Chicken giant Tyson Foods is banking on prepared foods for future growth.

Rogers, Arkansas-based Tyson, the nation’s largest meatpacker, wants to reinvent itself as a maker of prepared foods, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal.

In the story, John Tyson, Tyson’s chairman, says the company is shifting its portfolio to more profitable prepared food to distance itself from the meat industry’s boom and bust cycles.

The company has spent $12 billion in recent years to add products like Jimmy Dean sausage and the Smart Chicken organic brand and in plants that make prepackaged sandwiches. The story also highlights Tyson’s investment in heat-and-eat meals.

Prepared foods, not including those under the Tyson chicken brand, now make up more than a fifth of Tyson’s $40 billion in annual sales, according to the story.