Born from Bob Evans’ search for better sausage in 1948, Bob Evans Farms grew from a small Gallipolis, Ohio, restaurant into a national food manufacturer rooted in its farmstead beginnings. Today, the New Albany company prepares refrigerated dinner sides and breakfast foods for grocery shoppers nationwide, with its Lima plant producing more than 100 million pounds of potato and pasta products each year.
Bob Evans FarmsFrom a 1948 sausage shop in southeastern Ohio, Bob Evans Farms has grown into a Columbus-area food manufacturer and distributor of refrigerated dinner sides and breakfast foods sold nationwide. The company began when Bob and Jewell Evans made sausage for their small restaurant, and that farmstead start still shapes its best-known mashed potatoes and sausage. Today, Bob Evans Farms operates production facilities in Ohio, Michigan, Texas and Idaho as a division of Post Holdings.NEW ALBANY, OH
Michael Foods, IncTracing its food roots to a New England family farm in 1908, Michael Foods manufactures and distributes value-added egg and refrigerated potato products for foodservice, food ingredients and retail markets. Headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota, the Post Holdings subsidiary has grown into a multi-billion-dollar supplier and the largest processor of value-added eggs in the United States. Its research team operates a 10,000-square-foot pilot plant and test kitchen, while its manufacturing network supports ready-to-use products designed to simplify high-volume food preparation.HOPKINS, MN
Cooper FarmsFounded in 1938 by Virgil and Virginia Cooper, Cooper Farms is a fourth-generation, family-owned Northwest Ohio company that raises turkeys, hogs and egg-laying chickens while producing private-label food products. Its integrated operation includes Oakwood hatcheries that produce 15 million poults annually, a St. Henry plant processing more than 24,000 turkeys a day, and cooked-meat facilities serving customers throughout North America.OAKWOOD, OH
Novus FoodsFounded as Lakeview Farms in 1988, Novus Foods is an Ohio-based manufacturer of refrigerated dips, desserts and specialty foods sold through familiar grocery brands nationwide. Renamed in 2025, the company builds on that experience with a shared focus on simple ingredients, bold flavor and food made for the fridge rather than the shelf.CINCINNATI, OH