Type: Public
On the web: http://www.darlingii.com
Employees: 3,330
Employee growth: 83.0%

While it's not the most darling of businesses -- in fact it's messy and it's stinky -- but Darling, the largest publicly traded rendering operation in the US, is willing to do it. The firm collects, processes, and recycles animal by-products, used cooking grease, and bakery waste and offers grease-trap cleaning services. It counts restaurants, butcher shops, grocery stores, and independent meat and poultry processors throughout the US among its customers. Darling's rendering unit, which brings in three-fourths of sales, produces yellow grease, tallow, and meat, bone, and blood meal. The company sells these products nationwide and overseas to makers of soap, rubber, oils, pet and livestock feed, and chemicals.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2010:
Sales: $724.9M
One year growth: 21.3%
Net income: $44.2M
Income growth: 5.9%

Officers:
Chairman and CEO: Randall C. Stuewe
EVP and COO: Neil Katchen
EVP Finance and Administration: John O. Muse

Competitors:
Baker Commodities
Restaurant Technologies
Sanimax

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