Bernie Nash
The founder of Mad Hatcher Poultry has an extensive background in agriculture but it is chickens that is his passion. The son of a cattle farmer, Bernie has always been involved with farming. As a young man, Bernie was named Washington State's 1972 Junior Poultry man of the Year and got to travel all the way to New Orleans to meet and shake hands with Colonel Sanders. In 2007, Bernie founded Mad Hatcher Poultry. Over the years, Mad Hatcher has provided Washington's top chefs with: poussin, chicken, turkey, quail, rabbit and eggs. Through hard work and uncompromising commitment, Bernie and Mad Hatcher are today firmly established among Washington’s top chefs and restaurateurs as one of the state's finest purveyors of poultry. Countless of Seattle’s finest restaurants feature the Mad Hatcher or Bernie's name directly on their menus. Restaurants like The Herbfarm, The Whale Wins, Joule and the Copperleaf Restaurant & Bar, to name a few. Seattle’s James Beard Award winning chef, Rene Erickson, whose restaurants include Bateau, The Whale Wins and The Walrus and the Carpenter says about The Whale Wins’ popular roast chicken dish: “The Whale’s bird comes from a hero of poultry and game farming named Bernie Nash at Mad Hatcher Poultry in Ephrata, WA. Bernie has been farming his entire life, and you’d be hard pressed to find a flock of birds finer than those he raises.” Through his friendship with Peter Thiessen, Bernie is now entrusted with the Poulet Bleu.