Corporation
The Resume
(1894-1990)
Food processing conglomerate
Former owner of brands such as Altoids, Arrowhead Water, Butterball, Culligan, Jolly Rancher, Milk Duds, Orville Redenbacher, Peter Pan, Samsonite, Swiss Miss, and Tropicana
Purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) for $8.7 billion, the largest leveraged buyout at the time (1986)
KKR proceeded to sell off the company's divisions, including the bottled water division to Perrier, the dairy products division to Borden, and Tropicana to Seagram
Most remaining assets were sold off to ConAgra Brands in 1990
Why Beatrice Foods might be annoying
Why on earth would a food products company want to purchase a suitcase manufacturing company (Samsonite)?
Between the 1950s and 1970s, they purchased pretty much every popular brand name food product.
The company was essentially the Disney or Monsanto of its time.
In the 1980s, the company was a co-defendant alongside W. R. Grace and Company against allegations the they were responsible for dumping toxic waste into an underground aquifer that supplied drinking water to East Woburn, Massachusetts.
During the 1984 Winter and Summer Olympics, the company released television advertisements with the corny and annoying jingle, 'We're Beatrice. You've known us all along!'
Why Beatrice Foods might not be annoying
They were producing 30 million gallons of milk and 10 million gallons of ice cream during their peak in the 1930s.
Many of the products they once owned were households names that were popular with consumers.
Their environmental legal woes were the inspiration for the novel 'A Civil Action' and its Oscar-nominated film adaptation.
Their obnoxious jingle was the satirized on the animated series 'Animaniacs.'
Credit: Birdienest81
Share this link with a friend:
Year In Review:
For 2021, as of last week, Out of 72 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 72 Votes: 43.06% Annoying
Featured in the following Annoying Collections:
|
