 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Founder | Leo Hulseman |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | Disposable cups |
| Parent | Dart Container |
| Website | solocup.com |
Solo Cup Company is an American manufacturer of disposable consumer products including beverage cups, disposable plates, and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. On May 4, 2012, Solo Cup Company was acquired by Dart Container. [1] [2] [3]
Leo Hulseman, a former employee of the Dixie Co. in the 1930s, created the "Solo Cup", a paper cone he made at his home and sold to bottled-water companies. Later the company developed other products, like wax-coated cups and the plastic Cozy Cup. The wax-coated cups were added to its lineup in the 1950s, as fountain sodas gained popularity.[ citation needed ]
Leo Hulseman founded the Solo Cup Company in 1936, The company was originally incorporated in 1955 under the name Hulseman Paper Corporation.
In the 1970s, Hulseman's son, Robert Leo Hulseman, came up with the now-ubiquitous (in the United States), red Solo cup. The red Solo cups are made of thick, molded polystyrene. They are known for being able to withstand drops, easily stackable, and disposable while price accessible. Their characteristic red color may conceal the drinking contents. [5]
On June 30, 1980, SOLCO, Inc. and RM LEASING CORPORATION merged into Solo Cup Company.
On March 1, 2004, Solo acquired Sweetheart Cup Company for $917.2 million, in part with public debt. Sweetheart was founded by Joseph Shapiro and his four brothers, emigrants from Russia. It became the largest consumer packaging company in the world and was sold several times before being acquired by Solo Cup. Following the acquisition, Solo Cup's finances suffered, and Standard & Poor's lowered their credit rating from B to CCC+. [6] In late 2006, Solo Cup was reported to be $1.1 billion in debt. [7]
In 2005, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City added a Solo Cup Traveler's Lid to its permanent collection. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] The lid was featured because it symbolized innovation and progress in basic product design. [13] [11] [14] [15]
Solo Cup Company closed its longstanding facility in Highland Park, Illinois, in December 2009 and relocated to Lake Forest, Illinois.
On May 4, 2012, Solo Cup Company was acquired by Dart Container. [1]
Leo Hulseman (1898–1989) was an active polo player. His wife, Dorothy Donahoe Hulseman (1900–1988), better known by her stage name Dora Hall, was a singer whose records were given away free of charge through Solo promotions. She began her recording career in 1962, at the age of 62, and her various recordings were in a contemporary pop mode. At least one early record ("Hello Faithless", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and arranged by Don Ralke) charted on various radio stations in the US, Canada, and the UK, [16] although it failed to make the national charts in any country.
Leo Hulseman was also the founder and owner of Premore Inc. Premore was a television production company on the Culver Studios lot for many years in the 1970s and 1980s, and later moved to North Hollywood. [17] Premore produced children's TV shows including Tony the Pony (like the later Barney & Friends ) and The Cliffwood Avenue Kids (like Our Gang ). [18] Other programs produced at the Premore facilities included Greystone's The Real West and Candid Camera .[ citation needed ] Premore's television studio stage, remote truck, and post production were used for Dora Hall's shows and rented for television specials and sports. Dora Hall was most noted for and seen on the Dora Hall TV Show (1979), and she played Rose On Broadway with Frank Sinatra Jr., Donald O'Connor and Scatman Crothers. She also had a TV special called "Once Upon a Tour". Her songs are found on the Premore, Reinbeau, and Cozy Records labels. [19] Premore Inc. was closed in 1993, four years after the death of Leo Hulseman.
Robert Leo Hulseman, son of the founder Leo Hulseman and the creator of the iconic red solo cup, served as president. Hulseman died December 21, 2016. [2] [3]
Current CEO Robert M. Korzenski took over from Robert Hulseman in August 2006. Korzenski had worked for Sweetheart Cups for over 10 years. [7]
Solo Cup customers include Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Così, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Publix, and Tim Hortons, as well as many universities.
The red plastic cups are notably used in American college and university games such as beer pong and flip cup. [20] [21] This usage is referenced in Toby Keith's 2011 country music song "Red Solo Cup". [22] The red party cup outsells the blue variety by a wide margin. [21] In part because of its cultural significance, many other manufacturers now produce similar looking red cups. The company is also known for its Jazz cup design, acquired through Sweetheart and sometimes known as "Solo Jazz". [23]
There is a widely held belief, especially prevalent on the internet, [24] that the horizontal rings on a traditional 16 ounce (originally 18 ounce) Solo cup are intended to represent the standard volume for various alcoholic drinks. Specifically, indentations at approximately 1, 5, and 12 ounce levels are believed to denote recommended pours for hard liquor, wine, and beer, respectively. However, Solo refutes this claim, stating that the markings are open to interpretation and noting that many of their cup designs do not have these specific indented rings. [25] Additionally, Dart Container Corporation emphasizes the functionality of the lines in physical performance of the cups over unintended coincidental measurement lines. [26]
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle's Pike Place Market initially as a coffee bean wholesaler. Starbucks was converted into a coffee shop serving espresso-based drinks under the ownership of Howard Schultz, who was chief executive officer from 1986 to 2000 and led the aggressive expansion of the franchise across the West Coast of the United States.
