Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2025: WARREN THOMPSON

Thompson became an entrepreneur as a teen, when he purchased and ran his family’s hog farm in Windsor. He now heads the largest minority-owned food and facilities management corporation in the nation, which he founded in 1992 with the purchase of 31 Bob’s Big Boy restaurants.

Thompson Hospitality provides dining services for more than 200 companies, universities and hospitals, representing over $2 billion in business. The company also owns several restaurant chains, including Milk & Honey, Matchbox and Wiseguy Pizza, and runs more than 70 restaurants. In 2023, the company launched the Thompson Restaurants division, which is its fastest-growing business. In 2024, Thompson Hospitality generated nearly $1 billion in revenue.

Thompson graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia’s business school, and he was later a member of both institutions’ boards. Attending U.Va. was meaningful, considering that racial segregation prevented his father, Fred Thompson Sr., from attending the school decades earlier.

Thompson is a member of the American Heart Association CEO Roundtable and sits on Performance Food Group’s board of directors.

Last year, Thompson bought Wildersmoor House, a 17-acre equestrian estate in Great Falls, for $14.75 million.

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