Bob Evans Farm

Rio Grande, Ohio

Robert Lewis Evans

(1918-2007)

Bob Evans was an American restaurateur and marketer of pork sausage products.  He founded a restaurant chain bearing his name. Evans was born to Stanley and Elizabeth Evans both of Welsh descent in Sugar Ridge, Ohio. The family moved to Gallia County, Ohio in 1929 to be near relatives.  The family settled in Gallipolis, Ohio where his father owned and managed a grocery store.  

Bob Evans got its start when he began making sausage on his southeastern Ohio farm to serve at a 12-stool diner he owned in nearby Gallipolis in 1948.  Evans could not find a  source of satisfactory sausage so he began making his own.  The original Bob Evans restaurant on the farm was called The Sausage Shop.  Although it started with 12 stools, today the restaurant can seat 134 patrons.

In 1953, the business was incorporated as Bob Evans Farms Inc.  In 1957, the company opened four sausage plants to keep up with demand.  In 1963, Bob Evans Farms Inc. had its IPO (initial public offering).  Evans served as a director and president of the company until his retirement on December 31, 1986.

The first Bob Evans restaurant was located in Chillicothe, Ohio.  By the early 1970s, the restaurants had expanded throughout Ohio.  Expansion into other states was started in the late 1970s.  By 2012, Bob Evans Farms, Inc. was a $1.7 billion restaurant and retail products company with over 500 restaurants in 19 states.  

The Bob Evans Farm

Bob  and Jewell Evans purchased the Niamiah Woods Farm near Rio Grande, Ohio from Rio Grande College in 1952.  They lived in the farmhouse for nearly twenty years.  Now the old homestead is called Bob Evans Farm and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 1987. The house is the home of the Homestead Museum about Bob Evans and his company.  The Bob Evans Farm Festival, featuring crafts, antiques, demonstrations and entertainment is held every year at the farm in Rio Grande during the second weekend of October. 

Evans passed on June 21, 2007, three weeks after his 89th birthday.  Upon learning of his death, Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio was quoted.

"Bob Evans was a true original.  His life's work was bringing the warmth, hospitality and good food of Ohio to the rest of the Nation. We, here, in Ohio are all proud of him and we are all deeply saddened by his passing."

Bob Evans has a toal of 421 locations across the United States with Ohio hosting the largest share at 179 locations, representing 42.5% of the total.  The top three states, Ohio, Michigan and Florida account for 61.0% of all locations.

Job Well Done, Bob Evans

RIP