Pillsbury Company
 The Pillsbury logo |
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 Pillsbury Cake Mix (a Smucker Co. product) |
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| Product type | Refrigerated and baking products |
| Owner | General Mills (The Pillsbury Company) (brand owner; refrigerated products manufacturer) The J.M. Smucker Co. (brand licensee; baking products manufacturer) |
| Country | U.S. |
| Introduced | 1872 |
| Tagline | Home is calling |
| Website | pillsbury.com pillsburybaking.com |
| Former type | Public |
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| Industry | Food processing |
| Fate | Acquired by General Mills; assets divided |
| Successor(s) | General Mills |
| Founded | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., 1872 |
| Defunct | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Pillsbury is a brand name used by Minneapolis-based General Mills and Orrville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker Company. Historically, the Pillsbury Company, also based in Minneapolis, was a rival company to General Mills and was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought-out by General Mills in 2001. Antitrust law required General Mills to sell off some of the products. General Mills kept the rights to refrigerated and frozen Pillsbury products, while dry baking products and frosting are now sold by Smucker under license.
Leo Burnett who created Pillsbury's Doughboy and Jolly Green Giant considers them two of the agency's top five brand icons.[1]
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History [edit]
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Founding and early development [edit]
The C.A. Pillsbury and Company was founded in 1872 by Charles Alfred Pillsbury and his uncle John Sargent Pillsbury. The company was the first in the United States to use steel rollers for processing grain. The finished product required transportation, so the Pillsburys assisted in funding railroad development in Minnesota.
In 1889, Pillsbury and its five mills on the banks of the Mississippi River were purchased by a British company. The company also tried to purchase and merge with the Washburn Crosby Company (a precursor of General Mills), but the strong rivalry prevented any merger from happening at the time.
In 1923, the Pillsbury family reacquired the Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, Ltd. which subsequently was incorporated in 1935 as Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.[2]
The 1950s [edit]
Only seven products used the Pillsbury name in 1950, but the company began adding to its product line.[3] The early 1950s brought the acquisition of Ballard & Ballard Company and the beginning of prepackaged biscuit dough. Later acquisitions included restaurants such as Burger King, Steak and Ale, Bennigan's, Godfather's Pizza, Häagen-Dazs and Quik Wok, plus popular grocery store food brands such as Green Giant.[citation needed]
The 1960s [edit]
In the 1960s, Pillsbury added Sweet* 10 made with cyclamate, which became the most popular artificial sweetener. In 1964, Pillsbury introduced Funny Face Drink Mix with the names Goofy Grape, Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry, Freckle Face Strawberry, Loud Mouth Lime, Chinese Cherry (later Choo-Choo Cherry), and Injun Orange (later Jolly Olly Orange). Lefty Lemon followed in 1965, along with other flavors. When cyclamate was banned, Sweet* 10 and Funny Face had to be dropped, resulting in a $4.5 million loss. Both products were re-introduced after changes, and the drinks became available sweetened and unsweetened.[3]
Another drink mix introduced in the 1960s was Moo Juice, a flavored powder combined with milk in a shaker to produce a milkshake. Its TV commercial featured a talking animation of the product's cartoon cow head mascot. This was voiced by Frank Fontaine, who was familiar at that time as Crazy Guggenheim in The Jackie Gleason Show's "Joe the Bartender" skits. Moo Juice was short-lived, as its milkshakes tended to be thin compared to similar products such as Borden's Frosted and Birds Eye's Thick and Frosty.
That decade, Pillsbury also created Space Food Sticks to capitalize on the popularity of the space program. Space Food Sticks were developed by Robert Muller, the inventor of the HACCP standards used by the food industry to insure food safety.
When NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter launched into space on Mercury capsule Aurora 7 in 1962, he was carrying with him the first solid space food – small food cubes developed by Pillsbury's research and development department. Taking Pillsbury scientists more than a year to develop, space food cubes were followed by other space-friendly foods, such as non-crumbly cake, relish that could be served in slices, and meat that needed no refrigeration.
It acquired Burger King in 1967.[4]
The 1980s and after [edit]
In 1989, the British company Grand Metropolitan (later Diageo) purchased the food maker, and during this ownership period the company divested itself of all production and distribution facilities (contracting these functions to other companies), making itself simply a marketing entity for its own brands (Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Totino's, etc.).
In 2001, Pillsbury merged with its old rival General Mills. However, the baking products division was sold to International Multifoods Corporation, which was later acquired by Smucker's. Pillsbury sold all of their restaurant brands and exited the business completely by the late 1990s.
Notable achievements [edit]
Pillsbury once claimed to have the largest grain mill in the world at the Pillsbury "A" Mill overlooking Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. The building had two of the most powerful direct-drive waterwheels ever built, each putting out 1200 horsepower (900 kW).
There are now plans to convert it into a loft-style apartment building. The Cunningham Group plans to convert six historic buildings to a mixed-use project varying from 6 to 27 floors in height. The project will include 895 units of housing and 175,000 square feet (16,300 m2) of commercial space, including the Pillsbury "A" Mill.[5]
Cultural influences [edit]
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the Ghostbusters movie is inspired by the Pillsbury Doughboy.[6]
Pillsbury, Inc vs My Dough Girl, LLC [edit]
In May 2010, Pillsbury's lawyers served a cease and desist notice to My Dough Girl, Llc.[7] a Salt Lake City, Utah Cookie Retailer with one store located at 770 S. 300 West in Salt Lake City, Utah.[8] Some reports mention that General Mills lawyer told Tami Cromar, the shop owner, to not talk to the press. A movement has been started by the local fans of the brand, including a Facebook group[9] started by food blogger Joshua Shimizu.[10] The group received the support of few hundreds fans during the summer 2010 and might put General Mills into a Streisand effect.[11]
See also [edit]
Footnotes [edit]
- ^ "SEC Info – Publicis Groupe SA, Bcom3 Group". March 7, 2002. and "The Green Giant". Advertising Age. 1999 and 2005. Retrieved April 23, 2007.
- ^ "Pillsbury Company". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2007.
- ^ a b "Funny Face History". Retrieved February 8, 2010.
- ^ Smith, Andrew F. (August 30, 2006). Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food (1st ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-313-33527-3.
- ^ "Cuningham Group: Portfolio: Housing: Pillsbury 'A' Mill Master Plan". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on October 15, 2006. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ Delaney, Sam (July 26, 2007). "Brand designs". The Guardian (London). Retrieved August 13, 2007.
- ^ "Salt Lake City Bakeries & Desserts Restaurants: My Dough Girl – Salt Lake City". Cityweekly.net. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ Fruhwirth, Jesse (July 6, 2010). "Salt Lake City News – News Articles: My Dough Girl In Trademark Trouble With Pillsbury". Cityweekly.net. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ "my dough girl vs pillsbury corporation". Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ "Major corporation threatens local cookie company with lawsuit". Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ "Pillsbury Sends Cease & Desist To 'Dough Girl' Bakery". Techdirt. August 3, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
References [edit]
- N.S. Gill. Charles Alfred Pillsbury. Minneapolis.about.com
- Andrew Haeg (July 17, 2000). General Mills Acquires Pillsbury. Minnesota Public Radio.
- Vault, Inc. Pillsbury Basic Snapshot
External links [edit]
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