General Foods

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## General Foods

### Founded

1895; 128 years ago (as Postum Cereal company)1929; 94 years ago (reincorporated as General Foods)

### Headquarters

800 Westchester AvenueRye Brook, NY 10573

### Parent

Phillip Morris/Altria (1985-2007)

**General Foods** is a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, and Tang. Forty of its brands were at least a century old. With the acquisition of Heinz, also added Weight Watchers or WW as a subsidiary.

## History (Kraft)

### Origin of the firm

Kraft Foods traced its roots to the National Dairy Products Corporation, formed on December 10, 1923, by Thomas H. McInnerney. The firm was initially set up to execute on a rollup strategy in the fragmented United States ice cream industry. Through acquisitions it expanded into a full range of dairy products. By 1930 it was the largest dairy company in the United States and the world, exceeding Borden.

McInnerney operated the Hydrox Corporation, an ice cream company located in Chicago, Illinois. In 1923 he went to Wall Street to convince investment bankers there to finance his scheme for consolidating the United States ice cream industry. He initially found "hard sledding" with one banker saying the dairy industry "lacked dignity". He persevered and convinced a consortium including Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers to finance a roll-up strategy.

As a result of his efforts, National Dairy Products Corporation was formed in 1923 in a merger of McInnerney's Hydrox with Rieck McJunkin Dairy Co of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The resulting firm was then listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the offer of 125,000 shares having been oversubscribed.

The firm grew quickly through a large number of acquisitions. As it is typical in a roll-up strategy, acquisitions were primarily for stock in National rather than cash. National Dairy Products Corporation acquired more than 55 firms between 1923 and 1931, with a few notable entities among those:

### Beginnings for Kraft

Born in Stevensville, Ontario, Canada in 1874, James L. Kraft immigrated to the United States in 1903 and started a wholesale door-to-door cheese business in Chicago; its first year of operations was "dismal", losing US$3,000 and a horse. However, the business took hold and Kraft was joined by his four brothers to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company in 1909. As early as 1911, circulars and advertisements were in use by the company.

In 1912, the company established its New York City, New York, headquarters to prepare for its international expansion. By 1914, thirty-one varieties of cheeses were being sold around the U.S. because of heavy product development, expansion by marketing, and opening a wholly owned cheese factory in Stockton, Illinois.

In 1915, the company had invented pasteurized processed cheese that did not need refrigeration, thus giving a longer shelf life than conventional cheese. The process was patented in 1916 and about six million pounds of the product were sold to the U.S. Army for military rations during World War I.

In 1916, the company began national advertising and had made its first acquisition—a Canadian cheese company.

In 1924, the company changed its name to Kraft Cheese Company and listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange. In 1926, it was listed on the NYSE. The firm then began to consolidate the United States dairy industry through acquisition, in competition with National and Borden. Firms acquired included:

Later, in 1927, it established its London, United Kingdom, and Hamburg, Germany, sales offices—its first forays outside North America. Sales for 1927 were $60.4m.

In 1928, it acquired Phenix Cheese Company, the maker of a cream cheese branded as Philadelphia cream cheese, founded by Jason F. Whitney, Sr. and the company changed its name to Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company.

In 1929, *The New York Times* reported that Kraft Phenix, The Hershey Company and Colgate were looking at merging. In the same year, it was reported that National, Borden and Standard Brands (a firm that is now part of Kraft Foods) were all looking at acquiring the firm.

By 1930, it had captured forty percent of the cheese market in the U.S. and was the third largest dairy company in the United States after National Dairy and Borden. In 1930, the company also began operating in Australia following a merger with Fred Walker & Co.

### Post National acquisition of Kraft-Phenix

At the time of the acquisition in 1930, National Dairy had sales of $315m compared with $85m for Kraft Phenix. National Dairy management ran the combined business. Following the Kraft-Phenix acquisition, the firm continued to be called National Dairy until 1969 when it changed its name to Kraftco.

