public industry fast moving consumer goods founded eau claire wisconsin usa 1929 founder ellis huntsinger area served worldwide key people nancy bartusch owner products horseradish condiments mustard sauces number of employees 165 website silverspringfoods.com silver spring foods inc. is the world s largest grower and producer of horseradish . 1 founded in 1929 the company is based in eau claire wisconsin and also produces an assortment of sauces and mustards . the company was incorporated in 1949 as silver spring gardens . 2 silver spring foods inc. fresh ground horseradish silver spring foods inc. beer n brat mustard contents 1 history 2 awards 3 operations 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1929 ellis huntsinger started growing horseradish and other crops in eau claire wisconsin . in the early days he prepared and bottled horseradish by hand . in 1941 huntsinger discovered that the addition of dairy cream helped further enhance the flavor heat and longevity of prepared horseradish . this discovery helped him expand his horseradish sales to markets throughout the united states . the company has been family owned since it began . it is currently owned by ellis huntsinger s granddaughter nancy bartusch and her two sons . 3 in 1972 president edwin bartusch and his wife betty died in a plane crash . barbara the younger of their two daughters and her husband also died in the crash 4 leaving the couple s 22 year old daughter nancy to run the company . she enlisted the help of family friend bill nelson sr. who resigned from kraft foods to run the company . his son bill nelson jr. took over a few years later and ran the company for 25 years . around 2000 the company started producing specialty mustards with horseradish as a key ingredient . 5 in 2003 the company lost a major client and 30 percent of its business . by 2006 it had gained back enough market share to be completing a new highly automated 100 000 square foot plant that doubled its production capacity 6 7 in anticipation of that in october 2005 the company bought the waldorf nuevo sol and bella migliore brands of jams and sauces and in january 2006 it completed the purchase of thor shackel horseradish co. the producer of thor s hot horseradish and several other brands . 8 in 2009 the company purchased kelchner s horseradish products of dublin pennsylvania . in 2010 the company moved kelchner s production to a plant in wisconsin keeping open kelchner s headquarters and a shipping operation in pennsylvania . 9 in 2011 the company began expanding the area where kelchner s products were sold south into the carolinas and north into new york and massachusetts . 10 awards edit the company and has earned several awards at mustard competitions with silver spring beer n brat mustard winning top awards . at the 2010 napa valley mustard festival s world wide mustard competition silver spring earned a grand champion title for its popular deli style mustard while its picante pepper mustard took home a bronze in the pepper hot category . additionally its beer n brat horseradish mustard nabbed a bronze in the horseradish wasabi category and its organic deli mustard won the silver in the organic category . operations edit silver spring foods inc. is now the world s largest producer and processor of horseradish products . 11 revenue hit 50 million in 2011 and the company now employs over 165 people . the brands of the parent company huntsinger farms inc. also include bookbinders food products atlantic brand and thor shackel . 10 references edit karen herzog august 7 2002 . condiment with a kick is eau claire company s specialty . journal sentinel . retrieved june 26 2013 . company historical timeline . silver spring foods . retrieved june 26 2013 . ed schaefer resigns as president and ceo of silver spring foods business consultant mike walsh named president . silver spring foods press release . september 11 2009 . retrieved june 26 2013 . four killed in plane crash . the milwaukee sentinel . december 23 1972 . retrieved june 26 2013 . silver spring expanding private label division . milwaukee business journal . january 18 2010 . retrieved june 26 2013 . katie mcky january 18 2006 . with a new plant silver springs is positioned for growth . chippewa valley business report . retrieved june 26 2013 . doug pond may june 2005 . after experiencing a setback silver spring gardens finds room to grow pdf . associated financial group . retrieved june 26 2013 . eau claire condiment maker completes new plant . milwaukee business journal . november 22 2006 . retrieved june 26 2013 . spencer soper june 23 2010 . dublin horseradish maker kelchner s moving production to wisconsin . morning call . retrieved june 26 2013 . a b peter van allen august 26 2011 . no horsing around this root kicks ... . philadelphia business journal . retrieved june 26 2013 . liam marlaire april 25 2010 . chamber awards silver spring foods . leader telegram . retrieved june 26 2013 . external links edit company website silvsprngfoods twitter www.facebook.com silverspringfoodsinc retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title silver spring foods & oldid 743185597 categories companies established in 1929food manufacturers of the united statesfood product brandscompanies based in eau claire wisconsin navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 10 27 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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