There is an outfit headquartered in Columbus, Ohio that got its start as a twelve-stool diner owned by a local farmer. He said he could not get any decent sausage for the diner and began making his own back at the farm. That was fifty-nine years ago. Both the diner and the sausage-making businesses have since prospered.

Bob Evans Farms (NASDAQ: BOBE) owns and operates full-service restaurants, under the Bob Evans and Mimi's Cafe brand names. The Bob Evans chain consists of 579 stores in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the United States. Mimi's Cafe runs 118 restaurants, primarily in California and other western states. The company is also a leading producer of pork sausage and complementary home-style convenience foods, under the Bob Evans and Owens brand names. Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) is a competitor.

The firm had good news for investors last Monday evening, when it announced Q2 EPS of 45 cents and revenues of $426.3 million. Analysts had been expecting 39 cents and $425.5 million. Management also guided FY08 EPS to $1.77-$1.84 ($1.72 consensus). The stock popped through 30-day and 50-day moving average resistance on the news and began consolidating the gain in a bullish "flag" pattern. Then, on Thursday evening, the board authorized a two million share addition to its stock buyback program. That boosted the current fiscal year authorization to five million shares and took the stock price to the top of the flag. Further upside is expected.