Whitfield Foods

Yes, Whitfield Foods makes more than Alaga Syrup - a lot more. The company also produces products like Gatorade, Tropicana and Lipton tea for distributors such as PepsiCo. Alaga accounts for only about 25 percent of the company's products these days. In fact, one of the syrup production lines also is used to make Limeaid for Taco Bell. "We love Alaga Syrup," Massey said. "That's our heritage, and we have no plans of getting rid of it. But we're in business because of contract manufacturing, at this point. There's no doubt about that." And they're doing it well. The award from PepsiCo is the result of an analysis that showed Whitfield Foods topping a list of 64 manufacturers nationwide in productivity, quality and customer service.