Joseph Grendys

Joseph C. Grendys is an American billionaire poultry slaughterer, the chairman, chief executive officer and president of Koch Foods.

  • Joseph Grendys runs Koch Foods, a poultry processor that slaughters, ships and sells chicken under its own brands and through private label products.
  • The $3.3 billion (estimated revenues) business makes buffalo wings and chicken strips for Walmart and nuggets for Burger King.
  • Grendys joined Koch in the mid-1980s after graduating from Loyola University, lured by a 50% equity offer from original owner Fred Koch.
  • At the time it was just a one-room shop with 13 employees, and its main business was taking bones out of chicken and cutting up the meat.
  • Grendys bought out his former boss in 1992 and vertically integrated the company by gobbling up smaller feed mills and slaughterhouses.

 

Joseph Grendys