Naturally Fresh, Inc. is a producer of dressings, sauces, marinades, dips, oils, and vinegar. The company also manufactures dressings, sauces and dips for a number of different restaurants and institutions, including

Hooters Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with ...

. It is currently one of the largest manufacturers of sauces and salad dressings in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

History

Naturally Fresh was founded in 1966 as Eastern Foods by Robert H. Brooks, the founder of Hooters of America, to sell non-dairy creamer to the airline industry. In 1980, Eastern Foods launched the Naturally Fresh brand and in 2002 the company name was changed to reflect the brand. In 2003, Robert retired and named his son

Coby G. Brooks Coby Garrett Brooks (born May 17, 1969) is the former president and CEO of Hooters, Inc. and Naturally Fresh, Inc. Brooks was promoted to these positions in 2003, three years before the death of his father, Hooters founder Robert H. Brooks. Af ...

President and CEO. After Robert's death in 2006, Coby gained a controlling, but not majority, interest in Hooters and Naturally Fresh, Inc. This left him embroiled in a dispute with his father's widow Tami over distribution of the father's estate as Robert left in his will 30% of his estate to Coby, 30% to his underage daughter Boni Bell, 10% to Clemson University, and 30% to other family members. Tami was bequeathed $1 million per year for 20 years. However she sued the estate for the ⅓ share of the estate that would be due her under South Carolina's

elective share An elective share is a term used in American law relating to inheritance, which describes a proportion of an estate which the surviving spouse of the deceased may claim in place of what they were left in the decedent's will. It may also be called ...

law. In 2009 Coby and Tami settled for an undisclosed amount, but that settlement has forced Coby to seek outside investors. Naturally Fresh was purchased in 2012 by

TreeHouse Foods TreeHouse Foods Inc. is a multinational food processing company specializing in producing private label packaged foods headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. Created in 2005 and consisting entirely of acquisitions, in 2010 the company had sales ...

In popular culture

On February 14, 2010 Coby appeared on an episode of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

reality TV show

Undercover Boss ''Undercover Boss'' is a reality television series franchise created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4. The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working u ...

. On Day 5 he worked in the Naturally Fresh factory in Atlanta where he was told point blank by one of the employees that the company had gone downhill since his father died.

References

External links

* {{portal bar, Food Manufacturing companies established in 1966 Food manufacturers of the United States Brand name condiments Food and drink companies based in Atlanta Manufacturing companies based in Atlanta 1966 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) American companies established in 1966 Food and drink companies established in 1966