Shortly after the acquisition, General Foods began test-marketing an expanded line of frozen foods, but the company quickly realized that a packaging process alone would not be sufficient to market frozen products in stores. Goldman sold its share back to General Foods in 1932, apparently at a slight loss. Following this acquisition, Postum, Inc changed its name to General Foods Corporation. Postum paid $10.75 million for a 51% interest and its partner, Goldman Sachs, paid $12.5 million for the other 49%. Despite her enthusiasm, it took Post three years to convince Postum's management to acquire the company. In 1926, she had put into port at Gloucester on her yacht, Sea Cloud, and was served a luncheon meal which, she learned to her amazement, had been frozen six months before. The founder's daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was first to become excited about the prospects for the frozen foods business. (Left): General Foods Cookbook launched in 1932 (right): magazine ad for the Dream Whip topping in the 1960s In 1924, with backing from three investors, he formed the "General Seafoods Company", in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to produce frozen haddock fillets packed in plain cardboard boxes. By 1923, he had developed a commercially viable process for quick-freezing foods using a belt mechanism, which he patented. Born in New York City, he became interested in the frozen preservation of food during the course of working as a fur trader in Labrador between 19. Birdseye (DecemOctober 7, 1956) was one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of the food industry. The Postum Cereals company, which went on with some acquisitions such as Jell-O (gelatin dessert) in 1925, Walter Baker & Company (chocolate) in 1927, Maxwell House (coffee) in 1928, and other food brands.īy far the most important acquisition of 1929 was of the frozen-food company owned by Clarence Birdseye, called "General Seafood Corporation". Post died in 1914, and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post took over the company. The decision was overturned on appeal, but advertisements for Postum products stopped making such claims. The case was heard in 1910, and Post was fined $50,000. Post responded with advertisements questioning the mental capacity of the article's author, and Collier's Weekly sued for libel. In 1907 Collier's Weekly published an article questioning the claim made in advertisements for Grape Nuts that it could cure appendicitis. The first cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897 followed by Elijah's Manna in 1904 which was renamed Post Toasties in 1908. His first product was Postum, a "cereal beverage" alternative to coffee made from wheat and molasses. Post invested $78 in his initial equipment and supplies and set up manufacturing in a barn on what was known as the 'Old Beardsley Farm'.
Post was a patient at the Battle Creek Sanitarium (run by John Harvey Kellogg, brother of Kellogg Company founder Will Keith Kellogg), and was inspired by the diet there to start his food company (and become a rival to the Kellogg brothers, who sold their own breakfast cereals). General Foods background can be traced to the Post Cereal Company, founded by C. Post, founder of the Post Cereal Company, predecessor of General Foods "General Foods" was dropped from the corporate name in 1995 a line of caffeinated hot beverage mixes continued to carry the General Foods International name until 2010.Ĭ. In December 1988, Philip Morris acquired Kraft Foods Inc., and, in 1990, combined the two food companies as Kraft Foods. In November 1985, General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris Companies (now Altria Group, Inc.) for $5.6 billion, the largest non-oil acquisition to that time.
The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions, by Marjorie Merriweather Post after she inherited the established cereal business from her father C. General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895.
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