Tyson Foods, Inc. history, profile and history video
Tyson Foods, Inc. produces, distributes and markets chicken, beef, pork, prepared foods and related allied products. The company operates its business in four segments: Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods. The Chicken segment includes breeding and raising chickens, as well as processing live chickens into fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products. The Beef segment includes processing live fed cattle and fabricating dressed beef carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts and case-ready products. The Pork segment includes processing live market hogs and fabricating pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal cuts and case-ready products. The Prepared Foods segment includes manufacturing and marketing frozen and refrigerated food products and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. Its products include pepperoni, bacon, beef and pork pizza toppings, pizza crusts, flour and corn tortilla products, appetizers, prepared meals, ethnic foods, soups, sauces, side dishes, meat dishes and processed meats. The company’s products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators and noncommercial foodservice establishments, such as schools, hotel chains, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international markets. Tyson Foods was founded by John W. Tyson in 1935 and is headquartered in Springdale, AR.“
“Tyson Foods History
An Enduring Culture – A Commitment to Values
Few modern food companies have real connections to their pasts, but these links remain strong within our culture. Our company endures because this culture endures. It’s part of who we are today and who we will be tomorrow.
- 1930s The Early Days
The Tyson Foods story begins during one of the most difficult periods of American history – The Great Depression. In 1931, John W. Tyson moves his wife and small son to Springdale, Arkansas, in search of new opportunities. He finds them, thousands of them, all feathered and squawking. He begins delivering chickens to larger markets in the Midwest.
- 1940s Chicken Boom
During World War II, food rationing becomes an everyday reality. Poultry, however, is not rationed, and demand grows fast. John moves into the business of raising chicks and grinding feed for local chicken farmers.
- 1950s Budding Businessman
At 22, Don Tyson, John’s son, joins the company as general manager. “I left the university [University of Arkansas] in 1952, and from that day until 1963, the year I took the company public, I worked in the business six days a week and on Dad’s farm on the seventh day.”
- 1960s “Our People are the Heart of our Company”
John and Don continue to build their business and add to the growing team, despite a volatile market. Don hires two young alumni from the University of Arkansas, Leland Tollett in 1959, and Donald “Buddy” Wray, in 1961, who help propel the company to amazing success. As Don would often say, “Our people are the heart of our company.”
- 1970s Convenient Chicken for Everybody
Tyson Foods enters the decade well on its way to becoming a diversified food company.
- 1980s Phenomenal Growth
Despite the struggling economic situation in the early 1980s, Tyson Foods experienced a period of tremendous growth. “We say it in three words: segment, concentrate, and dominate. We find something we think we can do, focus on it, and then aim to be number one at it. Most of the product categories we dominate are things we started,” says Don in the 1986 annual report.
- 1990s Momentum
Tyson Foods enters the 1990s intent on maintaining its momentum. In 1990, for the eighth consecutive year, the company reports record sales and earnings. Sales rise 51 percent from $2.5 billion in 1989 to $3.8 billion.
- 2000s We’re Chicken – and Beef and Pork!
In 2000, Chairman John H. Tyson is also named CEO. John, like his father and grandfather, leads Tyson Foods through another period of dramatic expansion. In 2001, Tyson Foods acquires IBP, inc., and its subsidiary Foodbrands America, Inc. to become, at the time, the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork.
- 2010s Responsible Company
The company’s history of making a difference in communities across the U.S. is highlighted by the formal partnership with national hunger relief organizations and continued efforts at creating sustainable agriculture and food production. In 2010, Tyson Foods marks its tenth year as a partner with Share Our Strength, leading the protein industry by donating more than 76 million pounds of products to hunger and disaster relief.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Tyson.com
**Video published on YouTube by “Tyson Foods, Inc.“