Manager of defunct Cooks Venture left wake of businesses

Editor's note: This is part four of a series about the sudden suspension of operations by Cooks Venture of Decatur.

Blake Evans, the current leader of Cooks Venture , can be found at the edges of several historical economic storms in Northwest Arkansas.

Why it matters: The closure of the five-year-old poultry company in Decatur is the latest in a series of booms and busts across his career.

State of play: Evans was appointed CEO of Peterson Farms in 2004 at age 29. At the time, the poultry enterprise founded by his late grandfather, Lloyd Peterson, made an estimated $128 million in annual revenue.

The big picture: The global financial crisis of 2008 was a turning point.

• The recession hit banks with overextended real estate portfolios, but also impacted poultry companies plagued by high grain prices and low demand.
• Evans was at the intersection of both.

Catch up quick: Evans and his parents held about a 30% stake in ANB Financial of Bentonville when the bank failed in May 2008 . All three were on its board of directors , and the family lost an estimated $50 million .

• The Evans family still owned Peterson Farms but sold its meat-producing and propane operations to Simmons Foods of Siloam Springs later that year.
• The Peterson breed was sold in 2010 to Aviagen, one of the world's largest poultry genetics companies.

They also owned Decatur State Bank, founded by Evans' grandfather, Lloyd Peterson , in 1954. Run in part by Evans and his mother — Peterson's daughter — the bank lost money in 2010 and 2011, and was under an enforcement action by the FDIC in 2012.

• Danville's Chambers Bank acquired controlling interest of the holding company in 2012 and the bank's assets were eventually sold to an investment group .

In 2013, Crystal Lake Farms launched using much of the old Peterson Farms land and infrastructure in Decatur. Evans was a co-owner and president in 2017 when Crystal Lake was sold to West Liberty Farms of Iowa.

• An entity managed by Johnelle Hunt, widow of trucking founder J.B. Hunt, was listed as the seller in land records.
• Under the new ownership, Evans was named vice president of industrial affairs.

The latest: West Liberty Foods sold the company in 2018 to Matthew Wadiak, who created Cooks Venture .

• Wadiak paid $2 million for the Arkansas land and buildings and at least $4 million for Oklahoma land and buildings, according to records.
• Evans was named an executive vice president of Cooks.

That same year, Evans declared personal bankruptcy, estimating his assets between $100,000 and $500,000 and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.

The intrigue: Through all the ups and downs, it's not clear how Evans has managed to keep a tenuous hold on parts of the company founded by his grandfather in 1939, now known as Cooks Ventures.

What they're saying: Wadiak declined to talk with Axios about Evans' employment at the company, citing personal reasons.

• Others with familiarity of Cooks Venture's operations declined to speak on the record out of concern for their future career prospects.

The bottom line: Evans declined to talk with Axios on the record for this story after several attempts spanning three weeks.

• "If there was anything else that … popped out at a later date that we could talk about or whatever … I'd certainly let you know that," he said in one phone call.

Go deeper:

• Part 1 — Investors sowed millions into slow-growing chicken venture, then it closed
• Part 2 — Former Cooks Venture CEO says company needed more capital Cooks
• Part 3 — Venture gets $70M line of credit, but future unclear