Analysis Of History And Background Of The Kraft Heinz Company
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is an American food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and Heinz based in Chicago, Illinois and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company incorporated on February 8, 2013 and it is now the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest in the world with an approximate $26. 5 billion in annual sales. The Company manufactures food and beverage products, including condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee and other grocery products. The Company provides products for various occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go. The Company's brands include Heinz, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Planters, Velveeta, Lunchables, Maxwell House, Capri Sun, and Ore-Ida. The Company's products are sold through its own sales organizations and through independent brokers, agents and distributors to chain, wholesale, cooperative and independent grocery accounts, convenience stores, drug stores, value stores, bakeries, pharmacies, mass merchants, club stores, foodservice distributors and institutions, including hotels, restaurants, hospitals, healthcare facilities and certain government agencies.
The H. J. Heinz Company was founded by Henry John Heinz an American entrepreneur, son of German immigrants. He began a small food business with his brother and cousin in 1876. Heinz Tomato Ketchup was among the company’s first products, and it is now Heinz’s most iconic brand, claiming more than 50% of the market share for ketchup in the U. S. Heinz eventually bought out his partners and established the H. J. Heinz Co. in 1888. That company was incorporated in 1905 with Heinz serving as the first president, a position he held throughout his life as he built more than 20 processing plants throughout the country. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Heinz became a top-seller in ready-to-eat meals and baby food under the leadership of Howard Heinz, Henry Heinz's son. During World War Two, Heinz provided food aid to the United Kingdom and then expanded its international presence with new plants in several countries in the post-war years. Over the next few decades, Heinz continued to grow with brand acquisitions like Star-Kist Tuna and Ore-Ida until Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital bought the company for $23 billion in 2013. Two years later, the investors pursued the massive merger with Kraft Foods Group.
Kraft’s origins began with Canadian immigrant James L. Kraft, who started a wholesale door-to-door cheese business in Chicago with his brothers. They incorporated it in 1909. By 1914, J. L. Kraft and Bros. Company was selling 31 varieties of cheese, and in 1916 it patented a pasteurized processed cheese that gave cheese a longer shelf life.
Meanwhile, a company called National Dairy Products Corporation was aggressively acquiring dozens of small dairy products companies throughout the U. S. , and eventually snapped up Kraft in 1930. National Dairy changed its name to Kraft co Corp. in 1969. Phillip Morris Companies then acquired Kraft in 1988 after taking over General Foods in 1985. Philip Morris then acquired Nabisco Holdings in 2000 and integrated the companies into Kraft General Foods, which it began to sell off in 2007. Through the share sales, Kraft Foods Inc. became a fully independent public corporation.
As its own company, Kraft Foods continued an aggressive streak of mergers, buying French biscuit company Groupe Danone for $7 billion in 2007 and British candy company Cadbury for more than $19 billion in 2010. Then in 2012, Kraft Foods divided into two: a U. S. grocery products company called Kraft Foods Group Inc. and an international snacks company called Mondelez International.
Kraft Foods Group produced brands like Oscar Mayer, Oreo, Philadelphia cream cheese, Tang and Maxwell House among many others. It was an independent public company listed on the Nasdaq exchange for about four years before merging with H. J. Heinz Company in 2015, creating the third-largest U. S. foods company. Today's Kraft Heinz Co. holds more than 200 iconic brands that together draw in about $26. 5 billion in annual net sales.
