Leroux

Leroux is the world's leading producer of chicory; its output is 125,000 metric tons of chicory a year, which it ships to more than 50 countries. Popularized by the French as a coffee substitute in the days of Napoleon, chicory was pitched for its health benefits after World War II. Later, Leroux promoted it as the all-natural, "green" drink of the third millennium. Leroux supplies 95 percent of the chicory consumed in the United States, where it is best known for the distinctive flavor it adds to New Orleans-style coffee.