Company Overview

The Ohio Packing Company had its beginning in Columbus, Ohio as a neighborhood butcher shop and retail meat store in 1907.  The originator, German immigrant Fritz Wilke, moved the operation to its current location on East Fifth Avenue in 1914.  Fritz Wilke had nine children, five of which became active in the business and remained with the Company from their youth to retirement.  The company was incorporated in 1947 and in 1981 acquired a second manufacturing facility on Emig Road in Columbus.

Today the Company is owned by 13 members of the Wilke family and is operated by third and fourth generation family members.  Walter H. Wilke, Jr. assumed the role as President and CEO in 1997 and has focused the Company's efforts on the processing of smoked pork (primarily ham and bacon items), and fresh and smoked sausage products.  The Company's offices are located at the East Fifth Avenue facility which has approximately 75,000 square feet of production , warehouse, and office space.  The Emig Road facility encompasses approximately 50,000 square feet.

The Company's products are sold over a multi-state area, and through a Trademark License Agreement has coast to coast distribution of its "Schmidt's Bahama Mama" smoked sausage.  Through a License Agreement with The Ohio State University the Company manufactures and markets "Buckeye Hot Dogs."  "Harvest" is the Company's premium trade name but also manufactures numerous private label products for restaurant chains, food distributors, and retail store operations.

Additional employed Wilke family members include Edward L. Wilke, Jr., Vice President-Operations, Plant I; James P. Wilke, Vice President-Operations, Plant II; Carla Wilke Jones, Vice President-Administration.