Historically, all of the firm's sales came from dairy products. However, the firm's product lines began to diversify away from dairy products to caramel candies, macaroni and cheese dinners and margarines. From the 1950s onward, the firm began to move away from low value added commodity dairy products, such as fluid milk. This trend would continue for the firm, through neglect and divestiture, until the primary remaining dairy product produced by the firm would be cheese. As a result, the modern history of the firm emphasizes the cheese history.

In 1933, the company began marketing by radio sponsorship. In 1935, the [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Sealtest Sealtest] brand of ice cream was launched as a unified national brand to replace the firm's numerous regional brands.

During World War II, the company sent four million pounds of cheese to Britain weekly.

Product development and advertising helped the company to grow during the postwar years, launching sliced process cheese and Cheez Whiz, a brand of process cheese sauce, in the 1950s.

During these years, Thomas McInnerney, National Dairy's founder, and James L. Kraft, Kraft's founder, died, and at the end of the decade, the divisions became less autonomous and even diversified to the glass-packaging business with the acquisition of Metro Glass in 1956.

In 1947, the company tested the marketing power of the emerging medium of television by producing an hour-long drama/anthology series, the Kraft Television Theatre. The product advertised on the program, *MacLaren’s Imperial Cheese*, was selected because "... [it had] not only had no advertising appropriation whatsoever, but had not even been distributed for several years." As described by internal documents of J. Walter Thompson—the advertising firm which conceived of the marketing test—the result was "although there was no other advertising support for it whatsoever, still grocery stores could not keep up with the demand."

In the 1960s, product development became intense, launching fruit jellies, fruit preserves, marshmallows, barbecue sauces and *Kraft Singles*, a brand of individually wrapped cheese slices. During this decade, the company also expanded in many markets worldwide.

In 1961, the firm acquired Dominion Dairies of Canada, marking the first effort by the firm to expand into fluid milk and ice cream outside the United States. In the same year it also acquired The Southern Oil Company in Manchester, England.

### National Dairy becomes Kraft

In 1969, the firm changed its name from National Dairy to Kraftco Corporation. The reason for the name change was given at the time: "Expansion and innovation have taken us far afield from the regional milk and ice cream business we started with in 1923. Dollar sales of these original products have remained relatively static over the past ten years and, in 1969 accounted for approximately 25% of our sales." At the same time, the firm transferred to Glenview, Illinois, in 1972. In 1976, its name changed to Kraft, Inc. to emphasize the trademark the company had been known for and as a result of the fact that dairy, other than cheese, was now only a minor part of the company's sales. Reorganization also occurred after the name change.

### Dart merger

In 1980, Kraft merged with Dart Industries—makers of the Duracell brand of batteries, Tupperware brand of plastic containers, West Bend brand of home appliances, Wilsonart brand of plastics and Thatcher glass—to form Dart & Kraft.

During the 1980s, Dart & Kraft offered mixed results to its shareholders, as new acquisitions in the food business—such as Churny premium cheeses, Lender's Bagels, Frusen Gladje ice cream and Celestial Seasonings tea—slightly offset the lagging nonfood business—Tupperware's decrease in sales and KitchenAid's (acquired soon after the merger) slide in market share—leading Dart & Kraft to spin off its nonfood business (except Duracell batteries) into a new entity (Premark International, Inc.) while changing its name back to Kraft, Inc. Premark was bought by Illinois Tool Works in 1999. In 1988, Kraft sold Duracell to private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, who then put it into an initial public offering in 1989. [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Gillette Gillette] bought Duracell in 1996, and itself was acquired by Procter and Gamble in 2005.

## History (General Foods) - Predecessor

C. W. Post established his company in Battle Creek, Michigan, having lived there since 1891, when he was a patient at a holistic sanitarium operated by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Dr. Kellogg, with his brother W. K. Kellogg, had developed a dry corn flake cereal that was part of their patients’ diet. Post's first product, introduced in 1895, was not a cereal, however, but a roasted, cereal-based beverage, Postum. Having developed an aversion to coffee during his time in the sanitarium, Post positioned Postum as a healthy alternative. Its advertising slogan, which he coined himself, was, "There's a Reason." Postum's main ingredients were naturally caffeine-free wheat grain, bran, and molasses. Initially, Postum had to be brewed like coffee, but in 1911, Post introduced a powdered, instant formulation. This version of the product was manufactured in Battle Creek until it was discontinued in 2007. As of January 2013, Eliza's Quest Food had succeeded in returning Postum to many grocery stores across the United States and Canada.

