CookTek

Location: Chicago
2002 Revenue: $10.5 million
Growth (1998-2002): 2,503%
FT/PT employees: 2/47

CookTek, an induction cookware manufacturer that counts McDonald's and Pizza Hut among its customers, donates a lot of merchandise to culinary schools and nonprofit training programs. The effort is as much marketing as mitzvah, according to CEO Bob Wolters. "Once you get our products in front of chefs," he explains, "they never want to cook on anything else."