Minute Rice

Minute Rice is a brand of instant rice. The product was introduced in 1949 by General Foods, who merged with Kraft in 1990 and became Kraft General Foods, which became Kraft Foods in 1995. The product recently was sold to Riviana Foods (part of Ebro Puleva) in the United States, and to Ronzoni Foods Canada Corporation in Canada.

Minute Rice was invented and patented by a brilliant young food chemist, Frederick J. Miller of Jersey City, NJ, who was employed in General Foods product research and development, and whose primary expertise was in the manufacture of coffee for Maxwell House in Hoboken, NJ. While proprietary rights to Minute Rice belonged to corporate General Foods, the patent issued is in Miller's name and is held by Frederick Miller's widow, Carol, of Jensen Beach, Florida, to this day.

Frederick J. Miller enjoyed continued success and a lifelong career with General Foods, and later, Kraft General Foods, as his engineering and business acumen helped the company develop and improve both new products and old, from Minute Tapioca to Jell-O, Gaines pet food brands, Maxwell House, Sanka, General Foods International flavored coffees, Bird's Eye frozen foods, Post breakfast cereals, Baker's Chocolate, Tang instant breakfast beverage, just to name a few in the USA. Internationally, his production expertise expanded to decaffeinated coffees, ice cream, fine chocolate, candy and other confections, cheeses, and in Australia, wines.

Later, as Miller's career with KGF took him to international positions in major European, South American, and Asian cities, Miller's no-nonsense management style, self-taught engineering expertise (both in food production and the industrial design of factories), and ability to fairly negotiate deals with union labor, international construction licenses, and trade and transport deals with foreign governments, garnered him a strong and steady climb to the top of Kraft General Foods management, as well as an international reputation as a quiet and humble giant within the American and international food production industries, on a par with more publicized food magnates such as Frank Purdue and "Colonel" Harland Sanders.

From humble beginnings as the developer of Minute Rice, ultimately, Frederick J. Miller retired from the Hong Kong corporate headquarters as Kraft-General Foods International's Vice President in charge of Production, world-wide, having spent over 40 years- his entire adult life- with the company, with multi-year assignments in each of the USA, Canada, Brazil, West Germany, Belgium, and Hong Kong. His tenure oversaw some of the largest non-oil related corporate mergers in the history of American business, each with a corresponding stock split and leap in personal wealth, as a significant holder of corporate stocks gained largely in lieu of pay raises.

Of particular note and as a testament to his importance to the company, at his retirement, many of Miller's top-level executive peers and superiors chose to retire as well, saying publicly that they simply could not fathom how to lead the company without him. Further, as evidence of Miller's irreplaceability, several divisions within the company were simply closed or sold off without Fred Miller to lead them, and his vacated position within the giant international supercompany was not filled.

Frederick J.Miller, inventor of Minute Rice, died in 2005 at the age of 76. His brainchild, Minute Rice, continues to be one of the largest selling, best loved, and most recognized international brands for its new owner, Riviana Foods.

External links

• Minute Rice website(US)
• Minute Rice website(Canada)