Leadership is the Perfect Ingredient
This family-owned firm succeeds with fresh products and fresh ideas.
Written by A.F. Hutchinson and Produced by Brett Fairbanks
Food & Drink Digital
More than eight decades have come and gone since Lester Lawrence walked Chicago's Irving Park Avenue, delivering fresh ingredients to neighborhood bakeries. Four generations of the Lawrence family have since shaped his dedication to quality and service into a lucrative enterprise.
The company's history has been marked by growth spurts and transitions. Having developed into a sizeable wholesale distribution service by the mid-1940s, the family built their first plant, added manufacturing capabilities and began a series of acquisitions that would quickly grow the firm. By 1964 Lawrence Foods, Inc. was not only a bakery ingredients manufacturer and distributor, it was also a full-service foodservice provider.
Subsequent acquisitions broadened the business beyond Chicago and into Milwaukee, notably catching the eye of foodservice giant Sysco Corporation. In the 1980s, Sysco purchased its distribution business and retained Lawrence Foods as an ingredient supplier. The agreement moved the company into the national marketplace, and nearly 30 years later, Lawrence Foods continues to be a Sysco primary bakery ingredient supplier.
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