TreeHouse Foods

TreeHouse Foods Inc. is a multinational food processing company founded in 2005 that specializes in the production of private label packaged foods.[2][3] Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, and consisting entirely of acquisitions,[4] it had $2 billion in sales and over 4,000 employees in 20 facilities in 2010.

As the 37th largest American food and beverage firm in 2015,[5] it was named 2010 Processor of the Year by Food Processing magazine, which called it "the biggest company you never heard of".[6] After being No. 446 on the Fortune 500 list in 2018,[7]

History

In 2005, when TreeHouse began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Bay Valley Foods, LLC became its division after Dean Specialty Foods was spun off from Dean Foods.[11] Michelle Obama was a member of the board of directors from 2005 through 2007.[12]

On October 22 2024, Treehouse foods recalled over 100 varieties of frozen pre-made waffle and pancake products.[13]

Acquisitions and divestitures

2006: Acquired the soup business of Del Monte Foods.[11]
2007: Acquired the salsa and picante business of San Antonio Farms, acquired jam, jelly, syrup and pie-filling (both brand name and private-label) producer E. D. Smith, founded by the Canadian politician E. D. Smith[11]
2010: Acquired Sturm Foods and S.T. Specialty Foods[11]
2013: Acquired Naturally Fresh, Inc., Cains Foods,[14][15] and Associated Brands[11][16]
2014: Made a bid to acquire Michael Foods Group Inc[17][18]
In April 2014, TreeHouse acquired private-label soup and gravy maker Protenergy Natural Foods from Whitecastle Investments.[19]
In June 2014, TreeHouse announced that it was buying Minnesota-based Flagstone Foods for $860 million as a way to gain access to the growing healthy snacks category.[20] The company said the acquisition would push its annual turnover towards $3.5 billion.[21][22][23][24]
2016: Acquired Ralcorp, the ConAgra Foods private-brand business division, for $2.7B.[25]
2018: Sold McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, acquired with Sturm Foods in 2010, to B&G Foods for $32 million.[26][27]
2020: Acquired majority of Ebro's Riviana Foods U.S. branded pasta business for $242.5 million in cash. The acquisition included the following regional pasta brands: Skinner, No Yolks, American Beauty, Creamette, San Giorgio, Prince Spaghetti and Light 'n Fluffy, Mrs. Weiss', New Mill, P&R Procino-Rossi and Wacky Mac, as well as the St. Louis manufacturing facility, which employs approximately 90 people.[28]
2022: The pasta business and E. D. Smith, along with Knox gelatin,[29] were sold in October to Investindustrial for $950 million and renamed Winland Foods.[30]
2024: Acquired the Bick's brand from J. M. Smucker.[31]

Subsidiaries

Bay Valley Foods, LLC

Bay Valley Foods traces its earliest predecessor back to the 1862 establishment of a company that would become Alart & McGuire, a pioneering New York pickle manufacturer.[32][33] Alart & McGuire was operating in Virginia by 1893, and had expanded as far west as Wisconsin by 1907.[34][35] The company built a large pickle factory in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1917.[36] In 1925, Alart & McGuire was sold to Arnold Brothers Pickle and Preserve Co., incorporated in Chicago in 1922.[33][36] Arnold Brothers became Green Bay Food Company around 1929.[36][37]

Its modern history begins with a portfolio of products assembled by Dean Foods, a large dairy producer founded in Illinois in 1925.[38] Dean Milk Company purchased Green Bay Food Company in 1962, one of its first acquisitions outside of the dairy industry.[37] Dean Milk Company changed its name to Dean Food Company a year later, and continued to grow though a series of acquisitions over the following decades.[38] Green Bay Food Company was renamed Dean Pickle and Specialty Products Company in 1994.[39] On January 27, 2005, Dean Foods announced that it was exiting the specialty foods segment.[40] The assets of Dean's Specialty Foods Group were transferred to the newly-created Bay Valley Foods, with administrative offices in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on June 27, 2005.[39]

Sturm Foods, Inc.

Sturm Foods began in 1905 as a dairy farm in Manawa, Wisconsin operated by Arthur Sturm and his sons Carl, Clarence, Paul, and Arthur, Jr. It began to grow when they started buying eggs from local farmers and shipping them to relatives in Chicago to sell in the city. During the 1930s they expanded into other bulk commodities, including sugar, seed, twine, potatoes, flour, coal, and gasoline. They produced large quantities of powdered eggs and powdered milk for the military during World War II, which led to the installation of their first packaging lines for consumer-sized products. The company began producing private label products for retailers in the early 1970s. It saw further expansion during the 1980s and '90s, growing from 150 to 500 employees.[41] In July 2000, the company changed its name from A. Sturm & Sons to Sturm Foods.[42] Private equity firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, which later became HM Capital Partners, bought the company in May 2005.[41]

On December 21, 2009, TreeHouse Foods announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase Sturm Foods from HM Capital Partners for $660 million.[43]

former name	A. Sturm & Sons
type	Subsidiary
industry	Dry grocery manufacturing
founded	1905
founder	Arthur Sturm
hq location city	Manawa, Wisconsin
hq location country	United States
products	Powdered drink mix Hot cereal K-Cup pods Seasoning & coating mix
revenue	$340 million
revenue year	2009
num employees	750
num employees year	2009
parent	Bay Valley Foods, LLC
website	www.sturmfoods.com

History

Acquisitions and divestitures

Subsidiaries

Bay Valley Foods, LLC

Sturm Foods, Inc.

Business model

External links

References