Fox River Foods is Cooking

Have you ever driven by on the corner of Lake Street and Aucutt Road and thought about how cool it must be inside? Or maybe you have wondered about the exciting world of food distribution?

No? Well, let me take you on a quick tour of Fox River Foods. It's no dull place.

First, note that Fox River Foods has two locations in Montgomery. The building at 111 S. Lake St. is a corporate office that houses the bids and purchasing departments along with a training center and a commercial test kitchen. The large plant at 5030 Baseline Rd. is the corporate headquarters and the distribution facility. 

Let's stop in the newer corporate building on Lake Street. One of the neat features at the location is a state-of-the-art commercial-grade kitchen and meeting area that was designed for a whole host of business uses.

The approximately 1,000-square-foot test kitchen allows customers to cook and prepare food right there. The additional nearly 4,000 square feet of meeting space is used for sales meetings and product cuttings and samplings. 

One especially cool feature is a demonstration counter with a large tilted mirror mounted above, that allows an audience to view what is being prepared on the counter below.

Pretty neat, right? It might be one of the reasons why Fox River Foods has a reputation as one of the best independent distributors in the country. The company emphasizes service with assistance in processing orders, menu planning and product training.

They also want to make sure your food is delivered on time, so they keep a fleet of about 100 delivery trucks with multi-temperature trailers. But let's get a little history in before visiting the distribution center. 

The history of Fox River Foods goes back to 1948, when Erwin "Erv" Nagel purchased Aurora Meat Locker plant and quickly expanded into retail markets. Specialty lines of dry, frozen and refrigerated foods were added in the late 1950s.

Starting to serve restaurants in the 1960s, the company saw a boom in restaurant chains and moved operations to Montgomery in 1972. The company has grown throughout the years, adding many new products and expanding the cooler and warehouse sections.

Nagel's son, Ken, owns the company now with Frank Karabetsos; both have spent their careers involved in all aspects of the business.

At the distribution center on Baseline Road, Nagel and Karabetsos recently unveiled a new expansion facility with 325,000 square feet of storage, 23 refrigerated dock doors and 11 dry dock doors.

The distribution center services more than 8,000 clients in Illinois and five surrounding states. Foodservice customers range from schools to hotels to concession stands. 

If this all sounds fascinating and you now want a job in food distribution, then talk to Jose Guajardo, human resources manager at Fox River Foods. Guajardo, of Naperville, took over the HR position after the company's original HR manager Al Garreau retired last year. 

Guajardo said he is looking for a few good employees to work the nightshifts. He is especially seeking qualified Veterans due to their sense of responsibility in regards to the community. 

"It is something the leadership believes in," he said of hiring military persons. 

Guajardo is also looking for a few decent baseball players in their 20s and 30s to join the Raul Rivera Baseball League in the Fox Valley area. Contact him at 630-896-1991 Ext. 239.

If you want to take a tour of Fox River Foods after reading this story, you can reach them at 630-896-1991 or at www.foxriverfoods.com. 

And next time you are eating out, don't forget that your food might have been delivered by a truck in Montgomery, Illlinois.