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About Us/History

Pursuing Excellence

Request Foods began as the prepared entrées division of Bil Mar Foods, one of the nation’s largest turkey processors.

When Bil Mar was bought by Sara Lee, Jack DeWitt and other visionaries decided to purchase the division, and launch a new business together – Request Foods.

Over the years, we’ve expanded to focus more on co-packing frozen entrées for consumer product companies and major food service organizations; added processing equipment along with kitchen and production areas to produce more quickly and efficiently single- and multi-serve meals; built a new temperature-controlled skillet bag meal room; and adopted so much more to stay on the cutting edge of trends and changes in the food industry.

Today, Request Foods is ranked as a Tier 1 frozen food processor in volume, capabilities, and breadth of products. But we are still family owned and operated, and remain committed to a culture of family values and honoring God. We are continuously blessed with outstanding team members, customers, and vendors – all who make our success possible.

Always Investing in the Future

1987
Bil Mar Foods, Inc. is acquired by Sara Lee Corp. The prepared entrées division is purchased by Jack DeWitt and group of investors.
1990
Request Foods is founded with 180 team members in a 100,000 sq. ft., production facility in Holland, Michigan.
1995
Added an additional 35,000 sq. ft. for Kitchen 2 and a bulk line.
1999
Added an additional 29,000 sq. ft.
2000
Added an additional 42,000 sq. ft.
2002
Expanded with an additional 100,000 sq. ft. for co-packing frozen entrées.
2003
Increased to 370,000 sq. ft. to add state-of-the-art processing equipment and new kitchen and production areas.
2011
Opened the new 230,000 sq. ft. Greenly Street plant.
2014
Received Recognition for our Environmental Contribution from Rebox with our more than 3,000 CO2 emission reduction.
2018
Added on another 75,000 sq. ft. of kitchen and production areas putting the Greenly Street plant over 300,000 sq. ft.
2021
Added an additional 108,000 sq. ft. of kitchen and manufacturing space to Greenly Street plant.
2022
Opened the new 120,000 sq. ft. Quincy Street plant.
Today
A team of more than 1,200 and a Tier 1 producer of nearly 800 different custom entrées, side dishes, appetizers, and sauces.

Mr. Turkey

In its final year of operation under the DeWitts, Bil Mar had sales of $199.1 million and shipped throughout the world. The biography of Marvin DeWitt is a testament to entrepreneurial spirit. “Baste” yourself in the story of how a small company became a turkey empire and inspired the beginnings of Request Foods.

Get The Book

“I don’t look for things being done right — I look for things being done wrong. The right things take care of themselves.”

– Marvin DeWitt