Brooks steps back into food biz: outlook for new company looks 'Golden.' (Golden West Foods Inc.; Frank Brooks)

Just a few months after selling his 51 stake in the former Brooks Sausage Co., founder Frank Brooks has purchased another food processing operation, Golden West Foods Inc. Golden West Foods, in Bedford, Va., supplies specialty frozen food products, primarily onion rings, french toast and turkey nuggets, to fast-food restaurants and some penal institutions across the country. Brooks' company, BFG Inc., purchased the operation from McCormick Co. Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Until February, Brooks headed an operation that had annual sales of $30 million by supplying meat and food products to the fast-food industry. But he sold his 51% share in the company to majority-owned OSI, a McDonald's supplier based in Aurora, Ill. During Brooks' tenure there, the company ranked No. 48 on the 1994 BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 list, with sales of $31.5 million.

OSI turned around and sold Brooks' 51% to former Chicago Bear David Duerson, making the company black-owned once again. But Brooks says he wasn't ready to be totally removed from the food processing industry. When Golden West became available, he jumped at the opportunity.

"Golden West was in food processing, and it had an excellent history in research and development. There's a top-notch management staff, and it had a good customer base," he says.

Golden West had sales for the last several years of around $25 million per year. Brooks says his goal is to increase revenues to $35 million or $40 million by expanding into different types of food production.

The sale won't affect any of Golden West's 160 employees, and Brooks says he plans to hire additional staff as the company expands. Golden West was McCormick & Co.'s only business in the frozen food industry. Company President and CEO H. Eugene Blattman said McCormick primarily deals with the production of spices and seasoning, and that the sale was consistent with previously announced restructuring plans.

"This transaction highlights the way corporate America can play an important role in the development of minority firms," Brooks says. "Not only are all jobs being retained at Golden West, but a new viable minority enterprise is being created in the process."

A Chicago native, Brooks earned an M.B.A. from Northwestern University and served on a bank board with an executive from OSI. Prior to founding the sausage company, he served as president of the Chicago Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group that specializes in minority business development.

Earlier reports indicated that Brooks might have sold his sausage company to OSI because Brooks and white-owned OSI Industries had a difference in operating styles and philosophies.

"This was a good opportunity with a lot of growth potential, especially to branch out in the chicken area," he says. "I have no regrets [about selling Brooks Sausage]. It's about going to the next level."

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