Rosella (brand)

Last updated

Rosella
Company type Subsidiary
Founded1895;129 years ago (1895)
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsSoups, Sauces, Condiments
Parent Sabrands Australia
Website rosella.com.au

Rosella is a brand of tomato soup, tomato sauces, pickled vegetables, and condiments, [1] founded in Australia in 1895 as the Rosella Preserving & Manufacturing Co. Rosella has had a number of owners since, including a 40-year period where it was owned by Unilever. The current owner is Sabrands Australia, which acquired the brand in April 2013. [2]

Contents

It is named after the Australian parrot of the same name, which forms part of its logo.

History

The Rosella brand began in 1895 when founders H.R. McCracken (a commission agent) and T.J. Press (a grocer) [3] started making jams and preserving fruits in a backyard in Carlton, Victoria. [4] With the financial backing of Frederick John Cato (of grocery chain Moran & Cato) the company opened a small factory in Flinders Street, Melbourne before the Rosella Preserving Company opened its Richmond, Victoria, factory in 1905. [3]

Rosella soon gained a reputation for their tomato sauce, which was first produced in 1899 and which has since become one of Australia's best known food brands, although the company also produces soup and tomato chutney. [5] [6] The company grew from its initial staff of six and by 1931 had over 1000 employees spread across six factories. [6] [7]

Ownership history

In 1963 Rosella was taken over by Lever & Kitchen, later to be known as Unilever [8] and it remained under their ownership for most of the next four decades. In 2002 the company returned to Australian ownership under Stuart Alexander & Co Pty Ltd, who purchased the brand under a deal with Unilever. [6] Under the agreement, Unilever would retain ownership of the Rosella factory for five years, and during that period would continue to produce the Rosella products under contract to Stuart Alexander. [6] [9] Stuart Alexander retained ownership of Rosella until 2006, when the Rosella brand was sold once more. [10]

In December 2012, the then current owner of Rosella, Gourmet Food Holdings (who also owned Waterwheel & Pitango), was placed into receivership. [11] After unsuccessful attempts to sell the company it was announced in early March 2013 that the company would be closed down and that the receivers were looking at selling the Rosella brand to a new owner. [12]

In April 2013, Sabrands Australia, [4] a private family company and the company behind Sunraysia fruit juice, purchased the Rosella brand and is manufacturing its soups, chutneys and relishes in Adelaide, South Australia and its condiments in Silvan, Victoria. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinz</span> American food processing company known for its ketchup and condiments

The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz, is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures food products in plants on six continents, and markets these products in more than 200 countries and territories. The company claims to have 150 number-one or number-two brands worldwide. Heinz ranked first in ketchup in the US with a market share in excess of 50%; the Ore-Ida label held 46% of the frozen potato sector in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chutney</span> South Asian condiments made of spices, vegetables, and fruit

A chutney is a spread typically associated with cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt, or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion, or mint dipping sauce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HP Sauce</span> British sauce made with tamarind

HP Sauce is a British brown sauce, the main ingredients of which are tomatoes and tamarind extract. It was named after London's Houses of Parliament. After making its first appearance on British dinner tables in the late 19th century, HP Sauce went on to become an icon of British culture. It was the best-selling brand of brown sauce in the UK in 2005, with 73.8% of the retail market. The sauce was originally produced in the United Kingdom, but is now made by Heinz in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relish</span> Cooked, pickled, or chopped vegetable or fruit used as a condiment

A relish is a cooked and pickled culinary dish made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs, typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with hot dogs. In North America, the word "relish" is frequently used to describe a single variety of finely chopped pickled cucumber relish, such as pickle, dill and sweet relishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colman's</span> English condiment manufacturer

Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited range of products, almost all being varieties of mustard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knorr (brand)</span> German food and beverage brand owned by the British company Unilever

Knorr is a food and beverage brand based in Heilbronn, Germany and founded in 1838. It has been owned by the British company Unilever since 2000, when Unilever acquired Best Foods, excluding Japan, where it is made under license by Ajinomoto. It produces dehydrated soup and meal mixes, bouillon cubes and condiments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosse & Blackwell</span> British food brand

Crosse & Blackwell is an English food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss conglomerate Nestlé in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragú</span> Brand name for sauce products

Ragú is an American brand of Italian-style sauces and condiments owned, in North America, by Mizkan and in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Symington's, a private-label food manufacturer.