In 1897, Post introduced his first dry cereal, a crunchy blend of wheat and barley, which he called Grape Nuts. His first corn-flake product was introduced as "Elijah's Manna" in 1904. Owing to consumer resistance to the (inaccurate) biblical reference that was so great that even Great Britain flatly refused to register the name as a trademark, it was renamed Post Toasties in 1907.

C. W. Post was an astute businessman who believed that advertising and aggressive marketing were the keys to a successful enterprise. Within 10 years of its incorporation, his Postum Cereal Company had more than $10 million in capital and was spending $400,000 a year on advertising, sums which were remarkable for the period. Although he vigorously opposed labor unions, his employees were the highest-paid in his industry and working conditions at the Post factory were exemplary. He even developed a factory town in which he sold homes to his workers at favorable rates.

Postum Cereal Company lost its founder in 1914. C.W. Post underwent an apparently successful appendectomy at the Mayo Clinic, but shortly after returning home to recuperate, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Post had for years suffered from bouts of illness and depression. While his death was without warning, his company was not left rudderless. His daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, had been raised in the business and was familiar with virtually every aspect of its operations. She assumed control of the now $20-million Postum Company and managed its affairs for the next eight years. While she did not oversee major product innovations, she did have a good feel for business and for promoting talented managers. In addition, her second marriage, in 1920, was to Edward F. Hutton, the founder of a brokerage firm on Wall Street.

Gross revenues in 1921 were $17.75 million. In 1922, Hutton took the newly incorporated Postum Cereal Company public by issuing 200,000 common shares. The 1920s was a period in which common stock was still considered highly speculative, and consequently the newly issued shares carried a dividend at the rate of $5.00 per year.

Revenues in 1922 were essentially the same as in 1921, but in 1923, they were $22.25 million and a stock split, in the form of a 100% stock dividend, increased the authorized shares to 400,000. These shares also earned a $3.00 annual cash dividend, representing a 20% increase over the presplit rate. In 1925, with revenues now at $27.4 million, the stock was split once again and the dividend was increased to $4.00 per new share.

### Major acquisitions

Starting in 1925, under the leadership of financier (and at one point, son in-law to the founder), E. F. Hutton as chairman and Colby M. Chester as president, Postum Cereal made the first of a series of corporate acquisitions which would within a few years transform it into the dominant U.S. packaged grocery products manufacturer.

It began late that year with the purchase of the Jell-O Company. Jell-O had been first produced in 1897 by Pearl B. Wait. His product was based on a patent that had been issued to Peter Cooper, the inventor and industrialist, in 1845, but which Cooper had never developed commercially. However, Wait was unsuccessful in marketing Jell-O, and in 1899, he sold the rights to it for $450 to a neighbor, Orator Francis Woodward, who had founded the Genesee Pure Food Company in 1897. Genesee became the Jell-O Company in 1923, the same year it began marketing D-Zerta, a sugar-free gelatin, and a powdered mixture for making ice cream in the kitchen.

In 1926, Postum Cereal acquired Igleheart Brothers, Inc (established in 1856), the makers of Swans Down cake flour, and followed this with the purchase of the Minute Tapioca Company. "Tapioca Superlative" had been invented in 1894 by a Boston woman, Susan Stavers, who made it from tapioca flakes that she ran through her coffee grinder. Later that year, she sold the rights to John Whitman, of Orange, Massachusetts, who changed its name to "Minute Tapioca". In 1908, he changed the name of his company to that of his product. The "Minute" brand would later become better known for a General Foods innovation introduced in 1949 known as Minute Rice, a brand of parboiled rice.

As a consequence of the Jell-O and Minute Tapioca acquisitions, Postum Cereal's revenues in 1926 jumped to $46.9 million. The number of shares stood at 1.375 million, including shares issued to acquire Jell-O and Minute Tapioca. The dividend was increased to $4.70 a year.

