John Williams of Edmond, Oklahoma, launched Chef’s Requested Foods in 1979 in Oklahoma City. The company is for meat-focused food service clients with center-of-the-plate products and retail premium meat products. Today, as president, he employs nearly 200 Oklahomans, selling more than a million pounds of value-added meat/food products each year to local, regional and national retail outlets and through major food service distributors.

 

Williams is a North Dakota native and North Dakota State University graduate. He began his professional career as a marketing research analyst at the Hormel Food Company in Austin, Minnesota, for Dinty Moore products, SPAM products, Hormel Chili and others.

 

Williams was a member of the Industry Advisory Committee of the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center from 2006 to 2015. He chaired the very active subcommittee on food safety that was responsible for the development and successful launch of the food safety option in the food science curriculum at OSU.

 

Williams has been instrumental in assisting FAPC create the Global Food Safety Initiative food safety program, allowing FAPC to proactively assist food processors across the state.

 

He has served as the president, treasurer and a board member of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Williams is a member of the Central Oklahoma Manufacturer’s Association and a founding member and past president of the Made in Oklahoma Coalition.

 

Aside from his involvement and leadership with FAPC, he has been a key supporter of the department of animal science, having been a crucial donor of meat for the annual Animal Science Banquet for several years.