Monday, October 15, 2012

Evans restaurant owner dies


J. Tim Evans,, one of the founders of Bob Evans, Inc, restaurant chain,  has died at Gallipolis, Ohio.

He began working at Evans Packing Co, in 1953, a plant owned by his father. Bob Evans was a first cousin who asked him to produce sausages.
Together with their uncle Emerson and three friends, they launched Bob Evans Farms, Inc.

Bob started the company to help his hog-farming business survive price cycles.

The business did well and then they started a restaurant.

In an article for Playboar magazine,  Evans said the restaurant chain didn’t do much to improve markets for his hog farms.

The same article featured interviews with other hog farmers trying to get into the restaurant business to improve their chances of survival.  Ross Shantz opened a hamburger restaurant in Waterloo and the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board opened a restaurant in downtown Toronto.

Both gave up those ventures after realizing they did little or nothing to improve hog farming.