Newman's Own is an American food company headquartered in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Founded in 1982 by actor

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

and author

A. E. Hotchner Aaron Edward Hotchner (June 28, 1917 – February 15, 2020) was an American editor, novelist, playwright, and biographer.profits to charity through the Newman's Own Foundation, a private

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

foundation which in turn supports various

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

al and

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

History

The brand started in 1982 with a homemade salad dressing that Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner prepared themselves and gave to friends as gifts. The successful reception of the salad dressing led Newman and Hotchner to commercialize it for sale, financing it with $20,000 each as seed money. Afterward, they also produced pasta sauce, frozen pizza, lemonade, fruit cocktail juices, popcorn,

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

, grape juice, and other products. Newman's Own Lemonade was introduced in 2004 and Newman's Own premium wines in 2008. Each label features a picture of Newman, dressed in a different costume to represent the product. The company incorporated humor into its label packaging, as in the label for its first

salad dressing A salad dressing is a sauce for salads. Used on virtually all '' leafy salads'', dressings may also be used in making salads of beans (such as three bean salad), noodle or pasta salads and antipasti, and forms of potato salad. Salad dressings ...

in 1982, "Fine Foods Since February". Many of the stories on the food labels were made up. Newman's Own cookies

In 1993, Newman's daughter

Nell Newman Elinor Teresa Newman (born April 8, 1959) is an American former child actress who performed under the name of Nell Potts. She is an environmentalist, biologist, and a prominent supporter of sustainable agriculture, who became an entrepreneur when ...

founded Newman's Own Organics as a division of the company, later to become a separate company in late 2001. It produces

organic foods Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

, including chocolate, cookies, pretzels and pet food. Her father posed with her for the photographs on the labels. In 2014, Nell's license with Newman's Own was not renewed, and Newman's Own Organics was transferred back to Newman's Own. Newman and Hotchner co-wrote a memoir about their company and the

Hole in the Wall Gang Camp The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, based in Ashford, Connecticut, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, residential summer camp, and year-round center serving children and their families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses and condition ...

s, ''Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good'' (), published in 2003. Newman and CEO Robert Forrester arranged for the continuation of the distribution of Newman's Own profits to charity after Newman's death through the establishment of the Newman's Own Foundation. Following Newman's death in 2008, control of the company and foundation passed to CEO Robert Forrester. Since taking over, Forrester expanded and diversified the company. Newman's daughter, Susan, has alleged that Forrester had taken her family "hostage" and pushed them off the board of the Newman's Own Foundation, the body set up to distribute company profits to charitable causes. Forrester said that the company and foundation are continuing to be operated in accordance with the late Paul Newman's expressed wishes. Forrester's salary increased from $185,000 to $295,000 from 2010 to 2013. Forrester was fired in 2019 as a result of an internal review following allegations of inappropriate behavior, and the board appointed Jennifer Smith Turner as interim president and CEO. In January 2020, Dr. Miriam Nelson took over those roles, and the board finalized the positions in January 2021.

Charitable funding and beneficiaries

According to the Newman's Own Foundation website, over $550 million has been generated for charity since 1982. In 2016 the company donated profits of $30 million after gross sales of $600 million. The company co-sponsored the

PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award Awards presented by the PEN American Center (today PEN America) that are no longer active. The awards are among many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been ch ...

, which was presented annually to a United States resident who had fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applied to the written word. A sampling of grantees is available at the Newman's Own Foundation website along with a description of funding areas. One beneficiary of this charity is the

SeriousFun Children's Network SeriousFun Children's Network is a global community of 30 camps and programs for seriously ill children. All camps and programs offer free recreational experiences to children with serious illnesses and their family members. The first SeriousFu ...

(previously the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps), residential

summer camps Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, with ...

for seriously ill children, which Newman co-founded in 1988. Today, there are camps, programs, and initiatives operating in 50 countries across 5 continents. Over 384,700 children have attended a SeriousFun program free of charge. While proceeds from Newman's Own financed the startup of the camp, it now receives funding from many other sources. Additionally, the Newman's Own Foundation also provided a grant to The MINDS Foundation to fund US operations of the non-profit that works in rural India. Other beneficiaries of the profits from Newman's Own have included The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund (from 1983 onwards), Shining Hope for Communities, Safe Water Network,

Edible Schoolyard The Edible Schoolyard (ESY) is a garden and kitchen program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, a public middle school in Berkeley, California. The Edible Schoolyard was established in 1995 by chef and author Alice Waters and is supporte ...

NYC,

Fisher House Foundation Fisher House Foundation is a charity and foundation that builds comfort homes where military & veterans families can stay free of charge, while a loved one is in the hospital. Fisher Houses are located at major military and VA medical centers n ...

, the WILD Young Women Programme (New Zealand), and Pilgrims Hospices (UK).

References

External links

*
Newman's Own Foundation
{{portal bar, Food Food manufacturers of the United States Food and drink companies established in 1982 Salad dressings Social enterprises Food and drink companies based in Connecticut Companies based in Westport, Connecticut 1982 establishments in Connecticut Condiment companies of the United States Privately held companies based in Connecticut

History

Charitable funding and beneficiaries

References

Further reading

External links