Jones on the porch of the 1844 family farmhouse in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, home of Jones Dairy Farm’s headquarters.
(Photo by Narayan Mahon)

Ask Philip Jones (OPM 32, 2003), CEO of Jones Dairy Farm, to name a favorite from the company’s products and he’ll demur (it’s like picking a favorite child) before fessing up: It’s the roll sausage, made from his great-great-great-grandmother’s recipe of pork, salt, and spices. It’s simple—but not cheap. “Our sausage was 39 cents a pound in 1913,” notes Jones. “I believe that would make it about $8.50 per pound today.” (It runs more like $5.99 in most grocery stores.) With a continued focus on small-batch, high-quality products, the Wisconsin-based producer of hams, sausages, and other meat products has kept prices down by leveraging advances in technology and automation. “The key is to keep the recipe the same and to invest in processes that reduce the potential for worker injury and allow you to remain competitive at the same time,” he explains.

Jones is the sixth generation to lead the business, founded in 1889. But it was never a given that he would do so. Initially trained as a professional chef at La Varenne cooking school in Paris, he oversaw food operations at a Florida resort before stepping up to run the company’s scrapple plant in 1992; in 2001, he was named president and CEO. Jones’s son and stepdaughter both work in the family business, but he cites the importance of drawing on a broad cross-section of external advisors and board members for perspective. In a few years, an OPM-er in training, Ryan Robinson, will take the reins. “You’re not just a caretaker,” says Jones. “You have to be an innovator and a driver.”

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