Keys Café and Bakery

Headquarters: St. Paul

Inception: 1973

Family members in the business: 20

Employees: 300 

Barbara Hunn Meisen opened the first Keys restaurant in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. Her family now has nine locations that serve made-from-scratch comfort food at reasonable prices. Though Covid required some layoffs, all Keys locations stayed open, thanks to the loyalty of their customers. “Our success doesn’t come only from the family being present and making things as great as they can be,” says Amy Hunn, one of Keys’ current owners and Hunn Meisen’s daughter-in-law. “We couldn’t have a business without the support of all of the communities where we have our restaurants.”

Ferndale Market

Headquarters: Cannon Falls

Inception: 1939

Family members in the business: 4

Employees: 25 

In 2008, Dick and Jane Peterson took their family’s turkey farm in a new direction by launching the Ferndale Market brand. The Petersons raise free-range birds without antibiotics, and they sell their whole turkeys and turkey products at their own on-farm store as well as through food co-ops and other retailers. “One of the secrets of our success is that we’re still an independent family farm,” says their son John Peterson, who currently leads the business. He credits that independence to “the foresight of my dad and my grandfather, who really believed in doing things the way we always have.”

Francis King Ltd.

Headquarters: Minneapolis

Inception: 2002

Family members in the business: 2

Employees: 24

Charlie Flynn founded Francis King (his middle names) to “help interior designers find and acquire the right beautiful things.” Francis King is now the Midwest’s largest residential interiors trade showroom north of Chicago, showcasing furniture, lighting, fabric, rugs, and outdoor furniture. How did the company grow? Flynn says it’s because “we’re a partner with—we’re not selling to.” In 2018, Flynn was joined by his daughter, Susan Flynn, who is the company’s director of fabric sales.

Taher Inc.

Headquarters: Minnetonka

Inception: 1981

Family members in the business: 3

Employees: 4,000

Taher Inc. is the largest privately held K-12 food service provider in the country. It provides fresh meals prepared by professional chefs for public and private schools, businesses, and colleges nationwide; it also supplies convenience stores and other retail outlets. Founder Bruce Taher has served as president and CEO since founding the company; his sons Shawn and Trent Taher are COO and vice president of purchasing, respectively. “I think what has given us our success is being a family-owned business,” Bruce Taher says. “We have had a lot of longevity among our staff.”

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