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SunOpta history
SunOpta company history timeline
1973 SunOpta is founded as Stake Technology Ltd. in Ontario, Canada.
In 1990, Stake announced a joint venture with a Venezuelan company to produce cattle feed from sugarcane bagasse (what's left of the stalk after its juice has been extracted) using Stake equipment in a South American facility.
1995: Stake Buys Industrial Recycling Business
In 1998, hoping to expand its markets, Stake acquired AJF Inc. of New Boston, Michigan, a manufacturer of industrial products including chromite ore used in the foundry and steel industries.
Sunrich supplied major food producers in the United States and Japan with specialty grains and premium food ingredients and had sales of $30 million in 1998.
1999 Stake buys Sunrich Inc., a major United States soybean producer.
With Sunrich as the anchor, Stake began further expansion of its food business in September 2000 with the acquisition of Northern Food and Dairy, Inc., a producer of 65 percent of the soymilk sold in the United States, with manufacturing facilities in Alexandria and Bertha, Minnesota.
Most of the company's remaining sales came from its newly named Environmental Industrial Group, anchored by Barnes International Environmental and the 2000 purchases of George F. Pettinos Limited, also known as PECAL, in Ontario, and Temisca, Inc., in Quebec.
With plenty of new products to sell, Stake in 2002 sought to shore up its distribution needs and in October signed an agreement with Quebec-based Natrel, which had a network of 83 distribution centers that serviced more than 30,000 retail outlets.
Stake closed out 2002 by buying Opta Food Ingredients, Inc., of Bedford, Massachusetts, a supplier of food ingredients to more than 350 food companies, which included 12 of the largest United States consumer packaged food companies and three of the world's largest quick-service restaurant chains.
2003: SunOpta Continuing Buying Spree
In 2006, SunOpta's over-30-year-old "pet project" got a boost with a CAD 7.1 million contract to supply its patented steam explosion equipment and process technology to a subsidiary of Abengoa, the largest ethanol producer in Europe and the second largest in the world.
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SunOpta competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bunge | 1818 | $67.2B | 32,000 | 225 |
| TreeHouse Foods | 2005 | $3.4B | 13,489 | 209 |
| Organic Valley | 1988 | $1.2B | 950 | - |
| United Natural Foods | 1976 | $31.0B | 19,000 | 277 |
| Advanced Food Products LLC | 2001 | $181.2M | 500 | - |
| Stauffer's Cookies | 1871 | $360.0M | 750 | - |
| Efco Products | 1903 | $27.0M | 300 | 2 |
| McCain Foods Usa, Inc | 1952 | $1.4B | 4,000 | 98 |
| Cott | - | $2.0B | 10,400 | - |
| Entertainment Distribution Company | 2005 | $1.9M | 4 | - |
SunOpta history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of SunOpta, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about SunOpta. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at SunOpta. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by SunOpta. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of SunOpta and its employees or that of Zippia.
SunOpta may also be known as or be related to SunOpta, SunOpta Inc, SunOpta Inc., Sunopta Foods Inc. and sunopta inc.