Antioch business celebrating 50th anniversary, due in part to pandemic

ANTIOCH, Ill. - A north suburban business is booming, thanks in part to COVID-19 changing the way we eat.

Fischer Paper Products in Antioch celebrated its 50th birthday on Wednesday and while you might not know the company’s name, you’ve almost certainly used their products.

"This part of the food business is booming," said Josh Fischer, as he gave FOX 32 a tour of the 22 production lines cranking out food-safe bags and wrappers.

"On the high end, when we’re doing smaller products like french fry bags and sandwich bags, we can make 130,000, 140,000 per hour on a single machine," said Josh.

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This year, Fischer will manufacture more than 2-billion paper bags, which means when you grab a bite of fast food or carry-out or delivery from your favorite restaurant, there’s a good chance the bag was made at their plant.

"Today is our 50th anniversary. It’s a real cool milestone and achievement," said Josh.

In 1972, Josh's grandfather founded the company with two other employees.

Currently, 120 people are employed in a brand new 125,000 square-foot manufacturing plant – and that number is expected to grow because of the pandemic.

"COVID changed the landscape forever," said Josh. "So if you’re a food service, a restaurant, any sort of food service operator in business right now, you’ve got to be providing takeout and delivery. That’s what we do predominantly."

Which is why the machine that makes flat-bottomed bags with handles is running virtually nonstop.

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But there’s still a place for the oldies. After 50 years, one of the companies most popular products remains the doggie bag.

"We have big plans to grow," said Josh's Cousin, Bill Fischer, who started working for the family business in 1996. "There’s a super need, not only for food service products, but for sustainable paper packaging that’s going to explode as people use less plastic."