UPDATE 2 (8/5/2020): Crescent Foods has provided the following clarification:
Crescent Foods is the exclusive supplier of hand-slaughtered products from Wayne. Wayne Farms produces Mechanically Slaughtered halal products that are not associated with any Crescent Foods Hand Slaughtered branded products.
In other words, if a restaurant has Wayne Farms halal, then that isn’t a guarantee it is hand-slaughtered halal. However, if the restaurant uses Crescent Foods, then that is hand-slaughtered. Wayne Farms produces both types of halal chicken, and Crescent is the exclusive supplier for their hand-slaughter product.
UPDATE (7/27/20): Crescent Foods has reached out to me to indicate that the information below is not accurate. I have asked for clarification and will update the post accordingly. The original post was based off of their joint press release, which is quoted below, but may not be on their websites any longer.
Crescent Foods has entered into a partnership with Wayne Farms, to take over the slaughter process for chicken. The impact of this is that Halal restaurants that use Wayne Farms will soon have 100% hand-slaughtered halal chicken instead of mechanically-slaughtered halal chicken. For example, Dave’s Hot Chicken here in SoCal will soon be hand-slaughtered. This is pretty amazing news no matter where you fall on the zabiha fiqh spectrum.
From the joint Press Release
Atlanta, Georgia-based chicken producer Wayne Farms LLC announced an expansion of Halal-compliant, frozen chicken product offerings for foodservice, deli, retail and club customers in conjunction with Crescent Foods, a known leader in the Halal market segment. The product offerings include a boneless skinless chicken breast fillet, which is immediately available at east coast Costco Wholesale stores and becoming available in Midwest Costco Wholesale stores in October, as well as other fully cooked and par fried items. The Crescent Foods brand means the products are produced in accordance with the highest Halal standards through practices and attributes that go above-and-beyond requirements for conventional Halal offerings.
Many conventional Halal products permit mechanical slaughter of chickens; the inclusion of animal by-products in feed; antibiotic use; and do not require animal welfare certification.
Instead, premium Crescent Foods chicken products feature practices which expand standards to include: