page_title: Chiquita Brands International
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chiquita Brands International / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Banana plantain in Costa Rica, Turrialba volcano in the background.
context_page_description: Chiquita Brands International Sàrl, formerly known as Chiquita Brands International Inc., is an American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce. The company operates under a number of subsidiary brand names, including the flagship Chiquita brand and Fresh Express salads. Chiquita is the leading distributor of bananas in the United States.
  Chiquita is the successor to the United Fruit Company. It was formerly controlled by American businessman Carl H. Lindner, Jr., whose majority ownership of the company ended when Chiquita Brands International exited a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 19 March 2002. In 2003, the company acquired the German produce distribution company, Atlanta AG. Fresh Express salads was purchased from Performance Food Group in 2005. Chiquita's former headquarters were located in Charlotte, North Carolina.
context_section_description: Chiquita Brands International's history began in 1870 when ship's captain Lorenzo Dow Baker purchased 160 bunches of bananas in Jamaica and resold them in Jersey City eleven days later. In 1873 Central American railroad developer Minor C. Keith began to experiment with banana production in Costa Rica.  Later, he planted bananas alongside a Costa Rican railroad track to provide revenue for the railroad.  In 1878, Baker partnered with Andrew Preston to form the Boston Fruit Company.
  United Fruit Company was founded in 1899 when the Boston Fruit Company and various fruit exporting concerns controlled by Keith merged. In 1903, United Fruit Company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and became the first company to use refrigeration during open sea transport.
  In 1928, workers went on strike in protest against poor pay and working conditions in the company plantations Ciénaga (Colombia). The company lobbied U.S. government forces to assist with repressing the outbreak, however, the Colombian government opted to quell the strike on its own, sending military forces into the town of Ciénaga, where the strikers had gathered, on the 6th of December. The repression resulted in the deaths of scores of plantation workers and their families. This episode is known in the history of Colombia as the Masacre de las Bananeras (Banana massacre). Gabriel García Márquez alludes to the event in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by describing a military suppression that resulted in the death of 3,000 dead plantation workers in the fictional town of Macondo. While García Márquez has stated that the deaths in his novel are potential overestimations, the actual number of deaths has never been confirmed. Estimates gathered from oral histories to primary sources vary widely, from 47 to upwards of 1,000 casualties.
  By 1930, the company's fleet had grown to 95 ships.
  The brand name Chiquita was registered as a trademark in 1947. By 1955, United Fruit Company was processing 2.7 billion pounds (1.2 billion kilograms) of fruit a year.  In 1966, the company expanded into Europe. Eli Black came in 1968 and was made chairman, president, and CEO. In 1970, the company merged with AMK Corporation and changed its name to United Brands Company.  Black took a controlling interest by outbidding two other conglomerates, Zapata Corporation and Textron. After the suicide of Black in 1975, the company was acquired by Seymour Milstein and Paul Milstein. In 1980, Chiquita was an official sponsor of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
  In 1984, Cincinnati investor Carl Lindner, Jr. became the controlling investor in United Brands.
  In 1990, the company renamed itself Chiquita Brands International, as it undertook major investments in Costa Rica. However, the company began to see a decline in Honduran operations during the first half of 1990. As a result, Chiquita initiated the "Banana Wars" with rival company Fyffes over the limited banana supply. Chiquita began illegally seizing and destroying Fyffes' shipments, as well as bribing judges to validate detention orders on Fyffes' ships. This culminated in the destruction of ten million dollars worth of produce. Fyffes manager Ernst Otto Stalinski alleged that Chiquita used a falsified arrest warrant in a kidnapping attempt, and he filed suit several times.
  In 1993, the company was hit by European tariffs on the import of Latin American bananas.  In 1994, select Chiquita farms were certified the Rainforest Alliance's Better Banana Project as being environmentally friendly.  In 1995, the company sold the John Morrell meat business that was part of the original AMK Corporation.  In 1998, the world's largest banana processing facility debuted in Costa Rica. In 2001, the EU dismantled their banana import policy that favored European companies. This ended any ongoing banana disputes.
caption: Chiquita Banana plantain in Costa Rica, Turrialba volcano in the background.
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