American snack company
Nabisco
|
Formerly
|
- National Biscuit Company (1898?1971)
- Nabisco (1971?1985)
- RJR Nabisco
(1985?1999)
|
---|
Company type
| Subsidiary
|
---|
Industry
| Food
|
---|
Predecessor
| -
- New York Biscuit Company
- Kennedy Biscuit Company
- Pearson & Sons Bakery
- Josiah Bent Bakery
- American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company
- Richmond Steam Bakery
|
---|
Founded
| June 19, 1898
; 125 years ago
(
1898-06-19
)
Chicago, Illinois
[1]
|
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Founders
| |
---|
Headquarters
| East Hanover Township, New Jersey
,
United States
|
---|
Products
| Cookies
,
crackers
,
candy
,
chocolate
|
---|
Brands
| |
---|
Parent
| |
---|
Website
| snackworks.com
[a]
|
---|
Nabisco
(
, abbreviated from the earlier name
National Biscuit Company
) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in
East Hanover, New Jersey
. The company is a subsidiary of
Illinois
-based
Mondel?z International
.
[2]
Nabisco's 1,800,000-square-foot (170,000 m
2
) plant in
Chicago
is the largest bakery in the world,
[3]
employing more than 1,200
[3]
workers and producing around 320 million pounds (150 million kilograms) of snack foods annually. Its products include
Chips Ahoy!
,
Belvita
,
Oreo
cookies,
Ritz Crackers
,
Teddy Grahams
,
Triscuit
crackers,
Fig Newtons
, and
Wheat Thins
for the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, and other parts of South America.
All Nabisco cookie or cracker products are branded
Christie
in Canada, after Canadian baker
William Mellis Christie
. Christie's flagship bakery in Toronto was demolished after Mondel?z shut it down in 2013.
[4]
Nabisco opened corporate offices as the National Biscuit Company in the
Home Insurance Building
in the
Chicago Loop
in 1898, the world's first skyscraper.
[5]
History
L-R: William Moore, Adolphus W. Green, and John G. Zeller, founders of the National Biscuit Company in 1898
Pearson & Sons Bakery opened in Massachusetts in 1792, and they made a biscuit called
pilot bread
for consumption on long sea voyages. In 1889,
William H. Moore
acquired Pearson & Sons Bakery, Josiah Bent Bakery, and six other bakeries to start the New York Biscuit Company. Chicago lawyer
Adolphus Green
(1843?1917)
[6]
[7]
started the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company in 1890 after acquiring 40 different bakeries. Then Moore, Green, and John Gottlieb Zeller (1849?1939, founder of Richmond Steam Bakery) all merged in 1898 to form the "National Biscuit Company", and Green was named president. Zeller was president of National Biscuit Company from 1923?1931.
[8]
Nabisco celebrated its golden anniversary in 1948, and
Nabisco
had become the corporate name by 1971. In 1981, Nabisco merged with
Standard Brands
to form "Nabisco Brands", which merged with
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
in 1985 to form
RJR Nabisco
. Kraft General Foods acquired the Nabisco cold cereals from RJR Nabisco in 1993, and the cereal brands are now owned by
Post Holdings
. In 1999, Nabisco acquired
Favorite Brands International
. In 2000,
Philip Morris Companies Inc.
acquired Nabisco and merged it with
Kraft Foods
in one of the largest mergers in the food industry. In 2011, Kraft Foods announced that it was splitting into a grocery company and a snack food company. Nabisco became part of the snack-food business, which took the name
Mondel?z International
.
[9]
The first use of the name Nabisco was in a cracker brand produced by National Biscuit Company in 1901.
[10]
The firm later introduced
Fig Newtons
, Nabisco Wafers, Anola Wafers, Barnum's
Animal Crackers
(1902), Cameos (1910),
Lorna Doones
(1912),
Oreos
(1912),
[11]
and Famous Chocolate Wafers (1924, which would be discontinued in 2023).
[12]
In 1924, the National Biscuit Company introduced a snack in a sealed packet called the Peanut Sandwich Packet. They soon added the Sorbetto Sandwich Packet. These allowed salesmen to sell to
soda fountains
, road stands,
milk bars
,
lunch rooms
, and news stands. Sales increased, and the company started to use the name NAB in 1928. The term Nabs today is used to generically mean any type of snack crackers, most commonly in the southern US.
[13]
As of July 16, 2021, parent company Mondel?z International made the decision to close the
Fair Lawn
plant after 63 years forcing the majority of the 600 employees to move on and/or retire, accept jobs with other businesses or transfer within the company.
[14]
In August 2021, over 1,000 workers at several bakeries and distribution centers throughout the United States, organized under the
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union
,
went on strike
over disagreements regarding a new labor contract with Nabisco.
