The company began in 1927 as Wampler Feed and Seed Company. Founder Charles Wampler, Sr. served for the next 50 years, first as President and later as Chairman of the Board of Directors. WLR Foods and its subsidiaries currently employ approximately 7,000 people and contract with approximately 900 poultry growers in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas. For fiscal 2000, WLR Foods produced approximately 442 million pounds of dressed turkey and 723 million pounds of dressed chicken. Primary plant operations are in Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Primary markets are retail, foodservice, and international.
Dominant marketplace is the East Coast, with special emphasis on the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. One of the primary poultry suppliers to military commissaries on the East Coast and Europe.