General Mills
of Bilton House Uxbridge Road London W.5; Port Causeway, Bromborough, Cheshire
British subsidiary of an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores.
1928 General Mills was formed by the merger of Washburn-Crosby mill with other flour mills in the USA.
1921 Invented Betty Crocker as a personality to answer letters from consumers.
1931 Bisquick was developed and quickly became an American staple foodstuff.
1941 Cheerioats was launched; the name was changed to Cheerios in 1945
1953 Developed the Ryan flight recorder, a precursor to the black box for aircraft, in partnership with the University of Minnesota
1959 Acquired Latham Foods Limited; formed General Mills Ltd as a subsidiary
1963 'General Mills Incorporated of Minneapolis, Minnesota announced last night that English subsidiary General Mills Ltd would discontinue manufacturing and marketing products in England. '[1]
1967 Acquired Smiths Food Group
1968 Acquired Palitoy
1970 General Mills continued to expand into the restaurant industry with the purchase of Red Lobster
1976 Following the success of Nature Valley cereal, Nature Valley granola bars were launched
1978 Sold Smiths Food Group to ABM[2]
1981 General Mills, whose interests include Palitoy, bought Airfix Products from the Receiver apart from Airfix model kits.[3]
1983 The Pillsbury Co purchased Häagen-Dazs
1984 "The General Mills Toy Group is the world's foremost designer, manufacturer and marketer of toys, our companies include Kenner, Parker Brothers and Palitoy." [4]
1999 Acquired Small Planet Foods, bringing Muir Glen and Cascadian Farm into the company, setting General Mills on the path to becoming one of the largest producers of natural and organic foods in North America
2001 Acquired the Pillsbury Co, the most significant event in the company’s history since its founding.
2024 General Mills Ltd had 280 UK employees; brands included Old El Paso, Haagen-Dazs, Nature Valley Breakfast cereals - Cheerios, Sugar O's, Cracka-Jacks, Starkels
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] History