Evans Food Products

Location: Chicago
2002 revenue: $66.7 million
Growth (1998-2002): 372%
CAGR: 47%
FT/PT employees (2002): 278/0

Pork rinds: the new potato chip. That's the idea Alejandro Silva hopes we'll swallow. Since rinds contain zero carbohydrates, the entrepreneur is hoping to piggyback on the Atkins craze. He is also increasing sales by wholesaling pork pellets (one-inch hunks of precooked skin) to people who prefer to fry, or "pop," their own. And Silva is reinvesting $15 million in profits to expand capacity, in part by building a processing plant in Denmark. This is the tenth largest company on the list in terms of annual revenue.