COMPANY·HISTORIES
NAIC 31142

Fruit and Vegetable Canning (pt)

How the companies in this industry began, and the forces that shaped them.

41companies1853–1997founding years41still active0no longer operating
§ 01

The industry over time

Companies foundedEconomyTechnologyEnvironmentHistory
FoundedBonduelle SA
1853
FoundedBeech-Nut Nutrition Corporation
1890
FoundedRanks Hovis McDougall Limited
1899
1903
TechnologyThe Wright brothers achieve powered flight.
FoundedH.E. Butt Grocery Company
1905
FoundedSan Miguel Corporation
1913
1914
EconomyWorld War I begins; global trade reorders.
FoundedCSM N.V.
1919
FoundedThe Albert Fisher Group plc
1920
FoundedGrupo Herdez, S.A. de C.V.
1923
FoundedWinn-Dixie Stores, Inc.
1928
1929
EconomyThe stock market crashes; the Great Depression spreads worldwide.
FoundedTri Valley Growers
1932
1939
EconomyWorld War II begins; wartime production surges.
1945
EconomyThe war ends; a long global expansion begins.
1947
TechnologyThe transistor is invented.
FoundedSeneca Foods Corporation
1949
1958
TechnologyThe integrated circuit is demonstrated.
FoundedLancaster Colony Corporation
1961
1962
EnvironmentSilent Spring launches the modern environmental movement.
FoundedLitehouse Inc.
1963
FoundedMaui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.
1969
1971
EconomyThe dollar leaves the gold standard; currencies float.
1973
EconomyThe OPEC oil embargo triggers a global shock.
1975
TechnologyThe personal-computer era begins.
1979
EconomyA second oil crisis drives inflation higher worldwide.
1981
TechnologyThe IBM PC launches and sets a standard.
FoundedNewman's Own, Inc.
1982
1984
TechnologyApple ships the Macintosh; the GUI era begins.
FoundedJones Soda Co.
1987
EconomyBlack Monday: markets fall sharply around the world.
FoundedKraft Foods Inc.
1989
HistoryThe Berlin Wall falls; global markets open up.
1991
TechnologyThe World Wide Web is released to the public.
1993
TechnologyThe Mosaic browser brings the web to everyone.
1995
TechnologyWindows 95 launches; the internet goes mainstream.
FoundedB & G Foods, Inc.
1996
1997
EconomyThe Asian financial crisis rattles global markets.
EnvironmentThe Kyoto Protocol sets the first climate targets.
2000
EconomyThe dot-com bubble bursts.
2004
TechnologySocial media and Web 2.0 take hold.
2007
TechnologyThe iPhone launches the smartphone era.
2008
EconomyThe global financial crisis freezes credit worldwide.
2010
TechnologyCloud computing goes mainstream for business.
2015
EnvironmentThe Paris Agreement sets global climate targets.
2020
EconomyThe COVID-19 pandemic upends the global economy.
2022
EconomyInflation spikes; central banks raise rates sharply.
2023
TechnologyGenerative AI reaches mainstream business use.
§ 02

