to the Goldsboro processing plant to meet its customers’ demands for partially cooked poultry products. In 2006 construction on two new feed mills will be completed to provide feed for the Morganton and Goldsboro divisions.

Today, Case Farms processes 1.6 million birds per week, has over 2,000 dedicated employees and produces in excess of 500 million pounds of fresh, partially cooked, and frozen-for-export poultry products.