General Foods Corporation was a company established under that name by Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1929. It was previously known as Postum Cereal Company.
Timeline of selected events
- 1953 - General Foods acquired Perkins Products Company , maker of Kool-Aid.
- 1957 - The company introduced Tang, which became available nationally two years later.
- 1964 - General Foods introduced Maxim , the first American brand of freeze-dried coffee.
- 1971 - General Foods acquired the maker of Gevalia .
- 1981 - General Foods acquired Oscar Mayer & Company.
- 1985 - General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris for $5.6 billion, the largest non-oil acquisition ever; four years later (1989), after the even larger acquisition of Kraft Foods, Philip Morris combines the two into a company called Kraft General Foods .
- 1995 - Kraft General Foods became Kraft Foods, and General Foods became a brand.
