Everything about Pillsbury Company totally explained
Pillsbury is a
brand name used by
Minneapolis-based
General Mills and the
The J. M. Smucker Company. Historically, however, Pillsbury was a rival company to General Mills, also based in Minneapolis, that was one of the world's largest producers of
grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought-out by General Mills in 2000. De jure interpretation of
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 are 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.
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 steam 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. 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 & Ale, Bennigans, Godfathers Pizza, Haagen Daz and Quik Wok, plus popular grocery store food brands like
Green Giant. In 1989, the British company
Grand Metropolitan 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). A decade later, the old rivals merged. 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 that business completely by the late 90's.
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 of commercial space, including the Pillsbury "A" Mill.
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The Stay-Puft monster in the
Ghostbusters movie is inspired by the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Further Information
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