Mars Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$45 billion in annual sales in 2022; that year Forbes ranked the company as the fourth-largest privately held company in the United States. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, the company is entirely owned by the Mars family. Mars operates in four business segments around the world: Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Petcare, Food, and MARS Edge, the company's life sciences division.
Publix Super Markets, Inc., doing business as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and past employees and members of the Jenkins family. Publix operates throughout the Southeastern United States, with locations in Florida (867), Georgia (212), Alabama (90), South Carolina (69), Tennessee (58), North Carolina (54), Virginia (20), and Kentucky (1). Kentucky is the most recent addition to the Publix footprint, with the company's first store in that state having opened on January 10, 2024, in Louisville.
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg in Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a small brick building known as the Beaconsfield Supply Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Wawa, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations originating in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and located along the East Coast of the United States, operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina. Wawa is based in, primarily associated with, and mainly concentrated in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, though in recent years it has gradually expanded its store locations beyond the Philadelphia area. The company's corporate headquarters is located in the Wawa area of Chester Heights, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia.
Sysco Corporation is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hospitality businesses like hotels and inns, and wholesale to other companies that provide foodservice. The company is headquartered in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. Sysco is the world's largest broadline food distributor; it has more than 600,000 clients in a wide array of fields. Management consulting is also an integral part of their services. The company operates approximately 330 distribution facilities worldwide; providing service to over 90 countries.
Houchens Industries is an American employee-owned company, in business since 1917 when it began as a small grocery operated by founder Ervin Houchens in rural Barren County, Kentucky. The company is headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The company currently operates more than 325 retail grocery, convenience, and neighborhood market stores across 14 states, through their Houchens Food Group subsidiary. Complemented by a strong foundation of diverse companies and over 15,000 employees corporate-wide, Houchens Industries is listed by Forbes as one of the largest 100% employee-owned companies in the world.
Gordon Food Service (GFS) is a foodservice distributor based in Wyoming, Michigan serving the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. It also operates stores in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama, and Wisconsin.
Borden Dairy Company is an American dairy processor and distributor headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Established in 2009, the company is a successor to the original Borden Company established in 1857 by Gail Borden. The company is a former subsidiary of Dean Foods.
Oberweis Dairy, headquartered in North Aurora, Illinois, is the parent company of several dairy-related and fast food restaurant operations in the midwest region of the United States. Its businesses include a home delivery service available in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, which delivers traditional dairy products, including milk, ice cream, cheese, and yogurt, as well as bacon and seasonal products.
Kwik Trip is a chain of convenience stores founded in 1965 that has locations throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan under the name Kwik Trip, and in Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota under the name Kwik Star, although the Dixon, Illinois, location operates as Kwik Trip. The company also operates stores under the name Tobacco Outlet Plus, Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery, Hearty Platter, Kwik Spirits, and Stop-N-Go. Kwik Trip, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The economy of Stamford, Connecticut is robust and is considered an anomaly for having a large number of corporate headquarters in a city of its size. In the 1980s and 90s, Stamford had the third highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country, with 18 companies headquartered in the city. The only two cities that had higher concentrations in the nation were New York City and Chicago.
The Save Mart Companies is an American grocery store operator founded and headquartered in Modesto, California. It owns and operates stores under the Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx brands. The stores are located in northern and central California and northern Nevada. The company is owned by the Jim Pattison Group.
Jil Tracy is a Republican member of the Illinois State Senate, representing the 47th District since January 11, 2017. The district covers a large swath of west-central Illinois, including all of Adams, Brown, Cass, Hancock, Henderson, Mason, McDonough, Schuyler, Warren counties and portions of Fulton and Knox counties. She was a former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, who represented the 93rd district from her appointment in July 2006 until 2015.
Organic Valley (OV) is an organic food brand and independent cooperative of organic farmers based in La Farge, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in April 10 1785 and it is the largest farmer owned organic collective in North America.
The Home Depot Pro, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, is a wholesale distributor and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products for non-industrial businesses in the United States. The Home Depot Pro distributes products such as HVAC, janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, and security supplies.
Univar Solutions Inc.(formerly Royal Vopak) is a global chemical and ingredients distributor and provider of value-added services.
Prairie Farms Dairy is a dairy cooperative founded in Carlinville, Illinois, and now headquartered in Edwardsville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis. As a dairy cooperative, Prairie Farms receives milk from producers and converts it into many different products, including cheese, butter, ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, various dips, yogurt, and fluid milk. Prairie Farms also produces and sells juices, flavored drinks, and pre-made iced tea.
Southeastern Grocers is an American supermarket portfolio headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The portfolio was created by Lone Star Funds in September 2013 as the new parent company for Harveys, Winn-Dixie, and Fresco y Más.
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest in the world with over $26.0 billion in annual sales as of 2021.
JM Family Enterprises, Inc. (JMFE) is a diversified automotive company. It is ranked by Forbes as the 17th largest privately held company in the U.S. The company is ranked on the Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For" list, and was No. 9 on the InformationWeek 500 list of the nation's leading information technology innovators.
