Orville Redenbacher's is an American brand of

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

made originally by Chester Inc. which was owned by Charles F. Bowman and

Orville Redenbacher Orville Clarence Redenbacher (July 16, 1907 – September 19, 1995) was an American food scientist and businessman most often associated with the brand of popcorn that bears his name which is now owned by ConAgra. ''The New York Times'' descri ...

(who starred in nearly all the commercials until his death in 1995). The product was launched to the public in 1969 and was sold to

Hunt-Wesson Hunt's is the name of a brand of preserved tomato products owned by Conagra Brands. The company was founded in 1888, in Sebastopol, California, as the Hunt Bros. Fruit Packing Co., by Joseph and William Hunt. The brothers relocated to nearby S ...

, a division of Norton Simon Inc. in 1976. In 1983,

Esmark Esmark is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Birgitte Esmark (1841–1897), Norwegian malacologist *Jens Esmark (1763–1839), Danish-Norwegian mineralogist, study of glaciers * Lars Mathias Hille Esmark (1908–1998), Norwegian ...

purchased Norton Simon, and the next year (1984),

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company founded in 1894. In 1987, its international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney, creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of ...

acquired Esmark. In 1985,

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...

acquired Beatrice with the goal of selling off businesses. The popcorn business and other old Hunt-Wesson businesses were sold in 1990 to

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

giant

Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

References

External links

Company WebsiteChester, Inc.
{{Popcorn brands Conagra Brands brands Popcorn brands Products introduced in 1969

See also

References

External links