OSI Group

In 1909, German immigrant Otto Kolschowsky opened a family meat market in Oak Park, Illinois[2] 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.[3] Harold and Gerry Kolschowsky, along with Sheldon Lavin, were influential in expanding the company to what it is today.

In 1955, Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois with Otto & Sons as the supplier of fresh ground beef patties.[4][5] When Cryogenic food processing, a method of preserving fresh food through liquid nitrogen freezing, emerged in the late 1960s, Otto & Sons accepted Kroc's offer to become one of McDonald's four meat suppliers. Later, a fifth supplier was added.[3]

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, for all non-McDonald's business. In 1975, the company changed its name to OSI Industries. Glenmark was later acquired by Best Chicago Meat Co. in 2011.[6]

In 1990, OSI partnered with General Milling Corporation and Alaska Milk Corporation to establish GenOSI, a Philippines food processing company.[7] In 2002, OSI China was established in Beijing.[2][8] In 1995, OSI entered the India market with the creation of its subsidiary, Vista Processed Foods.[9]

OSI acquired chicken company Moy Park in 1996. Moy Park was later sold to Marfrig Group in 2008.[10][11]

OSI acquired G W Padley Poultry and Dove Valley in 2004.[10] In 2006, OSI acquired poultry processor Amick Farms.[12] In 2009, OSI established Weihai Poultry Development Co. as a wholly owned subsidiary in China.[13]

In 2011, the company opened a Culinary Innovation Center at its headquarters in Aurora, Illinois.[14] In 2013, OSI established DaOSI in collaboration with Doyoo Group.[15]

In July 2014, a factory of OSI Group in Shanghai, China was ordered to shut down production at that location by local government for allegedly selling expired meat to international fast food chains including McDonald's and KFC.[16] In February 2016, following the return of an unfavorable verdict in the case against the company in the Jiading District People's Court in Shanghai, OSI said in a statement that "the court of jurisdiction has reached an unjust verdict" claiming that "general media clearly influenced the verdict."[17]

In 2016, OSI acquired the former Tyson Foods plant in Chicago for $7.4 million.[18] OSI also acquired a controlling stake in the Dutch company Baho Food in August 2016.[19] That December, OSI acquired Flagship Europe from the Flagship Food Group.[20] In 2018, Flagship Europe was renamed Creative Foods Europe.[21]

The merger of Turi Foods Pty Ltd. and OSI International Foods (Australia) in 2018 created Turosi Pty Ltd.[22] In 2019, OSI acquired Chicago area meat company Rose Packing Company for an undisclosed amount.[23]