A drink can is a metal container with a polymer interior designed to hold a fixed portion of liquid such as carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, fruit juices, teas, herbal teas, energy drinks, etc. Drink cans exteriors are made of aluminum or tin-plated steel and the interiors coated with an epoxy resin or polymer. Worldwide production for all drink cans is approximately 370 billion cans per year.
Sweetheart Cup Company was a North American company that made paper cups, plastic cups and related products. In 2004, Sweetheart was acquired by the Solo Cup Company, which itself was acquired by Dart Container on May 4, 2012.
A drinking straw is a utensil that is intended to carry the contents of a beverage to one's mouth. Disposable straws are commonly made from plastics. However, environmental concerns related to plastic pollution and new regulation have led to rise in reusable and biodegradable straws. Following a rise in regulation and public concern, some companies have even voluntarily banned or reduced the number of plastic straws used. Alternative straws are often made of reusable materials like silicone or metal or alternative disposable and biodegradable materials like paper, cardboard, pasta, or bamboo.
A coffee cup is a cup for serving coffee and coffee-based drinks. There are three major types: conventional cups used with saucers, mugs used without saucers, and disposable cups. Cups and mugs generally have a handle. Disposable paper cups used for take-out sometimes have fold-out handles, but are more often used with an insulating coffee cup sleeve.
Fabri-Kal is a United States company. It is a provider of plastic foodservice and custom thermoformed packaging. Products include consumer and foodservice products including plastic cups, containers and lids. It is privately owned. It is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Fabri-Kal specializes in materials including PP, PET, PCR-PET, HDPE, PLA, renewable agricultural pulp and HIPS.
The Anthora is a design for a disposable paper cup for coffee that has become iconic of New York City daily life.
An open-container law is a law which regulates or prohibits drinking alcohol in public by limiting the existence of open alcoholic beverage containers in certain areas, as well as the active consumption of alcohol in those areas. "Public places" in this context refers to openly public places such as sidewalks, parks and vehicles. It does not include nominally private spaces which are open to the public, such as bars, restaurants and stadiums.
A disposable is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months to distinguish from similar products that last indefinitely. The word "disposables" is not to be confused with the word "consumables", which is widely used in the mechanical world. For example, welders consider welding rods, tips, nozzles, gas, etc. to be "consumables", as they last only a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced. Consumables are needed for a process to take place, such as inks for printing and welding rods for welding, while disposable products are items that can be discarded after they become damaged or are no longer useful.
A paper cup is a disposable cup made out of paper and often lined or coated with plastic or wax to prevent liquid from leaking out or soaking through the paper. It may be made of recycled paper.
Keurig is a beverage brewing system for home and commercial use. The American company Keurig Dr Pepper manufactures the machines. The main Keurig products are K-Cup pods, which are single-serve coffee containers; other beverage pods; and the proprietary machines that use these pods to make beverages.
Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless, Reign and Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southern California, originally selling juice products. The company renamed itself as Monster Beverage in 2012.
Dart Container Corporation is an American manufacturer of disposable food containers. Based in Mason, Michigan, Dart is the world's largest manufacturer of foam cups and containers, producing about as many as all competitors combined. Dart Container is privately held by the Dart family.
A plastic cup is a cup made out of plastic, commonly used as a container to hold beverages. Some are reusable while others are intended for a single use followed by recycling or disposal.
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. Single-serve coffee containers come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
A foam food container is a form of disposable food packaging for various foods and beverages, such as processed instant noodles, raw meat from supermarkets, ice cream from ice cream parlors, cooked food from delicatessens or food stalls, or beverages like "coffee to go". They are also commonly used to serve takeout food from restaurants, and are also available by request for diners who wish to take home the remainder of their meal. The foam is a good thermal insulator, making the container easy to carry as well as keeping the food at the temperature it had when filled into the container, whether hot or cold.
Disposable food packaging comprises disposable products often found in fast-food restaurants, take-out restaurants and catering establishments. Typical products are foam food containers, plates, bowls, cups, utensils, doilies and tray papers. These products can be made from a number of materials including plastics, paper, bioresins, wood and bamboo.
The Paper Company is a European consumer products manufacturing organisation based in Clitheroe, Lancashire, United Kingdom. The company specialises in the printing and distribution of disposable paper cups operating out of its European manufacturing facility in Lancashire, England and Ningbo, Zhejiang, China.
A disposable cup is a type of tableware and disposable food packaging. Disposable cup types include paper cups, plastic cups and foam cups. Expanded polystyrene is used to manufacture foam cups, and polypropylene is used to manufacture plastic cups.
Robert Leo Hulseman was an American businessman and entrepreneur who was best known as the inventor of the red solo cup, which is produced by his family's company, Solo Cup Company. He also co-designed the Traveler Lid, which prevents foam from hot beverages such as lattes and cappuccinos from touching the drinker's nose, now widely used by Starbucks and other brands. Hulseman joined the staff of the Solo Cup Company, which had been founded in 1936 by his father Leo Hulseman, when he was 18 years old. Hulseman spent more than 60 years at the Solo Cup Company, including as the company's President and CEO from 1980 until 2006.
