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Birds Eye is an American international brand of
frozen food Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
s owned by
Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American Fast-moving consumer goods, consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in ...
in the United States, by
Nomad Foods Nomad Foods is an American-British frozen foods company, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The company's jurisdiction of incorporation is the British Virgin Islands. In 2015, Nomad acquired the Iglo Group. Five countries – the UK, Ita ...
in Europe, and
Simplot The J. R. Simplot Company (commonly referred to as Simplot) is an agribusiness company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. History Simplot was founded in 1929 by 20-year-old John Richard Simplot near the agricultural community of Declo in south ...
in Australia. The former Birds Eye Company Ltd., originally named "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." had been established in the United States by
Clarence Birdseye Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during h ...
in 1922 to market frozen fish, being then acquired by the
Postum Cereal Company Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...
in 1929. The company was then owned by other firms such as
Dean Foods Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company maintained plants and distributors in the United States. Dean Foods had 66 manufacturing faciliti ...
and
Pinnacle Foods 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. History The company was fou ...
, which was eventually taken over by
Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American Fast-moving consumer goods, consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in ...
in 2018. Since then, Conagra has been managing rights to the Birds Eye brand in the U.S.


History and production


United States

In the early 1900s, during his travels through what is now Northern Canada,
Clarence Birdseye Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during h ...
of Montclair, New Jersey, saw the Inuit use ice, wind, and temperature to instantly freeze freshly-caught fish. His curiosity piqued, and Clarence wondered if this method, called flash freezing, could also be applied to other foods. This 1920s hunting trip to Canada inspired Birdseye's food preserving method. Birdseye conducted experiments and received patents for the development of greatly improved methods to freeze fish for commercial production. In 1922, he formed "Birdseye Seafood, Inc.", to freeze fish fillets with chilled air at . In 1924, he developed an entirely new process for commercially viable quick-freezing: packing fish in cartons, then freezing the contents between two refrigerated surfaces under pressure. Birdseye created the "General Seafood Corporation", to promote this method. In 1929, Birdseye sold his company and patents for $22 million to Goldman Sachs and the
Postum Cereal Company Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...
, which eventually established a new business,
General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...
, and which founded the "Birds Eye Frozen Food Company". Birdseye continued to work with the company, further developing frozen food technology. After being acquired by the Philip Morris Companies, General Foods then merged into
Kraft Foods Inc. Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell H ...
in 1990. Birds Eye was sold to
Dean Foods Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company maintained plants and distributors in the United States. Dean Foods had 66 manufacturing faciliti ...
in 1993 and was independently owned by Birds Eye Foods of
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
until it was purchased by
Pinnacle Foods 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. History The company was fou ...
in 2009. In March 2010, Pinnacle announced it would be closing the Rochester headquarters and moving operations to New Jersey. Pinnacle Foods was then acquired by
Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American Fast-moving consumer goods, consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in ...
in June 2018, with Birds Eye becoming part of its brand portfolio.


Europe

The Birds Eye brand is used extensively throughout the UK and Ireland. In other parts of Europe the
Iglo Iglo is a frozen food brand based in the United Kingdom, with products sold across the European continent. It is owned by Nomad Foods Europe, which also owns the rights to the Birds Eye brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Findus across E ...
brand is used. Birds Eye also operated a factory in
Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...
, founded 1929, mass producing a range of fish and vegetable based frozen foods, moving to Unilever's Ladysmith Road site for the mass production of fish fingers in 1955, this factory closed 2005, with the loss of 650 jobs. The
fish finger Fish fingers (British English) or fish sticks (American English) are a processed food made using a whitefish, such as cod, hake, haddock, shark or pollock, which has been battered or breaded. They are commonly available in the frozen food ...
became the company's staple product, was developed in 1955 at its factory in
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
, by H A J Scott, and test marketed in the south of England before mass production began. One of the company's main UK pea processing sites is in
Gipsyville Gipsyville is a western suburb of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Gipsyville was established at the beginning of the 20th century as a housing and factory development and derives its name from a black lead prod ...
, Hull; the company formerly operated a large pea processing factory in the same area, opened 1967, closed 2007. On 9 February 2006,
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
announced it was looking to sell the UK Birds Eye brand, as well as the European version – Iglo (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal). These brands were worth £836M in sales, with profits of £115M a year, and employed 3,500 staff across Europe with 1,800 located in the UK. On 28 August 2006, it was confirmed that Unilever had agreed to the sale of the UK brand, held since the late 1930s, to private equity house
Permira Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Ser ...
for £1.2bn."Birds Eye brands sold for £1.1bn"
BBC News, 28 August 2006


