Maggard assumed the company’s presidency in 2020 and became the sixth president in the company’s 66-year history.
Henny Penny is a global food preparation equipment manufacturer based in Eaton, with clients that include McDonald’s, Arby’s KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, and more.
It makes open fryers, pressure fryers, food holding equipment (such as food warmers), combi-ovens and accessories.
Here are some other things to know about the 66-year-old company and its 1,165 employees.
The early years
In 1954, Chester Wagner patented the world’s first commercial pressure fryer and installed it in the Whispering Oaks restaurant in Eaton.
Henny Penny was founded by Wagner in 1957 to market the pressure fryer. Soon after, the original 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was built along Ohio 35.
Jack Cobb was the fourth employee hired at Henny Penny in 1959. He purchased the company with colleague Cecil Pruitt in 1974. Cobb became sole owner in 1985. In 1996, his son, Steve Cobb, became chairman of the company.
An employee-owned company
In 2015, Henny Penny became an employee-owned company.
That year, the company’s 600 area employees were transported by bus to Eaton High School, where they learned that Henny Penny had become employee-owned through the sale of its stock to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan that provides workers with an ownership interest in a company.
The company’s decision to become employee-owned was intended to keep the Eaton-based global restaurant equipment manufacturer in the family, so to speak, allowing the firm to remain privately held and headquartered in Preble County, company officials said.
Global reach
In 1986, Henny Penny started reaching customers in Europe, opening an office in Paris. The company also has a facility in Sohzou, China, which opened in 2005 to better serve the Asian market.
In 2014, Henny Penny acquired Wood Stone, whose customers included California Pizza Kitchen, Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Wolfgang Puck restaurants. Wood Stone Corp. was a Bellingham, Washington.-based stone hearth cooking equipment manufacturer.
Credit: Jim Witmer
Credit: Jim Witmer
According to a 2015 Dayton Daily News article, Nearly half of Henny Penny sales are outside the U.S. through a global independent distribution system.
Henny Penny has food preparation equipment in more than 100 countries, serving dining chains, health care facilities; supermarkets; and more.
Latest expansions
In 2021, Henny Penny completed a 150,000-square-foot expansion to its Eaton Building for additional manufacturing and engineering space. Before that, in 2014, the company completed a 45,000-square-foot addition.
In late 2022, Henny Penny broke ground in Eaton recently for a building dedicated to the well-being of its employees.
With an expected completion date of late 2023, the nearly $10 million project will result in a 30,000-square-foot building featuring an expanded 3,500-square-foot clinic and a 4,000-square-foot fitness room. The building will also have a a 17,000-square-foot multipurpose space.
Downtown presence
In July 2022 Henny Penny established a presence in downtown Dayton, leasing and preparing an office in The Manhattan building on East Third Street downtown.
The satellite office is home for 20 to 40 or more employees, among them software developers, electrical engineers and others.
