The company was founded in 1916 by Koegel[1] on Kearsley Street, Flint, as a retail market to take part in the expanding population due to the automotive industry starting up.

[8] To keep up with the regional demands, Koegel opened a processing plant in the mid-1930s[7] on Stevens Street at the Flint River.

While Boar's Head is a New York company, it was awarded a large incentive, paid with taxpayer money, to open a processing plant in Michigan.

President John Koegel told the press that in previous years, a couple of truckloads of the ham product would be sold per annum, but declining sales forced its discontinuation.

[9] With the downturn of the Great Recession, Koegel sales increased over first couple of years as people prepared meals at home more.

[14] Koegel uses its original 100-year old recipes that the meat products are smoked with damp sawdust with hardwood for flavor and in its own blend of spices[1][8] Processes have changed over the 100 years moving from hand stuffing to machine based operation.