The Schwan Food Company history

Schwan's faced its second major crisis in 1957 when the Redwood River reached flood stage in Marshall, severely damaging equipment in the central plant and halting operations for four days.

By the early 1960s sales had easily surpassed $4 million and the full-time workforce had swelled from the original five to well over 100.

The company met the challenge of another crisis in 1962, that of a nearby fire which threatened to destroy the plant's north wall and with it a 10-ton condenser, and redoubled its efforts to grow into a stable, thriving company.

Acquisitions Began in 1963

In 1964 the Schwan family established a new holding company, Schwan's Sales Enterprises, Inc., for their food manufacturing and delivery businesses.

By 1969--the year of Paul Schwan's death--pizza sales were approaching those of ice cream and, consequently, Schwan was eager to expand his territory.

On February 23, 1974, fire destroys the company's ice cream plant, corporate headquarters and distribution center in Marshall, Minnesota.

While the ongoing success of the latter half of operations was virtually ensured, the former--represented primarily by Tony's--was pitted against serious Minnesota rivals Totino's (acquired by Pillsbury in 1975) and Jeno's.

McGrath, Dennis J., "Schwan's Turns Ice Cream into Lots of Cold Cash," Minneapolis Tribune, October 29, 1978.

By 1979 he had built his delivery system into a 1,000-truck fleet.

However, 1981 was also the year in which the company sustained its greatest personal loss, the death of an employee and the injury of eight others following an anhydrous ammonia leak at the main plant.

——, "Marvin Schwan: The Emperor of Ice Cream," in Self-Made: The Stories of 12 Minnesota Entrepreneurs, Minneapolis: Dorn Books, 1982.

Also in 1986, the company acquires Sabatasso Foods and begins operating the Kentucky-based pizza manufacturing facility that would later produce Freschetta® pizza.

In 1988 he established a virtual monopoly with the additional acquisition of Better Baked Pizza.

Fritz, Michael, "Schwan's Song," Forbes, April 3, 1989.

"My vision for our future is a strong, well-managed, fast-growing, exciting, innovative company with high business ethics and an excellent reputation--a company that offers great opportunities, a place where people like to work."--Marvin M. Schwan (1991)

On May 9, 1993, Marvin Schwan, the company's founder, dies at the age of 64.

Nonetheless, before officials allowed the ice cream plant to reopen in early November 1994, Schwan's had to agree to change some of its procedures.

In March 1995 Ken Noyes was named president and chief operating officer of Schwan's.

Schwan's estimated in 1996 that the total number of people filing claims would be about 30,000.

In February 1998 Noyes became the third CEO in company history when he replaced Alfred Schwan in that position.

Late in 2000 the company sold its leasing arm, Lyon Financial Services, which had $1.1 billion in assets, to United States Bancorp for an undisclosed sum.

In 2001 the company acquired Edwards Fine Foods of Norcross, Georgia.

Also in 2002, Schwan's delivery business launched its first comprehensive Internet web site.

Early in 2003 Schwan's paid $240 million in cash to Flowers Foods Inc. for the Mrs.

Early in 2005 Schwan Food had to recall more than 350,000 pounds of frozen food products, including egg rolls, tacos, and pizza twists, because of concerns that they might have been contaminated with shards of glass.

Continuing its growth drive, Schwan in June 2006 opened a new, $15.9 million distribution center in Salina, Kansas, that had the capacity to store 6.8 million pizzas.

Alfred Schwan and the company board approved a plan to repurchase the stock through payments totaling $1.8 billion spread out over 15 years, with a final balloon payment of $600 million due in 2009.