[
citation needed
]
Mergers and acquisitions
Acquisitions
The National Biscuit Company acquired the Shredded Wheat Company, maker of
Triscuit
and
Shredded Wheat
cereal
, and Christie, Brown & Company of
Toronto
in 1928, but all of the Nabisco cookie and cracker products in Canada still use the name Christie. It also acquired F.H. Bennett Company, maker of
Milk-Bone
dog biscuits, in 1931.
[15]
In 1971, Nabisco bought J. B. Williams Co., a privately-owned pharmaceuticals manufacturer.
[16]
Williams continued to operate as a separate
subsidiary
.
[17]
Nabisco sold Williams to
Beecham Group
in 1982
[18]
after nearly a decade of slumping sales.
[19]
In 1981, Nabisco merged with
Standard Brands
, maker of
Planters
Nuts,
Baby Ruth
and
Butterfinger
candy bars, Royal gelatin, Fleischmann's and Blue Bonnet margarines, amongst others. The company was then renamed Nabisco Brands, Inc.
[15]
At that time, it also acquired the
Life Savers
brand from the
E.R. Squibb Company
, makers of
Bubble Yum
& Care-free gum. Commercials were revised as a result of the merger by January 1983.
R. J. Reynolds merger
In 1985, Nabisco was bought by
R.J. Reynolds
, forming "RJR Nabisco". After three years of mixed results, the company became one of the hotspots in the 1980s
leveraged buyout
mania. The company was in auction with two bidders:
F. Ross Johnson
, the company's president and CEO, and
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
, a private equity partnership.
The company was sold to KKR in what was then the biggest leveraged buyout in history, described in the book
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
, and a subsequent
film
.
Subsequent acquisitions and divestitures
In 1989, RJR Nabisco Inc. sold its
Chun King
foods division to
Yeo Hiap Seng Limited
and Fullerton Holdings Pte. Ltd for $52 million to reduce its debt from its $24.5 billion buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
[20]
In December 1989, RJR Nabisco sold its Del Monte canned fruits and vegetables business in South America to
Polly Peck International PLC
.
[21]
One year later, in 1990 RJR Nabisco sold Curtiss Candy, which owned the Baby Ruth and Butterfinger brands, to
Nestle
.
[22]
RJR also sold LU, Belin and other European biscuit brands to
Groupe Danone
, only reunited in 2007 after Nabisco's present parent,
Kraft Foods
, bought Danone's biscuit operations for EUR 5.3 billion.
[23]
In 1994, RJR sold its breakfast cereal business (primarily the Shredded Wheat franchise) to
Kraft Foods Inc.
and the international licenses to
General Mills
, which later became part of the
Cereal Partners Worldwide
joint venture with Nestle.
[24]
Also in 1994, RJR acquired
Rose Knox
's Knox gelatin and integrated the
Shredded wheat
franchise into the
Post Foods
portfolio.
[25]
Post continues to sell the product today.
In 1995, Nestle agreed to buy the Ortega Mexican foods business from Nabisco Inc.
[26]
That same year, RJR-Nabisco also acquired the North American margarine and table spreads business of Kraft foods. This purchase included Parkay, Touch of Butter and Chiffon.
[27]
In 1998, Nabisco Holdings announced its sale of its margarine and egg substitute business to
ConAgra
. In 1997, the brands of Fleishmann's, Blue Bonnet and Parkay had sales of $480 million.
[28]
It also sold its College Inn broth brand to HJ Heinz
[29]
and its Venezuelan Del Monte operations to Del Monte Foods.
[30]
In 1999, RJR Nabisco's food and tobacco empire fell apart when they sold its international tobacco division to Japan Tobacco for $7.8 billion.
[31]
In 2000 Nabisco Holdings together with several investors (as Finalrealm) acquired
United Biscuits
, As part of the transaction, United Biscuits acquired Nabisco's European businesses
[32]
and divested Far East (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) business to Nabisco. Nabisco became a leading shareholder in United Biscuits (the position that inherited by Kraft Foods until 2006).
The
Altria Group
(formerly Philip Morris)
[33]
acquired Nabisco (sans
Bubble Yum
which was sold to
Hershey
) in 2000 for about $19.2 billion. Philip Morris then combined Nabisco with Kraft.
[34]
That acquisition was approved by the Federal Trade Commission subject to the divestiture of products in five areas: three Jell-O and Royal brands types of products (dry-mix gelatin dessert, dry-mix pudding, no-bake desserts), intense mints (such as Altoids), and baking powder. Kraft Foods, at the time also a subsidiary of Altria, merged with Nabisco.
