SHERBURNE – Business is booming up the driveway from the Purdy homestead off picturesque Shawler Brook Road, but you’d hardly know it.

No sign indicates where to turn and the home and outbuildings are non-descript. Other than a bunch of parked cars across the road and a large receiving area out front, there’s no indication of the unique and highly-regulated activity taking place within.

“We took the sign down when they improved the road and we’ve been too busy to put it back up,” said Vicki Purdy, mother of three, co-owner, marketing/public relations secretary, universal go-fer and wife to third generation German butcher, Dan Purdy.

Too busy is an understatement for this couple. Thousands of meats and other fresh foods sourced from local, heritage family farms leave their doors every week. In the past year alone, Purdy & Sons Foods, Inc. has doubled its staff of employees and more than tripled in the number of local farms for which it redistributes.

“We’re in construction mode,” said Dan, matter-of-factly, during a recent visit to the business. Amid the hustle and bustle, calming notes of classical music could be heard in the background.

Purdy & Sons Foods sources animals from beef, pork, lamb and poultry producers located across New York State and even from across the street. They arrange localized slaughter, then custom manufacture and package to end-user specifications. Delivery trucks travel daily from Syracuse to Albany and from Binghamton to Rome.

Purdy’s own Excelsior All-Natural brand ultimately feeds tens of thousands of New York State college students, patrons of high end New York City restaurants, farm market shoppers and those in various other institutions. Specialty foods businesses like The Pig Next Door and Monte’s Ham relabel and retail the Sherburne-businesses’ smoked bacon and old world-style infused hams to their own customers, who could hail from anywhere in the world.

And meats aren’t all they distribute. Purdy’s also handles yogurts, granola, grains and other products.

“The heart of this whole thing is getting small, family farms and manufacturers the ability to sell their products in places they’ve never sold them before,” said Purdy, while watching one of his workers carefully inject a special brine mixture into a ham.

The company’s first holiday season shipments of hams for Montes Hams has received rave reviews. “It was so easy to prepare, looked beautiful and was literally the best ham I’ve ever eaten. You have an incredible product. Get ready ...I think it’s going to be huge!” said one satisfied customer.