Pictsweet Farms history

In 1966 it divested itself of its small business investment company, First United Capital Corporation.

In 1967 United Foods made four major acquisitions in the frozen food business: Trappe Frozen Foods Corporation of Trappe, Maryland; Othello Packers, Inc., of Othello, Washington; Dulany Foods, Inc., a subsidiary of Green Giant Co.; and the frozen food business of California Consumers Corporation.

The second major operating subsidiary, Winter Garden Freezer Co., Inc., of Tennessee, was acquired in November 1971.

By 1977, when John Inglis retired, the company was one of the largest processors and marketers of frozen vegetables in the United States.

During 1978 the company posted net income of $3.3 million on sales of $108.3 million.

In 1979 United Foods had record revenues of $122.2 million, but a disappointing net profit of only $.6 million.

In December 1980 United Foods also discontinued its western farming operations.

In 1983 the company leased approximately 2,300 acres of the land it had acquired in Tennessee to independent farmers.

As expected, the company had record sales in 1984, due primarily to the acquisitions of Freezer Queen and Stokely-Van Camp.

At the end of February 1986 it sold the assets used in the Freezer Queen Division for $35.6 million to James Crean of Ireland, using proceeds to reduce the company's long-term debt.

Then, in 1991 the company closed its plants in Modesto and Salinas and consolidated the frozen vegetable processing and cold storage operations at a leased facility in Santa Maria, California, effective June 28, 1991.