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During World War II, food rationing becomes an everyday reality. Poultry, however, is not rationed, and demand grows fast. John moves into the business of raising chicks and grinding feed for local chicken farmers.

On April 10, 1946, John has a load of Andy Christy’s New Hampshire Reds delivered by airplane to Fayetteville, a first for Northwest Arkansas. John says later, "I decided early that, if you had the best chicks in the area, you’d have the best customers and get the best results."

John incorporates his growing business as Tyson Feed and Hatchery, Inc., in 1947. The company now provides three essential services: the sale of baby chicks, the sale of feed, and the transportation of chickens to market.

At 22, Don Tyson, John’s son, joins the company as general manager. "I left the [University of Arkansas] in 1952, and from that day until 1963, the year I took the company public, I worked in the business six days a week and on Dad’s farm on the seventh day."

Meatpackers begin to base operations in Northwest Arkansas. In the late 1950s, John offers a parcel of land to a processing company to entice them to build a plant. The deal falls through, and Don convinces John that it is time to build their own processing plant.

Originally budgeted at $75,000, John is not happy when his son’s new processing plant goes over budget. Don gets a bank loan to finish construction. At a final cost of $90,000, the Randall Road plant opens in 1958, completing the vertical integration of the company.

In 1963, Don, now vice president, takes the company public as Tyson's Foods, Inc. Under his leadership, the company begins an odyssey of acquisitions that grows �㽶����ֱ�� in every direction.

Don's vision guides the company to fruitful acquisitions and new markets. "Don had an uncanny ability," Leland Tollett would later say. "But the real success of the company is the result of a genuine commitment by Don to 'always take care of our people.'"

Don becomes president of the company in 1966. In 1967, John W. Tyson and his wife, Helen, lost their lives in a terrible automobile-train accident. Following his father’s death, Don Tyson took his place as chairman and CEO.

To kick off the decade, team members move into the new corporate offices in Springdale on Oaklawn Drive. We’re still located in the same place today, although a few more buildings have been added and the street name changed to Don Tyson Parkway in 2008.

In 1979, Don outlines our commitment to the communities we serve, writing in our annual report: "�㽶����ֱ�� believes that, if we don’t take an active part in the community, we won’t deserve a place in it very long."

Despite the struggling economic situation in the early 1980s, �㽶����ֱ�� experiences a period of tremendous growth. “We find something we think we can do, focus on it, and then aim to be number one at it.” says Don in the 1986 annual report.