SR552 - Recognizing Soules Food on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

          SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 552          WHEREAS, Soules Food in Tyler celebrated its 50th   anniversary in April 2025; and          WHEREAS, The business was founded in 1975 as Country Jim's   Meats by partners John Soules Sr., J. O. Thompson, and L. F.   Thompson, and it initially produced raw ground beef patties and   cutlets that were delivered directly to stores and customers;   after a decade, John Soules Sr. purchased the company's   controlling shares and renamed it John Soules Foods; he brought   on Mark Soules as its first and only salesman two years later, and   the enterprise soon expanded its frozen offerings to include   fajitas; it continued to see a number of significant developments   throughout the 1990s, including the introduction of fully cooked   meats, and by 2000, it had begun to stock its products in grocery   stores across the country; and          WHEREAS, John Soules Foods had gone on to become the   nation's top seller of cooked fajitas by 2004, the same year that   its annual sales grew to surpass $100 million; in 2010, Mark   Soules and John Soules Jr. took the mantle of co-chief executive   officers, and John Soules Sr. assumed the role of chair of the   board; four years later, the company acquired ProView Foods in   Gainesville, Georgia, and it won the Value-Added Products   Marketer of the Year and the Top Processor Sales Volume Increase   awards from Certified Angus Beef; as the business continued to   expand, it added a production facility in Valley, Alabama, in   2021; and          WHEREAS, Today, the company remains the country's top   producer of beef and chicken fajitas, and its products are   delivered to retail locations, food service distributors,   restaurants, and school nutrition programs nationwide; moreover,   its 50th anniversary marked its transition to being called Soules   Food, reflecting its new identity as it moves into the future;   and          WHEREAS, For half a century, Soules Food has contributed to   the economic prosperity of the East Texas area and beyond, and   the foundation of good corporate citizenship on which it is built   will help to ensure its existence well into the future; now,   therefore, be it          RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 89th   Legislature, hereby commemorate the 50th anniversary of Soules   Food and extend to the company's leadership and staff sincere   best wishes for continued success; and, be it further          RESOLVED, That an official copy of this Resolution be   prepared for Soules Food as an expression of high regard from the   Texas Senate.     Hughes     Alvarado Hagenbuch Middleton   Bettencourt Hall Miles   Birdwell Hancock Nichols   Blanco Hinojosa of Hidalgo Parker   Campbell Hinojosa of Nueces Paxton   Cook Huffman Perry   Creighton Johnson Schwertner   Eckhardt King Sparks   Flores Kolkhorst West   Gutierrez Menéndez Zaffirini     Patrick, President of the Senate             ________________________________          President of the Senate               I hereby certify that the     above Resolution was adopted by     the Senate on May 22, 2025.             ________________________________          Secretary of the Senate             ________________________________           Member, Texas Senate