The acquisition spree continued in 1927 with the purchase of two similarly named confectionery companies, chocolate-maker Walter Baker (founded in 1765, making it the oldest component of the Postum constituent companies), and coconut-processor Franklin Baker, which had begun early in the 19th century as a flour broker, but whose confectionery products dated from 1895. This was followed by the purchase of Log Cabin Products, the maker of Log Cabin Syrup (first produced in 1887), and of Richard Hellmann, Inc (established in 1913), the producer of Blue Ribbon mayonnaise. And late in the year, Postum Cereal began selling its first coffee product, "Sanka", by obtaining US marketing rights from Dr Ludwig Roselius of Bremen, Germany. Roselius had developed the decaffeinated coffee in 1906 and began selling it in the US in 1923.

Three more acquisitions followed in 1928. The most important was that of the Cheek-Neel Coffee Company. Its product, Maxwell House, dating from 1892, was a well-known brand in what was still a fragmented US coffee market. Within a few years, however, it was to become the number one brand in America and would retain that position well into the 1980s. Also acquired during 1928 was the La France Manufacturing Company, a maker of starch and other laundry products (this being Postum's first venture into nonedibles), and the Calumet Baking Powder Company, the leading maker of this kitchen essential.

Financially, the year culminated on October 1 with the inclusion of Postum, Inc in the newly reformulated Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 common stocks.[9] By year-end, revenues stood at $101 million and the dividend on the five million authorized shares was $5.00 per year, a 25-fold increase since 1922.

General Foods 1937 Specimen Stock Certificate

### Purchase of General Foods and renaming

By far the most important acquisition of 1929 was of the frozen-food company owned by Clarence Birdseye, called General Foods Company. Birdseye (December 9, 1886 - October 7, 1956) was one of the most 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 working 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 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. Despite her enthusiasm, it took Post three years to convince Postum's management 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%. Following 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 not 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, required 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*, dedicated "To the American homemaker". Five editions were published between 1932 and 1937. The book includes photographs (among which is "General Foods offers over twenty famous products for your well-stocked pantry shelf") and a subject index.

### Timeline of later selected later events

* 1953 - General Foods acquired Perkins Products Company, maker of [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Kool-Aid Kool-Aid].
* 1957 - The company introduced Tang, which became available nationally two years later.
* 1964 - General Foods introduced Maxim, the first American brand of freeze-dried coffee.
* 1968 - General Foods buys the [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Burger\_Chef Burger Chef] fast-food chain.
* 1969 - General Foods buys Rax Restaurants.
* 1971 - General Foods acquired the maker of Gevalia.
* 1978 - General Foods sells [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Rax\_Roast\_Beef Rax Restaurants] to Rac.
* 1981 - General Foods acquires [./https://usastorefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Oscar\_Mayer Oscar Mayer & Company].
* 1990 - General Foods acquires Kraft Foods.

## Successor Company

At the end of 1988, Philip Morris Companies purchased Kraft for $12.9 billion. In 1989, Kraft merged with Philip Morris's General Foods unit—makers of Oscar Mayer meats, Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O gelatin, Budget Gourmet frozen dinners, Entenmann's baked goods, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Tang powdered beverage mixes, Post Cereals, Shake 'n Bake flavored coatings and numerous other packaged foods—as Kraft General Foods. Its aggressive product development was reversed after the merger, as it became slow in addressing issues on its product lines due to its size, and also company politics.

In 1990, the company acquired Jacobs Suchard (a European coffee and confectionery giant) and Freia Marabou (a Scandinavian confectionery maker) to expand overseas as its business was heavily dependent on the U.S. In 1993, it acquired RJR Nabisco's cold cereal business (mainly Shredded Wheat and Shreddies cereals) while selling its Breyers ice-cream division to Unilever and its Birds Eye unit to Dean Foods. In 1994, it sold its frozen dinners unit to H.J. Heinz and in 1995, it sold its foodservice unit.

In 1995, it changed its name to the present name, Kraft Foods. The same year, it sold its bakery division (except Lender's Bagels, which was sold in 1996 to CPC International), its candy division and its tablespreads division. Log Cabin syrup was sold in 1997.

