Still Independent
Our Who Owns Your Food? tool mostly tells a sad story — a dozen conglomerates own almost everything. This page is the happy one: the brands that never sold out, and still answer to themselves.
Some of the biggest names on the shelf are still owned by the family that started them, by the workers who make the product, or by the farmers who grow it. They didn't take the buyout. That's worth knowing, and worth supporting. Here are some of the good ones.
Family-owned, never sold
Tabasco
Still made by the McIlhenny family on Avery Island, Louisiana — since 1868. Five generations, one island, one pepper mash.
Bigelow Tea
A family business since 1945, now run by the third generation. Still independent in a tea aisle owned by giants.
Chobani
Founder-controlled and independent — the yogurt that rewrote the category without selling to Big Dairy.
Huy Fong (Sriracha)
The rooster bottle is still family-owned and famously does zero advertising. The cult did the rest.
Lundberg Family Farms
Four generations of one California family growing rice the regenerative way since 1937.
Eden Foods
Independently owned since 1968 — one of the oldest natural-foods companies still going it alone.
Nature's Path
Family-owned and independent — they've turned down buyout offers to stay that way.
Owned by the people who make it
Bob's Red Mill
Employee-owned (ESOP). The founder gave the company to his workers on his 81st birthday.
King Arthur Baking
100% employee-owned and a Certified B Corp — one of the oldest food companies in America, owned by its bakers.
Owned by the farmers who grow it
Cabot Creamery
A dairy cooperative (Agri-Mark) — the cheese is owned by the farm families who supply the milk.
Tillamook
A farmer-owned cooperative since 1909. The county creamery that never got swallowed.
Ocean Spray
A cooperative of cranberry and grapefruit growers — owned by the farmers, not a beverage conglomerate.
Want to find more makers who still answer to themselves? Browse the 51 shelves → — almost everyone on them is independent. That's the whole point.