Kettle Cuisine Celebrates 40 Years of Culinary Innovation and Growth

LYNN, Mass. — Kettle Cuisine, a leading manufacturer of premium, fresh prepared foods, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, marking four decades of culinary innovation, customer partnership and growth.

Founded by Jerry Shafir in Revere, Massachusetts, on Oct. 6, 1986, Kettle Cuisine began with a simple idea that chefs would embrace fully prepared soups if they were made with the same high-quality ingredients and traditional cooking techniques they would use in their own kitchens. The Company started with seven core soups serving New England restaurants.

Since its founding in 1986, Kettle Cuisine has evolved from its roots in premium, artisan soup into a scaled fresh prepared foods manufacturer, providing innovative, consumer-driven solutions across the industry from commercial restaurants and non-commercial partners to grocery and mass retailers. Today, supported by five custom-built manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Kettle Cuisine’s broad portfolio of chef-crafted solutions are made with real ingredients, from refrigerated and frozen soups, protein-rich bone broths, classically cooked sauces and demis, liquid base concentrates, hearty sides and oven-seared sous vide proteins.

“Forty years is an extraordinary milestone, and it speaks to the strength of what has been built at Kettle,” said Peter Hall, who joined Kettle Cuisine as Chief Executive Officer in August 2026. “Jerry founded this company around a belief in great food, culinary integrity and products that customers could be proud to serve. While Kettle has grown and evolved significantly since those early days, those principles remain an important part of who we are today.”

Over the past four decades, Kettle has grown from a regional soup maker into a national leader in fresh prepared foods. Today, the Company combines culinary expertise with scaled manufacturing capabilities to create and produce high-quality foods across the menu. Kettle partners with retail and foodservice customers on custom development and private-brand programs, helping them bring differentiated products to market with consistency, creativity and speed.

Hall said the anniversary provides an opportunity to recognize the people who built the Company while looking toward its future.

“What makes this anniversary especially meaningful is the number of people who have contributed to Kettle’s story,” Hall said. “Across our facilities and throughout our history, generations of team members have brought the skill, care and commitment that allowed Kettle to grow while continuing to deliver for our customers.”

“As we enter our fifth decade, we have an exciting opportunity to build on that foundation,” Hall continued. “Our ambition is to further strengthen Kettle’s position as the go-to fresh prepared foods partner in the United States. We will become even more consumer-led and insight-driven, anticipating what our customers and their consumers need and delivering for them with consistency, creativity, and speed.”

About Kettle Cuisine

Founded in 1986, Kettle Cuisine is a leading manufacturer of premium, artisan-quality prepared foods serving customers across retail and foodservice. From its roots in scratch-made soup, Kettle has expanded its portfolio to include refrigerated and frozen soups, broths, sauces, sides, and proteins. The Company operates five production facilities across the United States, combining traditional culinary techniques with scaled manufacturing capabilities to deliver high-quality food to its customers.