As of 2007, Philip Morris (now Altria Inc.) had sold its stake in Kraft foods and the two companies are no longer affiliated.

### Financial expansion

In 2000, Philip Morris (renamed Altria in 2003) acquired Nabisco Holdings for $18.9 billion and merged the company with Kraft Foods the same year. In 2001, Philip Morris sold 280 million Kraft shares via the third-largest IPO of all time, retaining an 88.1% stake in the company.

In 2004, it sold its sugar confectionery division to Wrigley, while doing minor divestitures—including its hot cereals division (Cream of Wheat) to B&G Foods in 2007, its pet snacks division (Milk-Bone) in 2006, juice drinks and Fruit2o in 2007 and some grocery brands in 2006.

Altria announced on January 31, 2007, that it would spin off all the remaining Kraft Foods shares to Altria's shareholders; each will be given approximately 0.7 share of Kraft for every Altria share they owned.

Investor Nelson Peltz bought a three-percent stake at Kraft Foods and was talking with the executives on revitalizing the business, with options such as buying Wendy's fast-food chain or selling off Post cereals and Maxwell House coffee. On January 31, 2007, after months of speculation, the company announced that its 88.1% stake would be spun off to Altria shareholders at the end of March 2007. Kraft became an independent publicly held company.

In July 2007, the company bought Groupe Danone's biscuit (cookie) and cereal division for $7.2 billion, including iconic French biscuit brand Lefèvre-Utile. While two years earlier firestorms of protest had arisen over plans for American PepsiCo's hostile takeover of the French company, Kraft's announcement was not met with the same protests, in part because Kraft agreed not to close French factories and keep the new merged divisions headquarters near Paris for at least three years.

#### Purchase of Cadbury

On September 7, 2009, Kraft made a £10.2 billion takeover offer for the long-established British confectionery group Cadbury, makers of Dairy Milk and Bournville chocolate. On November 9, 2009, Kraft's £9.8bn takeover bid was rejected by Cadbury. Cadbury stated that the takeover bid was a "derisory" offer. Kraft renewed the offer under the same terms on December 4, 2009. The offer generated significant political and public opposition in the United Kingdom and abroad, even leading to calls for the government to implement a policy of economic protectionism in cases of takeovers of large companies. On January 19, 2010, Cadbury finally approved a revised offer from Kraft, valuing the confectionery business at $19.5 billion (£11.5 billion). The funding for the takeover was partially provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the British part-state-owned bank.

The Cadbury purchase was part of the long-term strategy of Irene Rosenfeld, CEO and Kraft Chairman since March 2007, who developed a three-year turnaround plan designed to drive the profitable growth of Kraft Foods. Rosenfeld wanted to develop new markets and expand product range when she assumed the role of chairman. It was assumed that the purchase of Cadbury would help Kraft products develop in new markets such as Brazil and India because of Cadbury's current strong presence in those markets. India is one of its most resilient markets with sales growth of 20% and profits growing at 30% in a competitive market. Kraft believed the Cadbury purchase was also necessary because of the likelihood of Nestlé and Hershey joining together. Kraft also believed it could squeeze savings of at least $675m annually by the end of the third year. Irene Rosenfeld saw the Kraft Cadbury merger as the "logical next step in our transformation toward a high-growth, higher-margin company". She also justified the merger in order to build a "global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals".

Following the purchase of Cadbury, Kraft commanded 14.8% of the global candy and gum market. Kraft argued that it could take advantage of the Cadbury distribution in developing markets of India, Brazil and Mexico. As incomes rise in these developing nations, Kraft hopes that products such as Oreo will become impulse buys for children. Mars, Inc. is second in the confectionery market with 14.6% share, followed by Nestlé with 7.8%.

At the time of the purchase, the chocolate and sugar industry had been growing rapidly at 15% over the previous three years and was valued at $113 billion. The purchase of Cadbury was considered strange because they did not have a strong foothold on the confectionery market, but at the time Kraft noted their production of confectionery foods like Toblerone and candy foods like Oreo. Cadbury also owned popular gum brands such as Stride, Trident, Dentyne, and Chiclets. Roger Carr, chairman of Cadbury, discussed his approval of the takeover by Kraft by saying, "We believe the offer represents good value for Cadbury shareholders and are pleased with the commitment that Kraft Foods has made to our heritage, values and people throughout the world."

