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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sparklers375 (talk | contribs) at 19:28, 29 September 2020 (Added additional history & information, including rice brands, pasta brands, and products. Added infobox. Added TOC.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Riviana Foods Inc.
Formation1911
TypePrivate
HeadquartersHouston, Texas
OwnerEbro Foods
Websitewww.riviana.com

Riviana Foods Inc. is a subsidiary of Ebro Foods, S.A. When it merged with American Rice, Inc. and New World Pasta Co. in 2017, it became the largest manufacturer of rice and second largest of pasta in the United States. Its estimated sales revenue at the time was $1.5 billion.[1]

History

Early Years

Riviana dates back to the 1911 founding of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Company, Inc., a consortium of rice mills led by Frank Godchaux Sr. By 1931, the Louisiana State Rice Milling Company, Inc. introduced consumer-friendly packaging, including cellophane and kraft bags.[2]

Mergers & Acquisitions

In 1965, after the Louisiana State Rice Milling Company merged with River Brand Rice Mills, Inc, Riviana Foods Inc. was formed.[3] After being acquired by Colgate-Palmolive in 1976, and then sold back to the Godchaux family in 1986, Riviana became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ in 1995.[2][4] Riviana was most recently acquired by Ebro Foods, S.A. in 2004.[1] In 2006, Riviana acquired Minute Rice, a brand of parboiled rice, from Kraft Foods.[5] When Riviana Foods merged with American Rice Inc. and New World Pasta Co. in 2017, the newly formed Riviana Foods Inc. became the parent company of pasta brands including No Yolks and rice brands including Minute Rice.[6]

Rice Brands & Products

Carolina Rice

Carolina Rice, founded in 1927, is primarily sold in the northeast United States. Carolina Rice offers many varieties of rice including white rice, parboiled rice, whole grain brown rice, organic rice, yellow rice, wild rice, basmati rice and jasmine rice. Most of Carolina Rice's US-grown rice is sourced from Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas. Riviana Foods commercializes other rice varieties that are originally grown in Thailand (jasmine rice) and India (basmati rice).[7]

Mahatma Rice

Riviana Foods introduced Mahatma Rice to the United States in 1932, during the Great Depression.[2][8] Mahatma Rice is a national rice brand, serving all of the domestic United States, while its sister brand Carolina Rice covers northeast distribution from Maine to Washington, D.C.[9] Mahatma Rice offers many varieties of rice, including white rice, parboiled rice, whole grain brown rice, Valencia short grain rice, organic rice, yellow rice, wild rice, basmati rice and jasmine rice.

Minute Rice

Minute Rice was founded in 1941. The brand first introduced precooked, parboiled white rice using a patented method for precooking and dehydrating rice before being used by the U.S. Armed Forces for G.I. rations during World War II.[10][11] Minute Rice was eventually introduced to the greater population in 1946 and gained world wide distribution in 1949.[2] Riviana Foods Inc. acquired Minute Rice in 2006 from Kraft Foods.[5] The brand expanded its product line significantly in 2008 when it launched ready-to-serve rice cups, an easy staple food that could be stored in pantries and microwaved when needed. Today, Minute Rice sells boxed instant rice and rice cups in many varieties, and quinoa.[10]

Success Rice

Riviana Foods Inc. introduced Success Rice in 1977, its rice brand offering parboiled, boil-in-bag rice.[2] Success Rice's product line includes four varieties of boil-in-bag rice, including white rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, and brown rice. Boil-in-bag rice is made by parboiling rice after it is harvested.[12] In 2017, Success Rice released boil-in-bag tri-color quinoa.[13]

Blue Ribbon Rice

Originally purchase by American Rice, Inc. in 1975, Blue Ribbon Rice was acquired by Riviana Foods Inc. when American Rice, Inc. was purchased from Grupo SOS in 2011.[14]

Gourmet House

Gourmet House is a wild rice brand that was acquired by Riviana Foods in 1999 from Anheuser-Busch.[15] Gourmet House was one of the major marketers of wild rice products in the United States when it was acquired.[16]

RiceSelect

Riviana Foods purchased RiceSelect from RiceTec in 2015. RiceSelect was the consumer business of RiceTec at the time.[17] RiceSelect offers rice, quinoa and pasta. One of its notable products is Texmati rice, which RiceSelect claims was the first aromatic rice to be introduced in the USA resembling basmati rice.[18]

Pasta Brands & Products

Ronzoni

Ronzoni was founded in 1918 as the Ronzoni Macaroni Company. By the 1970s, Ronzoni was the number one pasta in New York.[19] In 1990, Ronzoni was acquired by the Hershey Food Corporation.[20] Ronzoni pasta was then acquired by New World Pasta, which in turn was acquired by Ebro Foods in 2006.

