The J.M. Smucker Co. history

By 1915, the first year for which records are available, the business was bringing in nearly $60,000 and netting almost $3,000 annually.

In 1921, JM incorporated the private company, wholly-owned by him and his children.

The company had grown to such a scale that in 1928 the Pennsylvania Railroad built a special siding to the Smucker plant, as the company's products were distributed in ever-increasing volume throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

Throughout this period, J.M. Smucker began to delegate authority to Willard, who directed the establishment of Smucker's first facility outside Ohio in 1935.

By 1939, sales reached $1,000,000 per year.

In 1942, the J.M. Smucker Company began to ship its products nationwide.

The war years at Smucker's were characterized by labor, glass, and fruit shortages, but the company withstood such hardships to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 1947.

In 1955 the company introduced a line of portion-control products.

In 1959 they offered one-third of the company to the public, raising $2.3 million for capital investments.

The company opened a manufacturing plant in Salinas, California, that increased production capacity by 40 percent in 1960.

In spite of Willard Smucker's general disdain for advertising, the company hired Wyse Advertising of Cleveland to produce radio spots in 1961.

Helping to promote its products, in 1962, the company created a new slogan, "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good." The company continues to utilize this slogan today.

By the time Procter and Gamble bought the company in 1963, it had passed up California rival Hills Bros.

Smucker's stock more than tripled from its $20 issue price to $67.50 in 1965, when it was split 3-for-1 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Timothy refined the "Basic Beliefs" first outlined by his father in 1967, including commitments to quality, personal and business ethics, growth, and independence.

Still the number two jelly manufacturer (now to Welch's) in 1974, Smucker's launched a concerted effort to dominate the industry.

In 1979 Smucker's began a series of acquisitions that allowed it to enter other markets.

Paul Smucker lead a two-decade period of dramatic growth through increasing vertical integration, product diversification, acquisition, and national advertising and market penetration that culminated in the company's 1980 dominance of the fruit spread market.

Timothy was promoted to president and chief operating officer and brother Richard earned the title chief administrative officer in addition to executive vice-president in 1981.

A four-year plant expansion program was announced in 1982 on the heels of a 39 percent year-to-year earnings gain.

In 1979 Smucker's began a series of acquisitions that allowed it to enter other markets. It acquired Dickinson's product line that year, and in 1984 it bought R.W. Knudsen Family beverages.

The 1987 purchase of R-Line Foods complimented Smucker's institutional operations.

In 1988 management decided to expand the company's international presence.

In 1989, sales reached $367 million.

In July 1993 the firm significantly expanded its presence in the Canadian market by acquiring the jam, preserve, and pie filling business of Montreal-based Culinar, Inc., for $16.1 million.

In 1994, Smucker's ended its 35-year relationship with Wyse Advertising in favor of Leo Burnett Co., an agency company executives believed could support the brand's aspirations.

In 1995 Smucker's bought Mrs.

Total sales in fiscal 1997 were $542.6 million, while net income was $1.06 per share, or $30.9 million.

Sales rose for the nine months ended in January 1998, as did net income.

The company soon launched online sales as well, and in May 1999 the firm opened its first retail store.

In early 2000 Smucker’s purchased a plant in Brazil to process fruit-based ingredients for the Dannon Company, Inc., a move that supported Smucker’s position as a major supplier of fruit ingredients for Dannon yogurt.

In early 2001 Timothy and Richard Smucker began serving as co-CEOs of Smucker’s, adding this title to their previous duties as chairman and president, respectively.

The big shift in the company’s product mix began with the 2002 acquisition of Jif Peanut Butter from fellow Ohio company Procter and Gamble.

On the revenue front, the purchase nearly doubled Smucker’s sales, which totaled $1.31 billion for the fiscal year ending in April 2003.

In January 2004 Smucker’s, with a longstanding reputation as a good employer, was named as the best place to work in the nation by Fortune magazine, becoming the first manufacturing company to receive this distinction.

During 2005, while working to integrate the IMC brands into its existing operations, Smucker’s sold some peripheral businesses it had inherited, including IMC’s foodservice and bakery products units in the United States and a Canadian foodservice business operating under the Gourmet Baker name.

Net sales were up 5 percent in fiscal 2006 to $2.15 billion, driven largely by a 29 percent increase in sales of Uncrustables products.

As part of an industry trend, Smucker’s in January 2007 announced that it had reformulated its entire line of Crisco shortening products to nearly eliminate artery-clogging trans fats from their formulas.

By the time of Smucker’s 2008 acquisition of Folgers, Starbucks and craft coffees had come along, and old-fashioned canned ground coffee on supermarket shelves had lost its momentum.

Smucker’s entered another new field, this one booming, when the company bought Big Heart Pet Brands in 2015.

In 2016, his son’s son’s son’s son’s son’s son’s son’s son’s son, forty-six-year-old Mark Smucker, became Chief Executive of the J. M. Smucker Company of Orrville, Ohio.

In Fortune magazine’s most recent list of the 500 largest American companies, based on 2018 results, Smucker’s was the 12th largest of 14 food makers listed, but 4th in profits and highest in profit as a percent of sales.