ByChloe Sorvino,
Forbes Staff.
In
a sheltered bit of the Chesapeake Bay in front of Jim Perdue’s home in Berlin, Maryland, the scion of America’s most famous chicken family raises clams. Each year he sells about a thousand to local crab shacks. The rest are eaten by the Perdue clan. The clam farm is the last remainder of his dream of striking out on his own and farming seafood, which inspired him, in 1974 at 25, to walk away from his family’s successful poultry business.
“You don't know if you're getting a pat on the back because you did a good job, or because your name is on the door,” says the 77-year-old Perdue, from a barn on the property. The structure is adorned with memorabilia from the company’s history, including the famous ads featuring his father, Frank, with his signature slogan: “It takes a tough man to sell a tender chicken.”
