Pillsbury Bakery

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Pillsbury is a brand name used by Minneapolis-based General Mills and the The J. M. Smucker Company. Historically, however, Pillsbury was a rival company to General Mills, also based in Minneapolis, that was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until its acquisition by General Mills in 2000. Antitrust regulations required General Mills to sell off some of the products. General Mills kept the rights to refrigerated and frozen Pillsbury products, while dry baking products and frosting are now are sold by Smucker under license. The Pillsbury brand might have disappeared if not for the iconic Pillsbury Doughboy.

C.A. Pillsbury and Company was founded in 1872 by Charles Alfred Pillsbury and his uncle John Sargent Pillsbury. The company was the first in the United States to use steam rollers for processing grain. The finished product required transportation, so the Pillsburys assisted in funding railroad development in Minnesota.

In 1889, Pillsbury and its five mills on the banks of the Mississippi River were purchased by a British company. The company also tried to purchase and merge with the Washburn Crosby Company (a precursor of General Mills), but the strong rivalry prevented any merger from happening at the time. The Pillsbury family reacquired the company in 1923. The early 1950s brought the acquisition of Ballard & Ballard Company and the beginning of prepackaged biscuit dough. Later acquisitions included restaurants Burger King, Godfathers Pizza and popular food brand Green Giant. In 1989, the British company Grand Metropolitan purchased the food maker, and during this ownership period the company divested itself of all production and distribution facilities (contracting these functions to other companies), making itself simply a marketing entity for its own brands (Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old el Paso, Totino's, etc). A decade later, the old rivals merged. However, the baking products division was sold to International Multifoods Corporation, which was later acquired by Smucker's. Pillsbury sold both of their restaurant brands and exited that business completely by the late 90's.

The Pillsbury "A" Mill and neighboring Phoenix Mill in the early 1900s

The Pillsbury "A" Mill in 2006

Pillsbury once claimed to have the largest grain mill in the world at the Pillsbury "A" Mill overlooking Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. The building had two of the most powerful direct-drive waterwheels ever built, each putting out 1200 horsepower (895 kW). There are now plans to convert it into a loft-style apartment building. The Cunningham Group plans to convert six historic buildings to a mixed-use project varying from 6 to 27 floors in height. The project will include 895 units of housing and 175,000 square feet of commercial space, including the Pillsbury "A" Mill.[1]

The Pillsbury Doughboy, created by advertising agency Leo Burnett, was first used by the company for product endorsement during the 1970s and early 1980s. It provided the inspiration for the Stay-Puft monster in the Ghostbusters movie. It is still being used to this day.