No Yolks

No Yolks was introduced in 1976. It was first developed as a no-cholesterol egg noodle, made only with wheat flour, corn flour and egg whites.[21] In 2011, No Yolks was purchased by New World Pasta as part of an acquisition of Strom Products, which also included another Riviana brand, Wacky Mac.[22] In 2017, when New World Pasta, American Rice, Inc. and Riviana Foods Inc. merged, No Yolks became part of Riviana Foods.

Recent Events

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Riviana Foods has made large donates to emergency responders and food banks. In June 2020, Riviana donated 22,000 bags of rice to firefighters and food banks in Houston and the Bronx.[23][24]

In August 2020, after competitor brand Uncle Ben's announced it would phase out its logo because it depicted a racial stereotype[25], two teenagers from Atlanta petitioned Riviana Foods to remove the mascot from its Mahatma Rice packaging. The teens, Rohan and Rani Srivastava, complained that the mascot was an offensive depiction of stereotypical Indian man in a turban and kurta pajama pants.[26] In response to the petition, Riviana Foods removed the mascot from the Mahatma Rice website and pledged to remove the mascot from packaging by October 2020.[27]

See Also

References

  1. ^ a b "Spain-based food co. to combine brands into Houston-based business". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e "Riviana Foods Inc. - Timeline". www.riviana.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  3. ^ "History of Riviana Foods Inc. – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  4. ^ Koshetz, Herbert (1976-02-13). "Colgate Slates Riviana Merger". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  5. ^ a b "Riviana parent to buy Minute Rice". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Smith, Mike D. (2016-12-14). "Ebro Foods to merge U.S. businesses into Houston subsidiary". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  7. ^ "About Carolina Rice". Carolina® Rice. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ July 18, Olivia Tarantino; 2018 (2018-07-18). "17 Foods With Different Names on East vs. West Coasts | Eat This, Not That!". Eat This Not That. Retrieved 2020-09-29. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "The Story of Carolina Gold, the Best Rice You've Never Tasted". www.seriouseats.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  10. ^ a b "Minute Rice History". Minute® Rice. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ PRNewswire (2006-07-27). "(PRN) Ebro Puleva Buys Kraft's Minute(R) Rice Brand and Assets; Minute Rice to Become Part of Riviana Foods". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  12. ^ "Success® Rice - About". Success® Rice. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "Riviana, the Maker of Success® Boil-in-Bag Products, Adds Tri-Color 100% Quinoa to Product Line". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "History of American Rice, Inc. – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  15. ^ News, Bloomberg (1999-12-02). "Riviana Deal in Wild Rice". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-29. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "Riviana unit buys German rice miller". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "Riviana Foods Buys RiceTec's RiceSelect Brand". USA Rice. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "Our Story | RiceSelect®". RiceSelect. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  19. ^ Salorio, Gene (1974-09-01). "A Label That's All the Family". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  20. ^ Seiber, Valerie (2016-01-15). "Hershey and Pasta: An Interesting Relationship". Visit The Hershey Story Museum. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  21. ^ "No Yolks® - Our Story". www.noyolks.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  22. ^ "Strom Products LTD's Brands NO YOLKS® and WACKY MAC® to be Acquired by New World Pasta". PRWeb. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  23. ^ "Riviana Foods Donates Over 22,000 Bags of Rice to COVID-19 Frontline Firefighters and local Houston Food Banks | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ Inc, Riviana Foods. "Riviana Foods Donates Over 22,000 Bags of Rice to COVID-19 Frontline Firefighters in the Bronx". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-09-29. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  25. ^ Business, Jordan Valinsky, CNN. "Uncle Ben's and Mrs. Butterworth's follow Aunt Jemima phasing out racial stereotypes in logos". CNN. Retrieved 2020-09-22. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ "Indo-American Teens End Racist Logo of "Mahatma Rice" from Houston's Riviana Foods | Indo American News". Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  27. ^ "Atlanta siblings instrumental in pushing Mahatma brand rice to drop logo depicting negative stereotype". 11Alive.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
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