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(1) Company website (www.osigroup.com) (2) National Provisioner Magazine, October 2004 (3) www.osigroup.com/products (4) www.theshelbyreport.com, "Best Chicago Meat Acquires Glenmark Brand, Introduces New Product Line" Posted date: March 20, 2012 (5) Harvard Business School, "OSI Group" 2001 (6) www.forbes.com/largest-private-companies, "America's Largest Private Companies"

OSI Group LLC
OSI Group is the holding company name for a privately owned food processing company with international headquarters in Aurora, IL. It operate its U.S. plants under the name OSI Industries, LLC. The U.S. plants are located in Riverside, CA; Chicago, Geneva, and West Chicago, IL; Oakland, IA; West Jordan, UT; and Fort Atkinson, WI. The company produces many private label brand foods and co-packs major brand name items for its various Foodservice and Retail customers. OSI Group has more than 60 facilities in 16 countries around the globe, located in North America, Western and Eastern Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

HISTORY

In 1909, German immigrant Otto Kolschowsky opened a family meat market in Oak Park, Illinois two years after his arrival in the United States. In 1917, he expanded into the wholesale meat trade and relocated the business to nearby Maywood, another Chicago suburb. The company became known as Otto & Sons in 1928. Over several decades, Otto & Sons established a local reputation for offering quality meats.

In 1955, McDonald’s (www.mcdonalds.com), then a fledgling start-up with grand aspirations, opened its first store in Des Plaines, Illinois and chose Otto & Sons as the supplier of fresh ground beef patties. The deal was formalized with a handshake between Ray Kroc, the founder and CEO of McDonald’s, and the sons of Otto Kolschowsky. Kroc and the Kolschowsky heirs forged a strong personal relationship over the years. Supplying beef to local McDonald’s restaurants very soon became Otto & Sons’ main business. Cryogenic food processing, a method of preserving fresh food through liquid nitrogen freezing, emerged in the late 1960s to revolutionize the fast food industry. McDonald’s was able to get consistent quality product from a few high volume producers and therefore no longer needed to rely on its network of roughly 150-200 fresh beef suppliers. Otto & Sons accepted Kroc’s offer to become one of McDonald’s four meat suppliers.

In 1973, Otto & Sons opened its first high volume meat plant in West Chicago with specially developed patty-forming machines and liquid nitrogen freezing tunnels. At the same time, it formed a separate unit called Glenmark (see note below), where it folded the non-McDonald’s business. They were small local projects such as supplying specialty meats to area restaurants and processed meats to area supermarkets. In 1975, the company changed its name to OSI Industries. It served as an exclusive supplier to McDonald’s, and grew in size and prosperity as McDonald’s expanded geographically.

Through years of supporting the expansion of a single customer, OSI had evolved into one of the largest privately held food processing companies in the world. It had earned high respect in the foodservice industry for its product innovation, manufacturing efficiency, commitment to food safety and dedicated customer service.

In the 1990's, OSI began to diversify their customer portfolio and serve other companies beyond McDonald's, although in 1992 the company opened their first operation in support of McDonald's near Beijing, China. Today, the company's products include more than hamburgers, such as hot dogs, sausage, bacon, chicken, beans, salsa, soups and sauces as well as value-added dough products. This diversified mix of products allows OSI to serve private label, retail, and other foodservice customers.

''Note: In 1999, OSI entered into a licensing agreement with Best Chicago Meat Co., LLC for use of the Glenmark brand. In December 2011, the Glenmark brand was wholly acquired by Best Chicago Meat''.

In the new millenium, OSI became involved in the produce business, in China and India.

In 2016, Forbes listed OSI as the #58 on its list of the largest private companies.