After devastating fire in East Texas, Greenberg turkey owner says ‘we’re back’ for Thanksgiving 2021

Greenberg Smoked Turkey, Inc. is back in business for Thanksgiving 2021, after a series of explosions in late 2020 shut down the Tyler, Texas, facility during its busiest season.

“It’s turkey time,” says owner Sam Greenberg, in a video to customers.

The family-owned business has been selling smoked turkeys for more than 80 years in Texas. Greenberg’s parents once sorted the company mailing list on a card table in the garage. Today, the company has well over 300,000 customers, and they sell some 200,000 birds a year.

Greenberg turkeys are rubbed with a family-secret recipe, then smoked for 14 hours.

One of the perks of a Greenberg turkey is it comes already cooked. As in: You don’t have to fry a turkey, which can be dangerous, or roast a turkey, which can take hours. Note that these turkeys are sold frozen, so it’s important to allow enough time for them to defrost before heating and eating.

We called the turkeys a “holiday obsession” in a Dallas Morning News story in 1998. The secret was really out when Oprah Winfrey named Greenberg turkeys as one of her Favorite Things in 2003.

In the 2020 fire, more than 85,000 turkeys were ruined and the family had to close the business for the rest of the holiday season. The fire originated in a large freezer and the pressure blew the doors off, which resulted in a series of explosions, says Paul Findley, the Tyler fire marshal and public information officer.

The fire appeared to be accidental, Findley says.

Given that the incident happened a few weeks before Thanksgiving, Greenberg called it “the perfect storm” in 2020. He vowed to rebuild, and he did.

In 2021, demand is “excessively high” after a year with no sales, the company warns. Greenberg is temporarily out of its smallest turkeys, at 6 pounds, and its largest, at 14 pounds. Prices for turkeys between 7 pounds and 13 pounds range from $43 to $77.50.

Customers can buy turkeys online, by phone at 903-595-0725, or at Central Market grocery stores around Texas.