History
General Foods background can be traced to the Post Cereal Company, founded by C. W. Post in 1895 in Kellogg Company founder Will Keith Kellogg, together with was inspired by the diet there to start his food company as living as become a rival to the Kellogg brothers, who sold their own breakfast cereals. Post invested $78 in his initial equipment in addition to supplies and category up manufacturing in a barn on what was required as the 'Old Beardsley Farm'. His first product was Postum, a "cereal beverage" option to coffee introduced from wheat and molasses. The number one cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897 followed by Elijah's Manna in 1904 which was renamed Post Toasties in 1908.
In 1907 Collier's Weekly published an article questioning the claim portrayed in advertisements for Grape Nuts that it could cure appendicitis. C. W. Post responded with advertisements questioning the mental capacity of the article's author, and Collier's Weekly sued for libel. The issue was heard in 1910, and Post was fined $50,000. The decision was overturned on appeal, but advertisements for Postum products stopped making such claims.
C.W. Post died in 1914, and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post took over the company. The Postum Cereals company, which went on with some acquisitions such(a) as Jell-O gelatin dessert in 1925, Walter Baker & Company chocolate in 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, and other food brands.
By far the near important acquisition of 1929 was of the frozen-food company owned by Clarence Birdseye, called "General Seafood Corporation". Birdseye December 9, 1886 - October 7, 1956 was one of the near important entrepreneurs in the history of the food industry. Born in New York City, he became interested in the frozen preservation of food during the course of works as a fur trader in Labrador between 1912 and 1916. By 1923, he had developed a commercially viable process for quick-freezing foods using a belt mechanism, which he patented. 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.
The founder's daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was first to become excited about the prospects for the frozen foods business. In 1926, she had add 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. Despite her enthusiasm, it took Post three years to convince Postum's supervision to acquire the company. Postum paid $10.75 million for a 51% interest and its partner, Goldman Sachs, paid $12.5 million for the other 49%. coming after or as a a thing that is said of. this acquisition, Postum, Inc changed its name to General Foods Corporation. Goldman sold its share back to General Foods in 1932, apparently at a slight loss.
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 non be sufficient to market frozen products in stores. To be sold, the packages had to be kept frozen while on display, so Birdseye engineers began development of a freezer cabinet designed specifically to hold frozen foods. The cabinet, which first appeared in 1934, call a great deal of space and electricity, which were not readily available in most grocery stores of the period. For those stores which could accommodate them, the payback was immediate. Housewives quickly realized that keeping packages of frozen food in the icebox could mean fresher meals and fewer trips to the market.
The company published a cook book in 1932, the General Foods Cook Book, committed "To the American homemaker". Five editions were published between 1932 and 1937. The book includes photographs among which is "General Foods allows over twenty famous products for your well-stocked pantry shelf" and a covered index.
General Foods was acquired by Altria Group in 1985. In 1989, Altria merged General Foods with Kraft Foods Inc., which it had acquired in 1987, to form the "Kraft General Foods" division. The cereal brands of Nabisco were acquired in 1993. In 1995, Kraft General Foods was reorganized and renamed "Kraft Foods". On November 15, 2007, Kraft announced it would spin off Post Cereals and merge that business with Ralcorp Holdings. That merger was completed August 4, 2008, at which time the official name of the company became Post Foods, LLC.