Pinnacle Foods

Infobox_Company
company_name = Pinnacle Foods Group, LLC.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1998 (as Vlasic Foods International)
location = flagicon|USA Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
key_people = Roger Deromedi, Chairman
Jeffrey P. Ansell, CEO
William Toler, President
num_employees = 2,700
industry = Food processing
products = Frozen food, Condiments, Baking mixes, Packaged meat
revenue = $1,442.3 Million USD(2006)
homepage = [http://www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com/ www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com]

Pinnacle Foods Corporation is one of North America's largestFact|date=February 2007 packaged food companies. The company was founded in 1998 as Vlasic Foods International, acquiring the Swanson TV dinners, Open Pit, Vlasic Pickles, etc. from the Campbell Soup Company. In 2003, it acquired Aurora Foods, based in St. Louis, Missouri, which had been hurt by an accounting scandal which put that company at the brink of bankruptcy. [ [http://www.mbly.com/html/news/viewNews.asp?newsID=1030] ]

Aurora was founded by Ian Wilson, a former executive with Coca-Cola and Dole, in 1995. Wilson used the company to purchase the Van de Kamp's seafood brand from Pillsbury and several other brands as the years progressed. These brands were in many cases market leaders, but the parent companies no longer considered them a part of their core marketing strategy, and refused to spend any more money on new marketing and development.

In 2001, Wilson and other Aurora executives pleaded guilty to securities fraud for misrepresenting the company's financial statements. Wilson was sentenced to 33 months in prison and was fined $1 million.

In 2000, Jim Smith, a former executive with ConAgra, was named CEO and was charged with restoring Aurora Foods to health. [ [http://www.mdcpartners.com/news/pr011111.html McCown De Leeuw & Co. - Mission ] ] He remained until 2002, which set events in motion leading to Aurora's acquisition. After the 2003 merger with Pinnacle Foods, Pinnacle closed the St. Louis offices and relocated all operations into the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, headquarters.

Pinnacle Foods was acquired by The Blackstone Group, a New York City-based private equity firm, in April 2007. [ [http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070212005656&newsLang=en Pinnacle Foods acquired by Blackstone] ]

Brands

* Armour (acquired from Dial Corporation)
* Aunt Jemima (name under license from Quaker Oats) frozen breakfast foods
* Celeste
* Chef's Choice
* Duncan Hines (acquired from Procter and Gamble in 1997)
* Lender's Bagels
* Log Cabin Syrup (acquired from Kraft Foods)
* Mrs. Butterworth's (acquired from Unilever)
* Mrs. Paul's
* Open Pit
* Swanson and Hungry-Man frozen TV dinners (acquired from Campbell Soup Company)
* Van de Kamp's
* Vlasic

External links

* [http://www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com/ Pinnacle Foods]

References