chicago united states 1909 1909 headquarters aurora illinois united states key people sheldon lavin ceo products food number of employees 20 000 2016 1 website osigroup.com osi group is an american privately owned holding company of meat processors that service the retail and food service industries with international headquarters in aurora illinois . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message 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 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 . 2 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 . 3 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 . 4 in 2011 forbes listed it as america s 136th largest private company based on annual revenues of 3 billion . 5 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 out of date meat to international fastfood chains including mcdonald s and kfc . a shanghai television channel which reported the original allegations said that workers at the plant mixed expired meat with the fresh product and deliberately misled quality inspectors from mcdonald s. 6 this report was classified as a falsified expos by the huffington post . 7 in 2016 osi was 58 on the forbes list of largest private companies at 6.1 billion . 1 in february 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 and the company had endured injustices against our people and our reputation . the company went on to say after an actual investigation was completed all authorities involved have recognized that this case has never been about food safety . the distortion of facts and evidence by dragon tv and the general media clearly influenced the verdict . 8 operations edit osi operates its u.s. plants under the name osi industries llc . the u.s. plants are located in chicago geneva and west chicago in illinois as well as oakland iowa west jordan utah fort atkinson wisconsin and riverside california . 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 world located in north america western and eastern europe and the asia pacific region . 9 osi s products include meat patties bacon hot dogs pizza fish pork poultry vegetable and dough products . osi group has also been a meat supplier to other western fast food chains in china such as subway starbucks papa john s pizza and pizza hut july 2014 . 10 osi group facilities have received awards over the years including awards for management of health and safety risks as well as environmental management . 11 see also edit food safety incidents in china references edit a b america s largest private companies . forbes . retrieved july 22 2016 . grinding it out the making of mcdonald s. h. regnery . may 1977 . isbn 0809282593 . osi group . harvard business school . best chicago meat acquires glenmark brand introduces new product line . march 20 2012 . america s largest private companies . forbes . november 16 2011 . retrieved march 31 2012 . china s food safety reputation takes another blow . cnbc . july 21 2014 . retrieved july 22 2014 . small businesses need export opportunities . huffington post . january 14 2016 . february 1 2016 . pdf press release . osi group . february 1 2016 . retrieved september 27 2016 . global locations . osi group . retrieved september 26 2016 . mcdonald s & yum brands china spoiled meat supplier inside privately held giant osi group privco data . privco.com . july 21 2014 . retrieved july 22 2014 . u.k. honours osi . meatingplace . november 27 2015 . external links edit official website website ukraine cityguide privco private company financial report osi group llc http news.yahoo.com china shuts meat factory supplying mcdonalds kfc 063723389 . html ; ylt awrsycmfx81tzggax17qtdmd http www.cnbc.com id 101854379 http www.suntimes.com news 28791922 420 osi group based in aurora investigates report that expired meat reprocessed.html retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title osi group & oldid 741442479 categories companies based in kane county illinoiscompanies established in 1909meat processing in the united stateseconomy of aurora illinois1909 establishments in illinoishidden categories use mdy dates from september 2016articles needing additional references from september 2016all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main 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