The Charlotte USA Region boasts home to a multitude of food manufacturers whose products Americans know and love. From vending machines to supermarkets to the restaurant down the street, Charlotte's homegrown food products range from snacks and soft drinks to international foods. Here are the region's top food products:

Charlotte, North Carolina:

Lance, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, was founded with only $60 as a roasted peanut producer in 1913. While the company is famous for pioneering packaged sandwich crackers, which are sold today in various cheese or peanut butter combinations, Lance also produces Archway Cookies, Cape Cod Potato Chips and Stella D'oro baked goods. Lance, Inc. signed a merger with pretzel-powerhouse Snyder's of Hanover in the summer of 2010.

Stefano Foods, founded in 1976, has its headquarters and primary manufacturing facilities in Charlotte. Founded by Sicilian immigrant, Stefano Foods brings delicious "Old World Italian" foods to America. The company's products include calzones, pizzas, flatbreads and paninis, sold to foodservice industries and available in your local deli and frozen food aisle.

Charlotte-based Carolina Foods, Inc. has been producing private label and Duchess brand baked goods since 1934. The bakery's seven production lines produce the company's popular packaged snacks, including gem donuts, honey buns, fritters and pies. One of the pioneers of packaged bakery snacks, Carolina Foods focuses its technology on achieving a longer shelf life than its competitors without increasing its use of preservatives, making Duchess snacks a quality product found in vending machines across the nation.

Headquartered in Charlotte, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated is the nation's second largest bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products. The company started in Charlotte in 1902 as one of the first distributors of Coke products in North Carolina and now sells its products across the Southeast. The first company to sell Cherry Coke in 1982 and Dasani water in 1997, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated is an innovative leader for packaging and distribution.

Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits opened its first restaurant over 30 years ago in Charlotte, North Carolina. The founders of this fast food chain wanted to serve quick but quality southern foods such as hand-battered fried chicken, homemade buttermilk biscuits and country hams and steaks. Bojangles' has been voted one of the fastest growing private companies in the nation and now operates over 450 restaurants in the United States.

D'Rouco Foods, based in Charlotte, has been making old world latin foods from family recipes for generations. D'Rouco is known for its Spanish and Mexican-style chorizo, made from all-natural organic pork and flavored with the finest spices, and for its MexiDog brand chorizo, which is sold in grocery stores throughout the region.

Founded in Charlotte, Mitchum, Inc. has been manufacturing quality private label potato chips for groceries and supermarkets across the eastern United States since 1936. Producing its chips for customers such as Piggly Wiggly, IGA and Save-A-Lot, Mitchum's 80,000 square foot plant manufactures over 2,000 pounds of chips an hour, which are all cooked using 100% cottonseed oil.

Charlotte Region:

Dole Food Company, Inc., with operations in Bessemer City, North Carolina, is the largest fresh fruit and vegetable producer in the world, with annual revenues of up to $6.9 billion. The company, which is over 150 years old, manufactures frozen and fresh, packaged and canned fruits, vegetables and juices, but is most famous for its pineapples and bananas. Dole's Bessemer City facility produces vegetable and salad products.

Biltong USA, Inc. is the Stallings, North Carolina–based manufacturer of gourmet beef snacks since 1995. The company was the first meat processor in America to produce USDA-approved Biltong, a uniquely cured beef snack from South Africa, and is today the largest. Biltong USA's high-protein, low-carb snacks are long lasting, all natural and certified organic.