The Boar's Head brand of deli meat has been in the news lately because of a listeria outbreak that has killed 10 people across the US and sickened dozens more. But the controversy also has called attention to an epic family feud within the billon-dollar meat empire that stretches back decades. Sarah Nassauer of the Wall Street Journal explores the history, which begins simply enough in 1905 when Frank Brunckhorst started a meat-delivery service in Brooklyn. When he died, son Frank Jr. and his daughter's husband, Bruno Bischoff, took over. Thus you have the two clans—the Brunckhorsts and the Bischoffs—running things today. The problem is, they've been fighting through lawsuits and countersuits since 2005, though the acrimony goes back further.
"Their quarrels date to the early 1970s, when one scion died before other members of his generation," writes Nassauer. "Much of his 25% stake in the company went to the other side of the family, rather than to son Eric Bischoff." Eric, who once worked at the company but no longer does, maintains that his father was essentially duped into that decision and is fighting to get back what he think he is due. Meanwhile, most major company decisions are made by the family trio of another Frank Brunckhorst (who was once working his way up the company the same time as Eric), as well as cousins Robert Martin and his son of the same name. It is a complicated tale, and no wonder: "Boar's Head may be the most secretive company I've dealt with in my decade at Forbes," writes Chloe Sorvino, who conducted her own deep dive at that publication. (Read the full Journal story here.)
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