Joseph Grendys

Joseph Grendys runs Koch Foods, a poultry processor that slaughters, ships and sells chicken under its own brands and through private label products.The $3.2 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.