Oceania

The Birds Eye brand in Australia and New Zealand is owned by Simplot Australia Pty Ltd,Our brands
on Simplot website (1 Aug 2021)
a wholly owned subsidiary of the
J.R. Simplot Company The J. R. Simplot Company (commonly referred to as Simplot) is an agribusiness company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. History Simplot was founded in 1929 by 20-year-old John Richard Simplot near the agricultural community of Declo in south ...
. Simplot purchased Birds Eye and many of Australia's leading food brands from Pacific Dunlop's
Pacific Brands Pacific Brands was an Australian consumer products company. On Tuesday, 28 June 2016, the company suspended trading on the ASX in order to be acquired by Hanesbrands. Corporate changes/details were to be announced thereafter. This acquisiti ...
in the mid-1990s. In 2015, Birds Eye was awarded by ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' as ‘"Australia’s Most Trusted Frozen Food Brand". Birds Eye products are produced at the company's processing facilities in Devonport, Ulverstone, Tasmania, and Bathurst, New South Wales, as well as from imported ingredients. Some seafood items are processed overseas and the completed product imported.


Brands portfolio

Birds Eye has acquired many well-established brands, some of which are distributed regionally and not nationally. The following brands are owned and distributed by Birds Eye:Birds Eye Foods: Brands
* Bernstein's * Brooks * Comstock Wilderness * C&W * Freshlike * Greenwood * Husman's * McKenzie's * Nalley * Riviera * Snyder of Berlin, potato chip maker based near
Berlin, Pennsylvania Berlin, a borough located approximately 75 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,004 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The to ...
(which had been split off from pretzel manufacturer
Snyder's of Hanover Snyder's of Hanover is an American bakery and pretzel brand distribution company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, specializing in German traditional pretzels. Its products are sold throughout the United States, Canada, many European nations, Asia, ...
in
Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...
in 1950) * Steamfresh * Tim's Cascade Snacks * Voila


Advertising


Captain Birdseye (United Kingdom)

In the United Kingdom,
Captain Birdseye Captain Birdseye, also known as Captain Iglo, is the advertising mascot for the Birds Eye (known as Iglo in parts of Europe) frozen food brand founded by Clarence Birdseye. Appearing in numerous television and billboard commercials, he has been pla ...
was an advertising
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
of the brand, from the 1960s to late 1990s. Appearing in numerous
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and
billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
commercials since 1967, he was played by the actor
John Hewer John Hewer (13 January 1922 – 16 March 2008) was an English actor and business manager who became familiar with audiences for playing Captain Birdseye in ads for Birds Eye. Biography Hewer was born in Leyton, Essex, the son of an engine ...
between then and 1998 e.g. in 1986 advert for Birdsye Fish Fingers. After the retirement of the original actor, the brand was relaunched with a younger man with designer stubble (played by Thomas Pescod), but was less popular, and the character was dropped from Birdeye's advertising. A 2014 redesign of the brand's packaging includes artwork resembling the original Captain Bird's Eye.


Other British advertising

Child actress
Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bird ...
appeared in an early 1970s advert for frozen peas. This featured a jingle including the slogan "Sweet as the moment when the pod went 'pop'" but as years went on they reverted to a jingle "Come Home To Birds Eye Country" – a series of adverts from the late 1960s to in or around the late 1980s to early 1990s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s,
June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress. Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
appeared in a series of television advertisements for Birds Eye products, featuring the concluding voice-over line: "... it can make a dishonest woman of you!". The series was the brainchild of advertising art director Vernon Howe and was mentioned in several of his obituaries. Advertising campaigns of the 1980s included one for
Potato waffle Potato waffles are a potato-based savoury dish in a waffle shape. They are common in the United Kingdom and Ireland and are also available in some other countries, including Australia, Canada and United States. They are made of potato, oil, a ...
s that had a jingle including the words ''Waffley versatile''. A popular advertisement for Birds Eye Steakhouse Grills featured a scene of hungry building site workers heading home in a
minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
and singing about what they were hoping their wives would serve with their steak burgers. The song to the tune of ''
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is a song written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was first published in 1955. Doris Day introduced it in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), singing it as ...
'' included the tag line "we hope it's chips".Steakhouse Grills Advert at Do you Remember
Retrieved 17 July 2014


2013 European meat adulteration scandal

In 2013, DNA tests revealed that
horsemeat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existen ...
was present in Birds Eye
chili con carne Chili con carne (also spelled chilli con carne or chile con carne and shortened to chili or chilli; ), meaning " chili with meat", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers (sometimes in the form of chili powder), meat (usually beef), tomatoes an ...
that was sold in Belgium and was produced and supplied by a Belgian group named Frigilunch. As a result, Birds Eye withdrew all other products produced by the same supplier in the UK and Ireland.


References


External links

* {{Post Holdings Food manufacturers of the United States Frozen food brands Companies based in Monroe County, New York American companies established in 1923 Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey Food and drink companies established in 1923 1923 establishments in New York (state) Private equity portfolio companies Pinnacle Foods brands 2009 mergers and acquisitions Former Unilever brands