Joseph Grendys
{{short description|American billionaire whose company Koch Foods has been accused of abusive working conditions}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2017}}
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| name = Joseph Grendys
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| birth_name = Joseph C. Grendys
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date |53|2015|10|15}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, US
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| education = Holy Cross High School (River Grove, Illinois)
| alma_mater = Loyola University (BBA)
| occupation = Chairman, CEO, president and owner, Koch Foods
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Joseph C. Grendys (born 1961 or 1962) is an American billionaire who is the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Koch Foods, a chicken processing company. As of June 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$3.1 billion.{{cite web|title=Forbes profile: Joseph Grendys |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/joseph-grendys/ |website=Forbes |accessdate=20 June 2022}}
Early life
Grendys was born in Chicago in the early 1960s. His father was a butcher who was also involved in the wholesale and retail meat trade.{{cite news|title=Joseph Grendys: Meat Processing Tycoon|url=http://entrepreneurinformer.com/joseph-grendys-meat-processing-tycoon/|accessdate=October 15, 2015|work=entrepreneurinformer|date=June 24, 2015}} His grandparents emigrated to the United States from Poland.
He was educated at Holy Cross High School in River Grove and worked at Koch Foods part-time while a student. In 1984, he received a bachelor's degree in Finance and Marketing from Loyola University.{{cite web|title=Executive Profile Joseph Grendys|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=7014021&privcapId=4260010|website=bloomberg|accessdate=October 15, 2015}}
Career
Grendys started full-time at Koch Foods in the mid-1980s, when it had just 13 employees. The owner, Fred Koch, was one of his father's customers and had started Koch Foods in 1973. He offered Grandys a 50% equity share in the business.
He bought out Fred Koch in 1992. Grendys's companies now slaughter, ship and sell chicken using the Koch Foods, Antioch Farms, Preferred Foods and Rogers Royal brands. Koch slaughters over 12 million chickens and processes over {{convert|50000000|lb|t}} of chicken every week.{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Melissa|title=Inside billionaire Joe Grendys' chicken empire|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-confidential-chicken-billionaire-1026-biz-20141024-column.html|accessdate=October 15, 2015|work=chicagotribune|date=October 24, 2014}}
In 2011, Koch employed 14,000 people, had an annual turnover of $2.8 billion, and was one of America's five largest "fully-integrated chicken processors."{{cite news|last1=Melby|first1=Caleb|title=New Chicken Billionaire Joseph Grendys Rules The Roost|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2013/08/07/new-chicken-billionaire-joseph-grendys-rules-the-roost/|accessdate=October 22, 2015|work=Forbes|date=August 7, 2013}}
In a 2014 interview, Grendys stated that he planned to acquire more companies and that he might branch out into another protein, but that he was "not sure what that protein would be yet." Rather than running a chicken company, he sees it as "the business of converting corn and soybeans into meat protein."
In August 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$2.3 billion.
Koch Foods has been dogged by accusations of racism and abusive working conditions.{{cite web |last1=Arnsdorf |first1=Isaac |title=How a Top Chicken Company Cut Off Black Farmers, One by One |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/how-a-top-chicken-company-cut-off-black-farmers-one-by-one# |website=/www.propublica.org |date=June 26, 2019 |publisher=Pro Publica |accessdate=29 June 2019}} On August 7, 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided several food processing plants in Mississippi, one of which was the Morton plant of Koch Foods. Three buses were used to shuttle off workers alleged to be undocumented.{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2019/08/07/koch-foods-ice-raids-mississippi/|title=Buses of Workers Taken From Koch Foods in Mississippi Immigration Raids|website=Fortune}}
Personal life
Grendys lives "relatively modestly in the Chicago bungalow where he grew up and drives a beat-up old Cadillac."{{cite news|title=How Koch Foods Built a $3 Billion Chicken Empire|url=http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/18/how-koch-foods-built-a-3-billion-chicken-empire.aspx|accessdate=October 15, 2015|work=fool|date=May 18, 2015}} Grendys also owns a $3 million house in Chattanooga, Tenn.
References
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Category:American billionaires
Category:American people of Polish descent