Batchelors is a popular brand of predominantly dried food products. The Batchelors company was founded in 1895 in Sheffield, England by William Batchelor, initially specialising in canned vegetables. It released its first dried soup in 1949, and it started selling its convenience Cup-a-Soup range in 1972. The company now makes pasta and rice dishes like Pasta 'n' Sauce and Super Rice along with instant soup, in particular Cup-a-Soup and noodle products such as Super Noodles. The company is the UK market leader in dried soups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chili sauce and paste</span> Condiment prepared with chili peppers

Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baxters</span> Scottish food manufacturer

Baxters Food Group Limited, also known as Baxters of Speyside or Baxters, is a food processing company, based in Fochabers, Scotland. It produces foods such as canned soups, canned meat products, sour pickles, sauces, vinegars, antipasto, chutneys, fruit preserves and salad and meat condiments.

Rosella is a genus of broad-tailed parrots endemic to Australasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell's</span> American food manufacturer

The Campbell's Company is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. Through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become one of the largest processed food companies in the United States with a wide variety of products under its flagship Campbell's brand as well as other brands including Pepperidge Farm, Snyder's of Hanover, V8, and Swanson. With its namesake brand Campbell's produces soups and other canned foods, baked goods, beverages, and snacks. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coppola Foods</span>

Coppola Foods is an Italian food family owned company with a heritage dating back to 1903 in the production and supply of Italian food products.

Lackersteen & Co was a condiment importer in Sydney in 1857, and later became a jam and condiment manufacturer. When it was established by Augustus A. Lackersteen, the company initially simply imported curries, chutneys and preserves. It went bankrupt in 1870. It was later run by Lackersteen's son, Augustus Lacy Clive, and then changed focus from importing to production, they created tomato sauce, chutneys and preserves from local produce. Products including marmalade were made from harvested produce from their orchard in Gosford, which was later owned by Augustus Lacy's son, Archie Ernest Lackersteen. In 1879, Augustus Lacy claimed that they were the only preserver of bottled fruits in the colony.

References

  1. "Great Product Range". Rosella. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  2. "Our Story". Rosella. Archived from the original on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 "1895 Rosella Preserving Company founded". australianfoodtimeline.com.au. September 1890. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 Collier, Karen (14 August 2013). "Rosella tomato sauce back on shelves after Sabrands buys the historic Aussie brand". Herald Sun. News Ltd. Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  5. Symons, Michael, (2007). One Continuous Picnic: A Gastronomic History of Australian Eating, Melbourne University Publishing. ISBN   9780522853230. pp 116–117.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hudson, Phillip; Douez, Sophie. (16 August 2012). "Rosella returns to its source Archived 13 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine ", The Age , Melbourne, Australia. p5. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  7. "Rosella Preserving Company". Mail. The Mail Adelaide. 8 August 1931. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  8. Harper, Jane (24 June 2014). "Meet the rescue crews reviving great Australian brands, Rosella and White King". The Herald Sun. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  9. Dickins, Jim. (16 August 2002). "Rosella brand boomerangs back to Australian hands". The Courier-Mail , Brisbane, Australia. p3.
  10. "History Archived 9 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine ", Stuart Alexander & Co Pty Ltd. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  11. Rintoul, Stuart; Speedy, Blair. (4 December 2012). "Red alert on Aussie icons as Rosella flies into trouble Archived 4 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine ". The Australian . Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  12. "Iconic brand Rosella closes down Archived 1 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine ", Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  13. "FAQ". Rosella. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.