The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arranged by Heinz owners Berkshire Hathaway and

3G Capital 3G Capital is a Brazilian-American multibillion-dollar investment firm, founded in 2004 by Alex Behring, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Marcel Herrmann Telles and Roberto Thompson Motta. The firm is best known for implementing zero ...

, was completed on July 2, 2015, forming ''The Kraft Heinz Company'', the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.

History

Spinoff of Kraft Foods Group from Kraft Foods Inc.

In August 2011, Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies — a snack food company and a grocery company. On April 2, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it had filed a Form 10 Registration Statement to the SEC to split the company into two companies to serve the "North American grocery business". On October 1, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. spun off its North American grocery business to a new company called ''Kraft Foods Group'', Inc. The remainder of Kraft Foods Inc. was renamed

Mondelēz International, Inc. Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates i ...

, and was refocused as an international snack and confection company. Burt P. Flickinger III of Strategic Resource Group said the strategy "worked for Mondelez, but not for Kraft." On November 19, 2013, an arbitration ruling ordered Starbucks to pay Kraft Foods Inc. $2.7 billion because of an early contract termination. The money would go to Mondelēz International, Inc. In October 2013, Kraft announced that it would remove artificial dyes from three macaroni and cheese varieties made in kid-friendly shapes, but not its plain elbow-shaped Kraft Macaroni and Cheese product with "original flavor". This was in response to a petition by activist Vani Hari and blogger Lisa Leake who delivered a petition to the company to remove controversial synthetic dyes Yellow 5 (labeled as Tartrazine) and Yellow 6 from its signature macaroni and cheese products.

Kraft and Heinz merger

On March 25, 2015, Kraft Foods Group Inc. announced that it would merge with the H.J. Heinz Company, owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Kraft's shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading after the announcement of the deal, which will bring Heinz back to the public market following its takeover over two years prior. The companies completed the merger on July 2, 2015.

Sponsorships and promotions

Kraft is an official partner and sponsor of both

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

and the National Hockey League. Since 2006, Kraft Foods has sponsored '' Kraft Hockeyville'', a reality television series produced by CBC/SRC Sports, in which communities demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey in a contest revolving around the theme of community spirit. The winning community gets a cash prize dedicated to upgrading their hometown arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game. In 2007, it was then relegated to segments aired during '' Hockey Night in Canada''. In 2015, ''Kraft Hockeyville'' was expanded to the United States with a separate competition for communities there. From 2002 to 2014, Kraft sponsored the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

tour. The company also sponsored the

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it w ...

, a post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game, from 2010 to 2012.

Brands

The company's core businesses are in beverage,

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

, dairy foods,

snack food A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

s, and convenience foods. Kraft's major brands include: *

A.1. A.1. Sauce (formerly A.1. Steak Sauce and sometimes stylized as A1 Sauce in certain markets) is a brand of brown sauce produced by Brand & co, a subsidiary of Premier Foods in the United Kingdom (as "Brand's A.1. Sauce") and in North America by ...

* Boca Burger * Capri Sun (U.S. Licensee) *

Claussen pickles 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. ...

* Gevalia * Grey Poupon * Horsemen * Jell-O * Kool-Aid * Kraft, including

Kraft Dinner Kraft Dinner (KD) in Canada, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, Cheesey Pasta in the United Kingdom and internationally is a nonperishable, packaged macaroni and cheese product. It is made by Kraft Foods Group ...

, Kraft Singles, Kraft Mayo * Maxwell House * Oscar Mayer * Philadelphia Cream Cheese * RIDG's Finer Foods, licensing name used by Kraft addressing

Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce is a barbecue sauce created and distributed by Kraft Heinz in the United States and Canada. It is also the official BBQ sauce of the Calgary Stampede. History Bulls-Eye was introduced in 1985 with the tag line ''The ...

* Seven Seas – salad dressings * Velveeta

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=expanded Kraft Heinz Condiment companies of the United States Dairy products companies of the United States Food manufacturers of the United States Multinational dairy companies Multinational food companies Multinational companies headquartered in the United States American companies established in 2012 Food and drink companies established in 2012 American companies disestablished in 2015 Food and drink companies disestablished in 2015 2012 establishments in Illinois 2015 disestablishments in Illinois Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq American brands Corporate spin-offs 2015 mergers and acquisitions Defunct manufacturing companies based in Chicago