Franco-American

Franco-American is a brand name of the Campbell Soup Company.
A bottle of Franco-American gravy. A can of Franco-American soup, purchased in late 2007.The original Franco-American Food Company was founded by Alphonse Biardot, who immigrated to the United States from France in 1880. In 1886, he and his two sons opened a commercial kitchen in Jersey City, New Jersey, featuring the foods of his native country. The company proved a success, particularly with its line of canned soup and pasta, and it was acquired by Campbell's in 1915.

The Franco-American name was phased out over the next two decades for soup products and in the late-1990s for pasta products. On November 18, 2004, Campbell's announced it was discontinuing the name for pasta products in favor of its own, "to boost sales of what had been Franco-American's canned SpaghettiOs, RavioliOs and regular spaghetti, along with beef, chicken and turkey gravy varieties sold in cans and jars."
The most famous product sold under the Franco-American brand was incontestably SpaghettiOs, first sold May 16, 1965. SpaghettiOs are variously-sized rings of cooked pasta in a sweet tomato and cheese sauce, sold in cans. According to one account, Campbell's food chemist Ralph Miller was inspired by a signature dish of the company chef, sliced elbow macaroni in a soupy tomato sauce. "Uh-oh, SpaghettiOs," the refrain of the product's advertising jingle, became a meme in its own right.

As of April 2008, the Campbell Soup Company continues to sell gravy under the Franco-American name[1], along with a small line of condensed soups that appear to be similar to soups sold under the Campbell's brand. As of December 2008, it appears that the soup line has been discontinued,[2] but that the gravy line remains.

The Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF) is an American food and beverage company. In 1925, founder Samuel E. Dean bought the Pecatonica Marketing Company, an evaporated milk processing facility located in northwestern Illinois and named it the Dean Evaporated Milk Company in 1927. [3]
That same year Dean began to expand the company by purchasing local Illinois dairy plants. The company’s growth through acquisitions continued until December 21, 2001 when it was acquired by Dallas based Suiza Foods Corporation, a larger acquisition dairy company. After the acquisition, Suiza changed its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange from “SZA” to “DF” and moved all operations to Dallas, Texas. The "new" Dean Foods Company was born. Current corporate headquarters are 2515 McKinney Ave in Uptown Dallas but on June 8, 2009 the company announced plans to move to Cityplace Tower in Q1 2010.[4]
The company has two operating divisions: Dean Dairy Group and WhiteWave Foods.[5] It has plants and distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom.
On March 29, 2006, Dean Foods was added to the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index.
HistoryWhat is now Dean Foods the most recognized milk producer was first founded by Samuel E. Dean. In 1925 the founder of the milk processor Dean Foods set up for business creating what is now the leading milk and dairy producer in the United States. Dean now has farms and processing plants across the country. It all started when Sam Dean, Sr. was selling evaporated milk for a company in Chicago and then decided to begin his own company. Dean had been working in the milk industry so it is understandable that he set out as an entrepreneur in the dairy industry. Samuel E. Dean set the first location in the northwest region of Illinois. When he founded the Dean Evaporated Milk Company in 1925, it consisted of one plant in Pecatonica, Illinois.[6] The Dean Foods Company has grown drastically from when it first began, it is currently the industry leaders in dairy products. Dean Food products are supplied nation wide in groceries and food marts. Through thoughtful acquisitions and careful financial management, Dean Foods Company has grown from a small regional dairy into a diversified food company.[6]Dean Foods also sells products such as fluid milk, frozen vegetables, and has even become part of the pickle processor industry in the United States. Dean's product line includes ice cream, frozen desserts, canned vegetables, relishes, salad dressings, dips, and non-dairy creamers.[6] The diversity of products offered by Dean Foods places them as the the king of milk by taking over other dairies' thrones. The leading US producer of fluid milk and dairy products.
[edit] Suiza FoodsSuiza began in 1995 when Gregg L. Engles, owner of commercial ice cream company Reddy Ice merged Reddy with Suiza Dairy which Engles had acquired in 1993. The highly fragmented dairy industry motivated Engles to acquire dairy companies. After the merger of Reddy and the dairy acquisitions, the company became Suiza Foods Corporation, based in Dallas, Texas.
[edit] BrandsThey are the largest producer of soy milk in the United States, owning a second soy milk brand as well (Sun Soy). Their brands also include organic and non-dairy milks such as Horizon Organic.
Their subsidiary White Wave Foods is the distributor of Silk soy milk, Horizon Organic dairy products, International Delight creamer, some Land O'Lakes dairy products, Hershey's milk products, and Rachel's yogurt (both in the UK and the US). The company's TofuTown brand and its various tofu products were acquired by the Hain Celestial Group in June 2007.
In addition, Dean Foods owns many other brands. Dairy products with any of the following brand names are owned by Dean: Adohr Farms, AltaDena, Barbe's, Barber's, Berkeley Farms, Borden, Broughton Foods Company, Brown's Dairy, Celta, Country Delite, Country Fresh, Creamland, Dairy Ease, Dairy Fresh, Dean Foods Ultra, Gandy's, Garelick Farms, Hygeia, Ideal Dairy, Jilbert's Dairy, Lehigh Valley Dairies, Liberty Dairy (in Evart, Michigan, and available mainly at Meijer Stores), Louis Trauth, Mayfield Dairy, McArthur Dairy, Meadow Brook, Meadow Gold, Model Dairy, Oak Farms, PET Evaporated Milk, Price's, Purity, Reiter, Robinson Dairy, Schenkel's, Schepps, Shenandoah's Pride, Swiss Farms, T.G. Lee, Tuscan Dairy Farms, and Verifine. It licenses the Land O'Lakes brand, selling creamers and fluid dairy products under the name.[7] Many brands of pickles are produced by Dean, including 80% of store-brand pickles. Dean also owns miscellaneous brands of sauces, olives, instant breakfasts, and other edibles.