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Provena Foods Inc. history
Provena Foods Inc. company history timeline
Post incorporated the Postum Cereal Company, Ltd. in 1896 with a paid-in capital of $100,000.
The new product was an enormous hit, with sales surpassing 100 million packages by 1900.
In 1903 Kraft started a wholesale cheese distribution business in Chicago.
In 1904 Post marketed a corn flake cereal under the name "Elijah's Manna." Not immediately successful, the new cereal was renamed "Post Toasties" and subsequently became a big hit with American consumers.
As early as 1911, Kraft mailed circulars to retail grocers and advertised on elevated trains and billboards.
1912: N.B.C. launches the Oreo cookie.
In 1919 Kraft placed its first advertisements in national magazines.
In 1920 she married Edward F. Hutton, an investment broker.
1922: Postum Cereal goes public.
But soon, to accommodate his growing business, Kinney added a mill in Omaha, in 1922, and moved the headquarters of the company there.
In 1924 Birdseye founded the General Seafoods Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The most important purchase was that of the Shredded Wheat Company, completed in 1928 for $35 million. It established its first foreign subsidiary, in Canada, in 1925.
Baker's coconut, Baker's chocolate, and Log Cabin syrup were acquired in 1927.
That year Kraft also opened its first overseas sales office, in London, which led to the establishment of Kraft Cheese Company Ltd. there in 1927.
1929-80: Kraft's National Dairy Era
During the Great Depression, when growth slowed and profits fell, N.B.C. acquired Bennett Biscuit Company, maker of Milk-Bone dog biscuits, in 1931.
In 1932 General Foods also purchased the Sanka Coffee Corporation, makers of decaffeinated coffee.
In 1933 the company sponsored the "Kraft Musical Revue," a two-hour musical variety show.
1934: Ritz crackers are launched by N.B.C.
Kraft was a major food supplier during World War II. By the end of 1941, four million pounds of cheese were shipped to Britain weekly.
1941: The letters "N.B.C." in National Biscuit's official trademark are replaced by the word "Nabisco."
In 1942 Dickinson opened a flour mill and animal feed mill in Alabama.
In 1943 General Foods acquired the Gaines Dog Food Company, and the next year it added Yuban premium coffee to its already strong coffee line.
Instant Maxwell House coffee--one of the first postwar consumer products--was introduced in 1946.
In 1951 the postwar economic boom drove National Dairy's sales over the $1 billion mark for the first time.
Thomas McInnerney died in 1952 and J.L. Kraft died the following year.
1956: National Dairy begins centralizing its operations, transforming Kraft from subsidiary to division.
So, in 1956 the company sold its Duncan Hines brand to Procter & Gamble.
Marjorie Post returned to the company as a director the next year, a position she retained until 1958.
In 1965 the company also began to expand into the European market by going into partnership with Bioter-Biona, S.A., a Spanish producer of animal feed and animal health products and breeder of pigs, chickens, and trout.
1965: Expansion into Europe begins through joint venture with Bioter-Biona, S.A. of Spain.
In 1968 General Foods entered the fast-food business by purchasing the Burger Chef chain for more than $15 million.
In December 1969, General Foods added the Viviane Woodard Cosmetic Corporation, a door-to-door operation, for $39 million.
In 1969 the company name was changed to Dart Industries to reflect this diversity.
In 1971, the year that company sales reached $1 billion for the first time, National Biscuit changed its name to Nabisco, Inc.
By 1971 Nebraska Consolidated Mills had outgrown its early base in Nebraska as well as its name.
1976: Kraftco is renamed Kraft, Inc.
ConAgra's first high-profile leader, former Pillsbury executive Charles "Mike" Harper, was named president and CEO in 1976 with a mandate to turn the ailing company around.
The company was overly dependent on coffee for its revenues--its various coffee brands accounted for 39 percent of General Foods' entire revenues in 1980.
Tupperware had been a phenomenal success; it doubled sales and earnings every five years prior to 1980.
1980: Banquet Foods Company is acquired.
ConAgra moved into the prepared seafood market in 1981 with the purchase of Singleton Seafood, the largest shrimp processor in the country, and Sea-Alaska Products.
1983: Red meats processor Armour Food Company is acquired.
In 1984 the company agreed to sell its Gaines Pet Food division for $157 million.
In 1984 the company planned to increase returns from 13.3 percent to 18 percent, and thus place Dart & Kraft in the top fifth of the consumer-products industry.
In November 1985 Philip Morris Companies Inc. purchased General Foods for $5.6 billion.
The diversified tobacco giant's first major push into the food industry came in 1985 when it acquired General Foods Corporation.
R.J. Reynolds changed its name to RJR Nabisco, Inc. later in 1985, while the firm's food unit took the name Nabisco Foods Group.
In 1986, Harper increased ConAgra's presence in frozen foods by purchasing the Morton, Patio, and Chun King brands.
In 1988 Kraft also became a pure food company once again when it sold off Duracell.
KKR ultimately won the battle with a $24.5 billion bid, gaining control of RJR Nabisco in 1989.
On the international front, Kraft General Foods International acquired Jacobs Suchard AG in August 1990 for $4.2 billion.
Coffee also performed well for Kraft General Foods in 1991.
In 1992 KGF Marketing Services was formed.
Sales for 1992 surpassed $20 billion for the first time, as the company posted its 12th consecutive year of record earnings.
A further pullback from the frozen food sector came in December 1994 when the All American Gourmet Company, maker of Budget Gourmet frozen meals and side dishes, was sold to H.J. Heinz Company for about $300 million.
1994: Kraft General Foods sells off its foodservice unit.
In 1995 the company agreed to pay $13.6 million to settle a class-action suit brought by fish distributors and processors who claimed that ConAgra's Country Skillet Catfish Co. and six other catfish wholesalers conspired to fix prices for nearly a decade.
In September 1997 Rohde was named CEO, and he then added the chairmanship the following year.
International Home Foods had posted 1999 revenues of $2.1 billion.
As it was integrating Nabisco and attempting to meet the anticipated annual cost savings of $600 million by 2003, Kraft Foods also began divesting some of the marginal brands it had acquired in the takeover.
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