History of Hooples

We are a third generation privately-owned manufacturer of prepared deli salads. Our production facility is located in Rockport, IN. Our products range from a full line of fresh salads to dips, cheese balls and horseradish. We provide bulk and retail pack salads to grocery and restaurant customers throughout the midwest.

In 1950, Louis N. Hoople and his family moved to a farm outside Rockport, IN to lead a quiet life.  As a life-long entrepreneur, Mr. Hoople was soon looking for additional challenges. He began the Hoople business with production of pork sausage on his farm outside Rockport. As a salute to our heritage, our logo still includes the barn and the mail box with R.R. 1, which is the original address. Shortly after, as the demand for sausage lessened during the summer months, he added our first prepared salads.

In 1956, Louis’s son-in-law, Frank Caskey joined the business. In 1965, our first production facility was constructed in Rockport.  Hoople products included bulk sausage, patties, smoked and rope sausage. As the salad business grew,  an additional production building was added in 1973 to house the salad operation.

In 1982, Frank’s son, David Caskey became involved in the business and currently serves as President. A new production facility was built in 1996 to bring all production back under one roof.  Improvements in process flow, increased cooler space and adjustments to comply with current regulatory requirements were realized with this new building. The production of the sausage line was discontinued in 1997.

The next project was in 2012. We added an additional building that included significant equipment for processing raw potatoes for our growing business.

It is our goal to supply deli salads with a great taste at a great price as well as the high level of customer service that would make Grandpa Hoople proud.

Hooples Today

We are a regional salad manufacturer of prepared salads that meet the homemade taste preference of the Midwestern customer. Being a small business enables us to maintain the flexibility to meet and exceed our customers’ needs in package options and turnaround time. Our production plant is a USDA and FDA inspected facility.

We are fully capable of creating new custom recipes to fulfill a specialty item wish list. Private label manufacturing is also an option to assist our customers.