 | |
| Founded | 1942 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Frank Vlasic |
| Headquarters | Parsippany, New Jersey (Produced in Imlay City, Michigan) , |
| Products | Pickled cucumbers |
| Owner | Conagra Brands [1] |
| Website | vlasic |
Vlasic is an American brand of pickles that is currently owned by Conagra Brands. Since its introduction in 1942, it has become one of the most popular pickle brands in the United States.
Franjo "Frank" Vlašić, a Bosnian Croat, emigrated from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of Austria-Hungary, to Detroit, Michigan in 1912 and started a small creamery with savings from his factory job. His son Joseph acquired a milk route in 1922, which eventually grew into the state's largest dairy distributor. [2] In 1937, Vlasic was approached to distribute a home-style pickle, later marketing their fresh-packed pickle in glass jars. [3] Its first plant was built in Imlay City, Michigan. The business rapidly expanded in the post-war years, corresponding with growth in per capita pickle consumption. [4]
A child-bearing stork was introduced as a mascot in 1974, merging the stork baby mythology with the notion that pregnant women have an above average appetite for pickles. Vlasic marketed themselves as "the pickle pregnant women crave...after all, who's a better pickle expert?" The modern Vlasic Stork speaks in a style reminiscent of Groucho Marx and holds a pickle like a cigar. The original voice was Ron Masak, since replaced by Doug Preis.
Vlasic Pickles was sold to Campbell Soup Company in 1978. [5] It was spun off to Vlasic Foods International on March 30, 1998. [6] [7]
On April 13, 1999, the company introduced the Vlasic Hamburger Stackers, made from naturally grown but specially cultivated cucumbers sixteen inches (41 cm) long and over three inches (7.6 cm) in diameter, which enabled a single pickle chip to cover an entire hamburger. [8]
In early 2001, the company voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its pickle and barbecue sauce units were initially planned to be sold to H. J. Heinz. [7] By April of 2001, the company had backed out of the deal and was looking into other offers. [9]
Vlasic is owned by Pinnacle Foods, a subsidiary of Conagra Brands, since its name change in 2001. [10] The Vlasic Stork was shown in "Icons", a MasterCard commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 where he and many other famous advertising icons from food and cleaning equipment are shown having dinner together. [11]
On April 10, 2019 at the Conagra Brands Investor Day event, Tom McGough, Conagra Co-Chief Operating Officer, announced that Vlasic Pickle Chips, made from vacuum-fried pickles, were in development. [12]
The cucumbers used in Vlasic pickles are grown in Michigan, including the cities of Mount Pleasant and Kalamazoo, and processed at its plant in Imlay City, Michigan. [13]
Dill is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is native to North Africa, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula; it is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing brand and former company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of 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.
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis; condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing; and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.
Imlay City is a city in Lapeer County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,707 at the 2020 census.
HP Sauce is a brown sauce, originally British, 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.
A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item 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.
Heinz 57 is a synecdoche of the historical advertising slogan "57 Varieties" by the H. J. Heinz Company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It was developed from the marketing campaign that told consumers about the numerous products available from the Heinz company.
Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former Swanson Company was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner business is currently owned by Conagra Brands, while the broth business is currently owned by the Campbell Soup Company. TV dinner products currently sold under the brand include Swanson's Classics TV dinners and pot pies, and the current broth lineup includes chicken broth and beef broth.
Hunt's is the name of a brand of preserved tomato products owned by Conagra Brands. The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co., by Joseph and William Hunt. The brothers relocated to nearby Santa Rosa in 1890, and then to Hayward in 1895. This small canning operation grew rapidly, focused on canning the products of California's booming fruit and vegetable industries. By 1941, the plant shipped a hundred million cans of soup, fruits, vegetables, and juices annually.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) is a labor union representing migrant farm workers in the Midwestern United States and North Carolina.
Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018.
Kettle Foods, Inc. is an American manufacturer of potato chips, based in Salem, Oregon, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in Norwich, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest natural potato chip brand in the U.S.
Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The group owns many well-known brands, including Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Bird's Custard, Angel Delight, Homepride cooking sauces, Lyons, Sharwood's, Loyd Grossman sauces, Oxo, Bisto, Batchelors and Plantastic. Premier Foods also produce cakes under the Cadbury's name, using the brand under licence. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Claussen is an American brand of pickled cucumbers that is headquartered in Woodstock, Illinois, an exurb of Chicago. Unlike many other brands, Claussen pickles are uncooked and are typically located in the refrigerated section of grocery stores.
The Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however 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.
Robert Joseph Vlasic was an American business executive. He helped build Vlasic Pickles into one of the most popular pickle brands in the United States, controlling about a quarter of the market as of 1978.
