He Used Lettuce to Build an Empire for the Kingdom

If you’re over 35 and have eaten a McDonald’s burger or salad in the U.S., U.K., France, or China—you’ve most likely eaten food processed by Howard Long’s companies. 
He still remembers the day, in 1985 when he walked a group of McDonald’s executives into a lettuce field—showing them the innovations and the quality he could deliver. At the time, he was just a regional supplier, everything changed that day.

Howard remembers: "I'm showing 'em the difference. Hard lettuce and our lettuce and ours is soft at the middle. So you don't have that hard, bitter, bitter flavor."
"And they told me, well Howard, can you do the whole country? I says, yeah, I could do the whole country. And just like that, 4,000 stores to 12,000 stores for the whole country in head lettuce. Now I'm the lettuce man."

That deal made Howard’s company the powerhouse in international lettuce processing. When McDonald’s went international, Coronet followed—supplying fresh produce to stores in the UK, France, and China.

Howard says: "I think all businesses are the same. And if you got a better product at a better price, you can probably sell it. We got over there because we had lettuce that no one over there could produce."

Once in the U.K., Howard’s company developed artisan salads with edible flowers that flew off the shelves at Tesco and Sainsbury’s—Britain’s biggest and most trusted supermarket chains.

"They really were the best. And they were constantly researching different recipes. And that's where the flowers went, and we cranked out those salads."

At its peak, Howard Long’s produce empire spanned the globe—with production plants on multiple continents and over 2,000 employees. And yes, he saw a lot of green, which he attributes to God.

"In Deuteronomy it talks about, God says, to some He has given the ability to create wealth. And if we drill down in that, create wealth, and if we did it by who pays the most income tax, we would see that maybe 10% of the population pays 50% of the income tax. So, we could say somewhere between 10 and 15% really have the gift to create wealth. With just a high school education, I very early on in my twenties, I sort of felt that I was, especially when I got in the business, that I was given the gift to create wealth."

Howard believes that creating wealth comes with responsibilities.

Howard says: "If you are given that gift, then you should be giving maybe 50% or 60% of what you're making and keep maybe 20 or 30%, because the wealth was given you for the whole body. And so what you need to do is drill down in the weeds and find the ministries that are pushing two or three things: salvation, building for the harvest, feeding the poor. And that's one of God's commandments—to feed the poor. When you are giving to CBN and Operation Blessing is doing the same thing. That’s what I'm telling you to do."

For over 50 years, Howard along with his wife Wendy have faithfully supported CBN—and Operation Blessing with its mission to help those in need.

Howard recalls: "I stumbled across the 700 Club and Pat was preaching and doing a wonderful job of presenting the gospel. CBN is still every day preaching the gospel and saving souls and calling people to accept Jesus. And so the more I watched Pat, the more it became important to me that he got the financial help."

Including the construction of Regent University.

Howard remembers: "There was no building there when we started. There's about four or 500 of us standing outside the lots and he's preaching about how God had given him a vision to build a school, and the Holy Spirit told me to give him money. So I think I wrote the largest check I'd ever written. I would confess that you would be doing the right thing by giving money to Regent today."

In his autobiography “Fields of Green,” Howard Long, now retired, shares how he went from a small-town sheet metal worker in West Virginia to a global businessman and philanthropist—while fighting to outlive a diagnosis of early death from heart disease.

Howard says: "Twenty five years I was praying for a new heart, you know."

After surviving three heart attacks and two bypass surgeries, at 65 Long was near death. He lay in New York’s Presbyterian Hospital, waiting for a donor heart—when his surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz walked in.

"I'm shaving in the morning at six o'clock in the morning. And Dr. Oz comes dancing up the hallway with a big grin. He says, 'We got you a heart.' And I said, ‘Oh, you made my day.’"

The average heart transplant recipient lives 10 to 14 years after the procedure. At 91, Howard Long has been thriving for 25. His legacy of wellness lives on through the Howard Long Wellness Center—founded, in part, with a $1 million gift back in 1992. Outside, a mosaic. Inside, a statue. Both honor the man who jogged six miles a day—faithfully, for decades.

"But more than that, I tell you what a blessing has been, is they've gotten like close to 6,000 members, you know, and you take, it's been 32 years, you know, and I knew it would extend life."

In Wheeling, West Virginia—a city of just 26,000—22 percent of the population belongs to a state-of-the-art, 65,000-square-foot wellness center.

"Believe it or not, you can start any time and it will have benefit."

From the hills of West Virginia to the boardrooms of international business, Howard Long built more than a company—he built a legacy. One grounded in generosity, resilience, and a singular truth he hopes every entrepreneur will embrace: a life led by faith in Christ leaves the greatest impact.

"I get letters, requests or phone calls wanting me to give 'em some profound word that's gonna let them go out and make a million dollars. I'm telling you a profound word to make a million dollars: seek first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness. That's my advice."