Del Monte Foods history, profile and corporate video
Del Monte Foods is one of the largest producers and distributors of canned fruits and vegetables in the U.S. Brands include Del Monte, Contadina, College Inn. Pet products include Meow Mix, 9Lives and Milk-Bone. Formed in 1916, the business was purchased by management in 1990 from RJR Nabisco. Investor group Texas Pacific Group acquired the company in 1997. Two years later the company went public. In March 2011, the company was acquired by a group of private equity investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in a deal worth $5.3 billion.”
“Del Monte Foods History
In the 1870s and 1880s, California became a major producer of fruits and vegetables. In 1886, the Del Monte name premiered, originally used in the 1880s by an Oakland, California, foods distributor to designate a premium blend of coffee prepared for the Hotel Del Monte on the Monterey peninsula. By 1892, the Del Monte brand was introduced when the firm expanded its business and selected Del Monte as the brand name for its new line of canned peaches. In 1898, the California Fruit Canners Association (CFCA) formed when 18 West Coast canning companies merged. The Del Monte brand was one of several brands marketed by the new company. It introduced the Del Monte Shield in 1909.
Under the leadership of George Newell Armsby, in 1916 CFCA added two more canners and a food brokerage house, incorporated itself as California Packing Corporation, or Calpak, and began marketing its products under the Del Monte brand. The new company grew to operate more than 60 canneries in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah andAlaska. In 1917, it acquired pineapple farms and a cannery in Hawaii and, in the 1920s, added canneries in Florida and the Midwest, as well as in the Philippines. After WWII, it constructed or purchased more facilities overseas. These multinational operations made the name California Packing Corporation obsolete, and in June 1967, the corporation adopted the name of its leading brand to become Del Monte Corporation.
In 1972, Del Monte became the first major US food processor to voluntarily adopt nutritional labeling on all its food products, an innovation that made headlines throughout the country and applauded by government officials as a breakthrough in consumer education.
Del Monte became part of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc. (later RJR Nabisco, Inc.) in 1979. Ten years later, the fresh fruit business was sold and renamed Fresh Del Monte Produce. Although no longer affiliated with Del Monte Foods, Del Monte Produce continued to market pineapples, bananas, and other produce under a licensing agreement for the Del Monte label. RJR Nabisco sold the remaining food processing divisions, known as Del Monte Foods, to private investors in 1989. Del Monte Foods again became a publicly traded company in 1999, and in 2002, it purchased several brands from US food giant Heinz in an all-stock transaction that left Heinz shareholders with 74.5% of Del Monte and original Del Monte shareholders with 25.5% of the company, and nearly tripled Del Monte Foods’ size. Del Monte subsequently established an East Coast headquarters inPittsburgh, home of Heinz, in a building which sits on a portion of the site of Three Rivers Stadium.
Del Monte acquired the worldwide rights to the SunFresh brand, a brand of premium citrus and tropical fruits, in 2000. In March of the following year, it acquired the worldwide rights to the S&W brand of processed fruit, vegetable, tomato and specialty sauce products.
On September 28, 2004, the site of Del Monte’s former Plant No. 1 was dedicated as Del Monte Square. It was once the world’s largest fruit and vegetable cannery.
In 2006, Del Monte became the second largest pet foods company upon divesting its US infant feeding business and US retail private label soup and gravy businesses and acquiring two key pet brands. The company sold its Soup and Infant Feeding business in April 2006 to TreeHouse Foods, Inc. Del Monte bought Meow Mix in May 2006, and acquired Milk-Bone in July of that year from Kraft Foods.
As precautionary measure, in 2007 Del Monte declared a voluntarily recall of several of brands of its pet foods due to the 2007 pet food recalls.
In June 2008, Del Monte announced the sale of its seafood division, StarKist, to South Korea-based Dongwon Enterprise Company. Dongwon purchased the business for $363 million. Del Monte stated that StarKist was no longer a good fit for the company and that they would be concentrating on pet food and higher margin produce.
On March 8, 2011, the company announced it had been acquired by an investor group led by funds affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Vestar Capital Partners and Centerview Partners. The stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange prior to the start of trading on March 9, 2011.
On February 19, 2014, Del Monte Pacific Limited completed the purchase of Del Monte’s consumer food business, for US$1.675 billion.[16] The remaining pet food division was renamed Big Heart Pet Brands.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
**Video published on YouTube by “DelMonteFresh“