### Purchase of Heinz

On March 25, 2015, General Foods announced that it would merge with the H.J. Heinz Company, owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., to form the world's fifth-largest food and beverage company. The merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz was agreed by the boards of both companies, with approval by shareholders and regulatory authorities in early 2015. General's shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading after the announcement of the deal. The companies completed the merger on July 2, 2015. The companies completed the merger on July 2, 2015.

The merger did not affect the naming rights to Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On June 30, 2016, General Foods made a $23 billion offer to buy its smaller rival, Hershey. The half-cash, half-stock deal valued Hershey stock at $107 a share. Hershey's board, however, unanimously rejected the offer.

On February 17, 2017, it was reported that General Foods had made a $143 billion approach to take over the British-Dutch multinational Unilever, a significantly larger competitor with 126,000 more employees and £24bn larger revenue than General Foods. Unilever declined the initial proposal. The takeover was subsequently abandoned on February 19 soon after UK Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered a scrutiny of the deal.

On May 6, 2018, General Foods agreed to buy cookie maker Tate's Bake Shop for approximately $500 million. The acquisition was completed on June 7, 2018.

In May 2018, General Foods launched Springboard Brands, a business focused on growing organic, natural, and "super-premium" food brands. Later that year, it was announced General Foods would acquire the Primal Kitchen brand as part of the company's Springboard Incubator. The $200 million deal was completed in early 2019 and was expected to generate $50 million in new annual revenue.

In July 2018, Kraft Heinz announced it was committing to make all of its global packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

On June 19, 2019, General Foods agreed to acquire a majority interest in Perfect Snacks, owner of refrigerated protein bar Perfect Bar. The acquisition was completed on July 16.

In April 2019, it was announced Miguel Patricio, former Chief Marketing Officer of InBev would replace Bernardo Hees as CEO of General Foods. Patricio took position of CEO in late June 2019 and Alex Behring remained chairman of the company. Later that year, Paulo Basilio returned to his role at Chief Financial Officer and Corrado Azzarita assumed the position of Chief Information Officer.

On February 25, 2020, General Foods announced that it was acquiring a majority stake in Toronto-based Give & Go, a maker of two-bite brownies. The acquisition was completed on April 3, 2020.

On September 16, 2020 Kraft Heinz released its 2020 Environmental Social Governance (ESG) report. The report includes a goal to make 100% of Kraft Heinz product packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025 and plans to sustainably source 100 percent of Heinz Ketchup tomatoes by 2025.

## Brands

Main article: General Foods/Subsidiaries & Assets

General Foods' core businesses were in beverage, cheese, dairy foods, snack foods, confectionery, and convenience foods.

General Food's major brands, which each generated revenues exceeding $1 billion, as:

* Cadbury
* Jacobs
* Kraft, including Kraft Dinner, Kraft Singles, Kraft Mayo, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese/Dinner
* LU
* Maxwell House
* Milka
* Nabisco
* Oreo
* Oscar Mayer
* Philadelphia
* Trident
* Tang
* Weight Watchers

Seventy additional brands have revenues greater than $100 million. In total, 40 brands are at least 100 years old.

## Sponsorships and promotions

Kraft Foods Inc. was an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and sponsored the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the LPGA tour. The company also sponsored the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, a post-season college football bowl game.

*Kraft Hockeyville* originally was Canadian reality television series developed by CBC Sports and Mills Corporation's Landmark Entertainment in 2006 and was sponsored by Kraft Foods in which communities across Canada compete to demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey. The contest revolves around a central theme of community spirit in Canada. In 2007, the contest was relegated to segments aired on *Hockey Night in Canada*.

Kraft released an iPad app called "Big Fork Little Fork" in 2011 which, in addition to games and other distractions, has information regarding how to use Kraft foods in nutritious ways. This app costs $1.99; a version for home computers is available on the iTunes app store.