The companies

Bonduelle SA →
Active · founded 1853 · France
Based near Lille, France, Bonduelle SA is Europe's leading producer of prepared vegetables.
M.A. Gedney Co. →
Active · founded 1881
M.A.
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation →
Active · founded 1890
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation, a subsidiary of the Milnot Company, is the third largest baby food manufacturer in the…
Dole Food Company, Inc. →
Active · founded 1894
Best known for its pineapples, Dole Food Company, Inc., is promotes its Dole brand of fresh and packaged food and…
Ranks Hovis McDougall Limited →
Active · founded 1899 · United Kingdom
Ranks Hovis McDougall Limited (RHM) is the food division of Tomkins PLC, which acquired the company (then known as…
H.J. Heinz Company →
Active · founded 1900
Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J.
H.E. Butt Grocery Company →
Active · founded 1905
H.E.
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. →
Active · founded 1909 · Japan
Ajinomoto Co., Inc., the world's first and still-largest producer of monosodium glutamate (MSG), is one of Japan's…
Koninklijke Wessanen nv →
Active · founded 1913 · The Netherlands
Early 20th Century:Company exits from the cheese, seed, and grain trades and begins focusing on processed products.
San Miguel Corporation →
Active · founded 1913 · Philippines
Best known for its internationally distributed beer, San Miguel Corporation can only be described in superlatives.
Lassonde Industries Inc. →
Active · founded 1918 · Canada
Lassonde Industries Inc.
CSM N.V. →
Active · founded 1919 · Netherlands
CSM N.V.
Kewpie Kabushiki Kaisha →
Active · founded 1919 · Japan
Kewpie Kabushiki Kaisha (QP Corporation is its English equivalent name), one of Japan's leading food products…
The Albert Fisher Group plc →
Active · founded 1920 · United Kingdom
The Albert Fisher Group plc is one of the United Kingdom's leading fresh, chilled, and frozen foods groups, operating…
Campbell Soup Company →
Active · founded 1922
Campbell Soup Company is the number one maker of soups in the world, holds the top position in that category in Europe,…
Grupo Herdez, S.A. de C.V. →
Active · founded 1923 · Mexico
Grupo Herdez, S.A.
Hanover Foods Corporation →
Active · founded 1924
Hanover Foods Corporation is the largest fully-integrated and independent food processor in the United States.
Bruce Foods Corporation →
Active · founded 1928
Bruce Foods Corporation, headquartered in New Iberia, Louisiana, is one of the largest, privately-owned specialty food…
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. →
Active · founded 1928
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.
Unilever →
Active · founded 1929 · The Netherlands
If the adage 'two heads are better than one' applies to business, then certainly Unilever is a prime example.
Tri Valley Growers →
Active · founded 1932
Tri Valley Growers is a leading U.S.
Northern Foods plc →
Active · founded 1949 · United Kingdom
Northern Foods plc is one of the United Kingdom's leading manufacturers of high-quality fresh foods, supplying the…
Seneca Foods Corporation →
Active · founded 1949
A familiar name to consumers throughout the United States, Seneca Foods Corporation processes vegetables and fruits,…
CJ Corporation →
Active · founded 1953 · South Korea
South Korea's largest food manufacturer, CJ Corporation, is also one of the world's leading producers of such food…
Birds Eye Foods, Inc. →
Active · founded 1961
Birds Eye Foods, Inc., formerly Agrilink Foods, Inc., is the country's top producer of frozen vegetables.
Lancaster Colony Corporation →
Active · founded 1961
Lancaster Colony Corporation's subsidiaries manufacture a wide variety of products, including automotive floor mats,…
Parmalat Finanziaria SpA →
Active · founded 1961 · Italy
Parma, Italy, is not only the home of fine Italian cheese and ham, but also Parmalat Finanziaria SpA, a diversified,…
Litehouse Inc. →
Active · founded 1963
Litehouse Inc.
Groupe Danone →
Active · founded 1966 · France
Known until 1994 as BSN Groupe S.A., Groupe Danone is one of the largest food companies in the world.
Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. →
Active · founded 1969
One of Hawaii's oldest and largest corporations, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.
Spectrum Organic Products, Inc. →
Active · founded 1980
Spectrum Organic Products, Inc., comprises three major business segments: natural and organic foods under the Spectrum…
Newman's Own, Inc. →
Active · founded 1982
Since its founding in 1982 by veteran actor Paul Newman and writer A.E.
Natural Selection Foods →
Active · founded 1984
Natural Selections Foods grew from a home kitchen to state-of-the-art food processing company.
Odwalla, Inc. →
Active · founded 1985
Youthful, hip, and fresh, Odwalla, Inc.
Jones Soda Co. →
Active · founded 1987
Jones Soda Co.
Northland Cranberries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1987
Northland Cranberries, Inc.
Kraft Foods Inc. →
Active · founded 1989
Kraft Foods Inc.
OJSC Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods →
Active · founded 1992 · Russia
Founded shortly after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, OJSC Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods has become a market leader in the…
B & G Foods, Inc. →
Active · founded 1996
Established in 1996 by a coalition of New York investment firms, B & G Foods, Inc.
Friesland Coberco Dairy Foods Holding N.V. →
Active · founded 1997 · The Netherlands
Friesland Coberco's acquisition of Nutricia enabled it to claim the number two position among European dairy groups,…
Horizon Organic Holding Corporation →
Active · founded 1997
Horizon Organic Holding Corporation operates a dairy that provides fluid milk and more than 60 dairy products produced…
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