[35]
In 2006, Nabisco sold its Milk-Bone pet snacks to Del Monte Foods Co. for $580 million.
[36]
Kraft Foods was spun off from Altria, taking its Nabisco subsidiary with it, in 2007.
[37]
In January 2007, Cream of Wheat was sold to
B&G Foods
.
[38]
Legal battles
In 1997, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus
[39]
became concerned with an
ad campaign
for
Planters
Deluxe Mixed Nuts. The initial
commercial
featured a man and monkey deserted on an island. They discover a crate of Planters peanuts and rejoice in the peanuts' positive health facts.
Nabisco made a detailed statement describing how their peanuts were healthier than most other snack products, going as far as comparing the
nutritional facts
of Planters peanuts to those of
potato chips
,
Cheddar cheese
chips, and
popcorn
. Technically, the commercials complied with United States
Food and Drug Administration
regulations, and they were allowed to continue. However, as requested by the
National Advertising Division
, Nabisco agreed to make fat content disclosure more conspicuous in future commercials.
[40]
The company's
A1 Steak Sauce
was the subject of a suit filed against Arnie Kaye in
US District Court
on March 13, 1990.
[41]
Kaye's delicatessen used a homemade sauce called "A2 Sauce," sold in both the International Deli and
Stew Leonard's supermarkets
in
Westport, Connecticut
.
[42]
Summary judgement was rendered on March 18, 1991 by
Judge Eginton
who found in favor of Nabsico and ordered that they were entitled to recoup all profits from the sale of "A.2." sauce as well as attorney's fees.
[43]
Brands and products
The Oreo, Nabisco's best-selling cookie
Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookies
Corporate image
(Left): newspaper ad for the Uneeda biscuits from 1919; the Nabisco "antenna" trademark can be seen behind the product; (right): the current Nabisco logo, designed by designer
Gerard Huerta
Nabisco's trademark is a diagonal ellipse with a series of antenna-like lines protruding from the top ("Orb and Cross" or
Globus cruciger
). It forms the base of its logo and can be seen imprinted on Oreo cookies, in addition to Nabisco product boxes and literature.
[46]
The trademark is derived from a medieval Venetian printer's mark that represented "the triumph of the moral and spiritual over the evil and the material".
[47]
A symbol previously used to represent Christ's redemption of the world.
[48]
The current update of the familiar Nabisco trademark was designed by American typographer and graphic designer
Gerard Huerta
, who has created many famous logos for corporate identity and branding as well as the movie and music industries, such as
AC/DC
's.
[49]
[50]
From 2002?2005, Nabisco and Kraft jointly sponsored both
Dale Earnhardt
, Inc., and
Roush Racing
. Earnhardt Jr. won four races in a row at
Daytona International Speedway
with Nabisco sponsorship. Kraft and Nabisco sponsored a part-time Sprint Cup effort in car #81 driven by
Jason Keller
and
John Andretti
and fielded by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Nabisco also sponsored
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
in the 2010
Subway Jalapeno 250
at
Daytona International Speedway
in July 2010 with their Oreo/Ritz brands and
Tony Stewart
with the Ritz brand in the 2010
DRIVE4COPD 300
at
Daytona International Speedway
in 2010.
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- ^
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.
- ^
a
b
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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b
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.
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- ^
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9780743254953
.
- ^
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a
b
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- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 34.
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978-0-313-39393-8
.
- ^
Branch, Shelly; Barrett, Amy (May 16, 2000).
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. The Wall Street Journal
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.
- ^
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. Reference for Business
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- ^
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. Advertising Age
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- ^
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. UPI. September 11, 1995
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- ^
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.
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. October 11, 1995
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- ^
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. July 22, 1998
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- ^
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.
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. July 17, 1998
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- ^
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- ^
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.
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- ^
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- ^
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. Green America
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- ^
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. The Wall Street Journal
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- ^
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.
- ^
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.
- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
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. Vol. 153, no. 74. March 15, 1990. p. D2 – via
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.
- ^
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.
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. Vol. 204, no. 161. March 15, 1990. p. 18 – via
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.
- ^
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.
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. March 18, 1991
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
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- ^
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.
- ^
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. Little, Brown. p. 81.
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.
- ^
La injusta historia del tipo que diseno el logo de AC/DC
, Andres Rodriguez on El Espanol, May 9, 2021
- ^
Artist Talk with Legendary Designer Gerard Huerta
May 5, 2019
Notes
- ^
Former nabisco.com website (redirect)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Nabisco
.
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Brands
| Nabisco
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Cadbury
1
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Chocolate
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Gums and candies
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Other brands
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Former brands
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Related
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- 1
Manufactured by
Hershey's
in the U.S. under licensing agreement
|
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International
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National
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Artists
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