The rise in healthy eating also includes many varieties of beans, which pack plenty of fiber and nutrients. One company that knows beans is Bush Brothers Co., headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. Beginning as a tomato cannery in 1908, the company later expanded to beans and a variety of other vegetables. Successful TV marketing fueled increased demand for Bush Brothers baked beans, necessitating a major expansion. The company opened a new $100-million, 220,000-sq.-ft. (20,400-sq.-m.) plant in a rural area of Jefferson County in eastern Tennessee in March 2004. The new facility is adjacent to a Bush Brothers plant that was built in the 1970s and will continue operating. The complex employs about 300. Bush Brothers operates two other plants in Wisconsin that employ another 300.
      Steve Harris, Bush Brothers' vice president for government and regulatory affairs, says the company briefly considered building a plant from scratch elsewhere, but elected to stay where it has considerable infrastructure.
      "This facility already had the necessary infrastructure to support our operations. It's located out in the country and we have our own water source and our own wastewater treatment and warehousing," Harris says.