Company type | Limited liability company |
---|---|
Industry | Food |
Founded | 1846 Derry, New Hampshire, United States |
Founder | Harvey Perley Hood |
Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | United States and International Locations |
Key people | Gary Kaneb, President |
Products | Dairy |
Revenue | $3.5 billion |
Owner | The Kaneb Family |
Number of employees | More than 3,400 |
Subsidiaries | see list of brands below |
Website | hphood |
HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 [1] in Derry, New Hampshire, by Harvey Perley Hood. After two years in Derry, Hood took his milk south and established a factory in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New England to the broader United States. Today, the company has annual sales revenue of about $3.2 billion and more than 3,400 employees.
From 1980 to 1995, HP Hood was owned by Agway. That year, the company was acquired by the Kaneb Family. [2] [3] HP Hood is an independently owned, private company and is listed at #216 on the Forbes "America's Largest Private Companies 2018" list. [4]
In 1984, HP Hood was the first dairy to bring Lactaid-branded milk to the New England market; [5] entrepreneur Alan Kligerman had introduced the Lactaid brand of lactase dietary supplements in 1977 [6] and then started to license the brand to dairies in 1982. [7] In 1987, HP Hood, which had always been focused on New England, went nationwide for the first time with a low-fat ice milk product, Hood Light. [5]
In early 1991, Kligerman licensed the Lactaid brand to Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil, which launched a massive advertising campaign that turned Lactaid into J&J's fastest-growing brand of the 1990s. [6] That same year, under McNeil's supervision of the brand, HP Hood became the official supplier of Lactaid milk for the East Coast of the United States. [8]
In 2001, HP Hood renegotiated its contract with McNeil and became the official supplier of Lactaid milk for the entire United States market. [8] By 2004, Lactaid was the No. 1 national brand of milk in the United States. [9]
In 2004, the company acquired Crowley Foods, based in Binghamton, New York; and Kemps, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2007, HP Hood acquired Crystal Cream and Butter Company, [10] based in Sacramento, California, but then sold it that same year to Foster Farms Dairy. In 2008, they acquired the ice cream business of Brigham's Ice Cream, [11] based in Arlington, Massachusetts. These acquisitions effectively expanded the company's reach from New England and New York to the broader United States.
In 2017, the company purchased a former Muller Quaker plant in Batavia, New York. [12] In 2022, the company purchased land in Greenville, Texas, [13] and has plans to expand capacity.
HP Hood and the logo is a well known New England company. The smoke stack marked "Hoods Milk" at their former facility near Sullivan Square, Charlestown remains a landmark. The 20-acre facility is being redeveloped as a mixed residential-commercial campus called the "Hood Park". [18] [19]
The company ran a highway safety campaign called Hood Samaritan (see Good Samaritan) circa 1960, that was later taken over [20] by the CVS Pharmacy chain.
At Boston Children's Museum, the outdoor ice cream stand takes the form of a large Hood Milk Bottle. The Hood blimp often appears at sport and cultural events (most often Red Sox home games above Boston, and the Eastern States Exposition in October). The Hood blimp made news on September 26, 2006 when it crashed in a wooded area near Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. [21]
The Hoodsie cup, a small cardboard cup of ice cream, is an iconic product; [22] the term "Hoodsie" is occasionally cited as a shibboleth of the Boston-area dialect. [23]
A United States Supreme Court case, H.P. Hood & Sons v. Du Mond , was decided in the Hood Company's favor, in which the State of New York was prevented from withholding a license to acquire milk produced in New York, and sold in Massachusetts, based on the dormant commerce clause limitations on state intervention in interstate commerce.
The company and their logo served as somewhat of an inspiration to the popular Phish tune "Harry Hood". [24] [25]
Frozen yogurt is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but contains live bacterial cultures.
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Brigham's Ice Cream is a brand of ice cream and formerly a restaurant franchise. Brigham's is sold in quart containers throughout New England, and was served at franchised restaurants located in Massachusetts until 2013. It was founded in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts. Since the purchase by HP Hood, its offices are located at Kimball Lane, Lynnfield, Massachusetts. The company maintains a strong regional identity, using regional terms such as "wicked" (extremely) and "frappe", and makes reference to events with special significance to New Englanders, such as the Big Dig and the 2004 World Series. At one time, there were 100 Brigham's restaurant locations; the last was in Arlington, Massachusetts, and changed its name in August 2015. The ice cream is currently owned and manufactured by Hood.
Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. The company's products included milk, ice cream, dairy products, cheese, juice, and teas. It processed milk in the United States under a number of regional and national brands. Founded in 1925, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019, and its assets were acquired by several buyers in 2020.
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Dairy Farmers of America Inc. (DFA) is a national milk marketing cooperative in the United States. DFA markets members' raw milk and sells milk and derivative products to wholesale buyers both domestically and abroad. Net sales in 2016 were $13.5 billion, representing about 22 percent of raw milk production in the United States.
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Crowley Foods is an American dairy company formerly based in Binghamton, New York. It has been a subsidiary of HP Hood LLC since being purchased by the company in 2004, which is headquartered in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Products provided by the company include milk, half and half, cream, cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt. The original plant located on Conklin Avenue in Binghamton manufactured these dairy products until the acquisition by HP Hood, when certain Crowley Foods items began to be made at facilities elsewhere which were better equipped. Production at the plant ceased altogether in 2012, but the warehouse and distribution center continued to be used until 2014.
Kemps is an American dairy company located in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It has been a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America since being purchased in 2011 from HP Hood LLC. Dairy Farmers of America is based in Kansas City, Missouri, but Kemps continues to be headquartered in St. Louis Park. Products provided by the company include milk, cottage cheese, half and half, egg nog, cream, juices, sour cream, chip dips, ice cream, yogurt and novelties. Most of these products are sold at grocery stores throughout the midwestern United States, but some are available in other parts of the country as well. Kemps currently operates five manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.