Ward worked for J.M. Schneider Inc. when he decided there was an opportunity to process value-added chicken and set up operations in Elmira, hence the company name.
He was highly successful and moved to Waterloo where he installed state-of-the-art equipment, such as water-jet lasers from Japan and computerized portion-sizing scanners. At one point his requirements were so great that he was importing chicken from Newfoundland.
In 2005 he sold the company to J.D. Sweid Ltd. which expanded production.
Ward went on to found JRM and Creative Landscaping Depot.
