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 term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...
made originally by Chester Inc.
The brand was launched to the public in 1969, and was sold to
Hunt-Wesson, a division of
Norton Simon Inc. in 1976. In 1983,
Esmark purchased Norton Simon, and the next year (1984),
Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...
acquired Esmark. In 1985,
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
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 ...
giant
Conagra Brands.
Chester, the corporation that launched the Orville Redenbacher's brand, was owned by
Charles F. Bowman and
Orville Redenbacher. Redenbacher starred in nearly all the brand's commercials until his death in 1995.
See also
*
List of popcorn brands
*
References
External links
*
Chester, Inc.
{{Popcorn brands
Conagra Brands brands
Popcorn brands
Products introduced in 1969