Maple Leaf Foods history

By 1933, operating expenses had been cut by C$7 million annually.

Canada Packers began expanding in 1936 with the building of a meat-processing plant in Alberta and the acquisition of a tannery in Ontario.

In 1938, the company opened an additional packing house and renovated other plants.

Originally established in Saskatoon in 1940 by Fred Mendel as Intercontinental Packers, the business concentrated on canned meat products sold into the US and bacon for Britain during the war years.

In 1944, it also entered the tanning industry with the acquisition of Beardmore & Co.

Canada Packers diversified into other food products including ice cream, cheese, and canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, by 1950 marketed under the York brand.

In 1955, the company purchased two packers, initiating a dispute with the Restrictive Trade Commission.

By 1958, only 55 percent of sales were from meat.

Maple Leaf Mills was created in 1961 through the amalgamation of the Maple Leaf Milling Company Limited, Toronto Elevators Limited and Purity Flour Mills Limited.

Labor disputes arose again, with a national strike in 1966 that hit Canada Packers the hardest of all the packing companies.

In 1975, Harris Laboratories was established to develop pharmaceuticals for human use.

In 1978, Valentine N. Stock became president of Canada Packers.

1979 was a bad year for food packers in Canada.

Since opening in 1980, Maple Leaf Foods Japan has had a long standing history and presence serving the Japanese market.

The year 1981 looked promising&mdash′ofits had reached a record C$30 million.

In 1983, scandal touched Canada Packers when the Canadian government investigated five companies, including Canada Packers, for price fixing.

Two years after Valentine Stock's death in 1987, A. Roger Perretti became CEO. Perretti planned further acquisitions beyond the meat industry, and as Canada Packers approached the new decade it had exited the beef businesses and was focusing on pork and poultry.

In 1989, the McLean family that had dominated Canada Packers since its founding announced its intention to sell its stake in the company.

The controlling interest passed in 1990 to the British Hillsdown Holdings, which already owned Maple Leaf Mills, through a complex transaction in which Canada Packers purchased Maple Leaf Mills in exchange for its own shares.

Maple Leaf Foods is the result of the 1991 merger between Canada Packers and Maple Leaf Mills.

1992 Maple Leaf Foods purchases Vancouver Fancy Meats, along with Shopsy’s® prepared meats plant in Ontario.

By 1994, Maple Leaf generated 8 percent of its sales from the United States, while subsidiaries in Britain, Germany, and Japan were showing promising results.

1996 Maple Leaf Foods purchases Pioneer French Bakery, a leading supplier of partially-baked sourdough breads to the United States supermarket industry; Cambridge Frozen Bakery, a specialty sourdough business in New Jersey; and Burns Meats operations in Manitoba.

In 1997, following a strategy of focusing on core business categories, Maple Leaf divested the last of its flour-milling operations.

In 1998, Maple Leaf Foods formally abandoned its bid and announced an intent to sell its controlling stake in the Ontario company to Smithfield, a hog producer in the United States.

However, in May of 1999, the shareholders were told that the company was back on track, posting its best first-quarter profit and announcing the sale of a coffee shop chain.

Later, in 2001, Maple Leaf acquired Schneider's fresh pork operations in Manitoba.

In 2002, the company purchased San Francisco-based Grace Baking Company.

On 25 September 2003, Schneider was acquired by Maple Leaf Foods.

2004 Maple Leaf Foods acquires J.M. Schneider Inc., one of Canada’s largest producers of premium branded products.

2005 Rothsay opens Canada’s first commercial-scale biodiesel operation in Montreal.

However, on 12 October 2006, Maple Leaf Foods, owners of Mitchell's, announced it would be closing down its major plant in Saskatoon over the next three years.

On 1 March 2007, Maple Leaf Foods announced that it would cease operations of the cut/kill departments at their Saskatoon slaughterhouse.

2009 Maple Leaf Foods officially opens ThinkFOOD!™, a dedicated culinary centre of excellence for product development and customer collaboration.

In 2014, the company sold all non-protein businesses to focus on its protein business.

2017 Maple Leaf Foods establishes a greater purpose and vision: To Raise the Good in Food, in its pursuit to be the most sustainable protein company on earth.

As of November 2018, the company employed over 11,000 people across Canada and was selling its products in over 20 global markets.

In April 2019, the company announced their intent to expand products that are alternatives to meat.

In January 2020, CEO Michael McCain garnered media attention for criticizing "a narcissist in Washington" regarding events preceding Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 being shot down by Iran, in a series of tweets from the company Twitter account.