Kraft Foods
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| Kraft Foods Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: KFT) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1903 |
| Headquarters | Northfield, Illinois, USA |
| Key people | Irene Rosenfeld, CEO |
| Industry | Branded foods and beverages [1] |
| Products | See brands listing. |
| Revenue |  $34.356 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees | 94,000 (2005) |
| Website | www.kraft.com |
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in North America and the second largest in the world after Nestlé SA. The Philip Morris Company, a company that produces tobacco products; now known as Altria Group, acquired Kraft for $12.9 billion in 1988, eventually merging it with another food subsidiary, General Foods, which it had acquired in 1985. In 2000 Philip Morris acquired Nabisco and merged it with Kraft. Altria sold 280 million Kraft shares via an initial public offering in 2001, retaining an 88.1% stake. On January 31, 2007, after months of speculation, the company announced that these shares would be spun off to Altria shareholders on March 30, 2007.
Kraft is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, USA, a Chicago suburb. Kraft Foods markets many popular brands in more than 155 countries.
Kraft Foods is named after James L. Kraft.
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[edit] Diversity
Kraft received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine. In June 2006, Kraft appointed Irene Rosenfeld, a woman, to succeed Roger Deromedi as CEO.
[edit] Kraft Foods in the news
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In 1992, the gelatin industry, in particular Kraft's Atlantic Gelatin plant in Woburn, Massachusetts, which supplies the vast majority of Jell-O, came under scrutiny for a history of noxious smells, toxic waste releases into Boston Harbor, and a policy of corporate secrecy. Heading off a rash of local complaints, industry lobbyists invited Massachusetts state representatives Paul Casey and Carol Donovan into the plant. However, the representatives were barred from going past the conference room. Repeated requests for a plant tour by journalists were refused. In 1993 the plant was hit with a $250,000 fine for violating the Clean Air Act of 1970. In a February 4, 1996 article, the Associated Press reported that a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection official was one of only a few outsiders who had seen the inside of the Woburn plant.
In 2005, Kraft was sued for spamming its Gevalia coffee brand by Hypertouch, an ISP. Kraft was accused of sending multiple waves of spam to the ISP, and the action brought under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 act. At the time of writing, the suit had not yet been ruled upon.
Kraft began a major restructuring process in January 2004, following a year of poor sales, (blamed largely on the rising health consciousness of Americans), and the sacking of co-CEO Betsy Holden. The company announced closures of 19 production facilities worldwide and the reduction of 5500 jobs, as well as the sale of 10% of its branded products. It has since revealed that Kraft Foods expects to eliminate 8000 jobs, roughly 8% of its workforce.
Kraft Foods sold several brands after its Nabisco merger. It sold Lifesavers Co. to Wrigley, its certain Canada grocery items, particularly Del Monte and Aylmer to CanGro, its sugar confectionery business and its pet snacks business under the Milk-Bone brand to Del Monte Foods.
Kraft bought several brands parallel to its portfolio, like Boca Burger Co., which makes Boca meat alternatives, Fruit20, and Veryfine beverages.
Altria announced on January 31, 2007 that it will sell all the remaining Kraft Foods' shares to Altria's shareholders, each will be given 0.7 share of Kraft for every Altria share they have.
[edit] Sponsorships
Kraft Foods is an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and sponsors the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the LPGA tour.
[edit] Brands
Kraft Foods' core businesses are in beverage, cheese and dairy, snackfoods and confectionery, convenience foods and cereals.
Notable products produced by Kraft Foods are
- A1 Steak Sauce
- Africana Romania
- Ali Coffee
- Athenos mediterranean food products
- Baker's
- Boca Burger Vegetarian products
- Bonox
- Breakstone's or Knudsen's
- California Pizza Kitchen (Only products sold in grocery stores)
- Calumet baking powder
- Capri Sun (US)
- Carte Noire (Sold mainly in France)
- Charada (Peru)
- Cheese Nips
- Cheez Whiz
- Chips Ahoy!
- Claussen
- Clight
- Cool Whip
- Corn Nuts
- Coronita (Peru)
- Côte d'Or
- Country Time (Only powder drink mix)
- Cracker Barrel
- Crystal Light
- Daim
- Dairylea (UK)
- Del Monte beverage in Canada
- DiGiorno (Delissio in Canada)
- Easy Cheese
- Estrella Potato Chips (Sweden)
- Field (Peru)
- Fruit2o
- General Foods International coffee and other hot beverages
- Gevalia
- Grey Poupon
- Handi-Snacks
- Honey Maid
- Jack's
- Jacobs (sold mainly in Central Europe)
- Japp (Scandinavia)
- Jell-O gelatin
- Kaffee HAG
- Kenco (UK)
- Knox gelatin
- Knudsen (cottage cheese, sour cream)
- Kong Haakon (Norway)
- Kool-Aid
- Kraft Macaroni and cheese (known as Kraft Dinner in Canada, and includes Kraft Easymac)
- Kraft Mayo
- Kraft Peanut Butter
- Kraft Singles
- Kraft Salad Dressings
- Lacta
- Maarud Potato Chips (Norway)
- Marabou (Sweden)
- Maxwell House
- Milka
- Miracle Whip
- Miracoli
- Mostro (Peru)
- Nabisco (and their Canadian division Christie)
- Nabob (in Canada)
- Non-Stop (Scandinavia)
- O'boy (Scandinavia & Estonia)
- Oreo
- Oscar Mayer
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Philadelphia cream cheese
- Planters
- Poiana Romania
- Polly-O cheese
- Post Cereal and its many brands
- P'tit Québec
- Premium
- Pretzels
- Prince Polo
- Ritz
- Seven Seas
- Shake 'n Bake
- Snackabouts (Nabisco biscuits with Vegemite, Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese, or Cheddar Cheese)
- SnackWell's
- Starbucks (Only products sold in grocery stores)
- Stove Top stuffing
- Svoge (Bulgaria)
- Taco Bell (Only products sold in grocery stores)
- Tang
- Tassimo T-DISCS.
- Terry's chocolates
- Terry's Chocolate Orange
- Toblerone
- Tombstone
- Triscuit
- Twist
- Vegemite
- Velveeta
[edit] Former Brands
- Cream of Wheat sold to B&G Foods in 2007
- Cream of Rice sold to B&G Foods in 2007
- Minute Rice in 2006
- Milk-Bone (sold to Del Monte Foods in 2006)
- Del Monte, Aylmer, Coronation and other grocery products in Canada (sold to CanGro in 2005)
- Life Savers and Altoids (sold to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2005)
- Celestial Seasonings (Bought back by original owners in 1988)
- Koogle flavored peanut butter, discontinued
- Life Savers in Canada. (sold to Hershey's in 1987 then sold to Beta Brands in 1996 then sold to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2005)
- Farley's & Sathers now independent.
- Trolli (sold to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company and then to Farley's & Sathers)
- Cheddarie cheese spread, discontinued
- Breyers yogurt, sold to CoolBrands International
- Breyers ice cream, sold to Unilever in 1994.
