is one of
North America 's largest packaged foods companies. ConAgra's products are available in
Supermarket s, as well as
Restaurant s and
Food Service establishments.
was founded in
1919 by
Alva Kinney , who brought together four grain mills as '''Nebraska Consolidated Mills'''. In
1940 , it began producing
Flour at its own mill, and in
1942 ventured into the livestock feed business. Consolidated Mills funded the establishment of
Duncan Hines in
1951 as a way to market more flour by selling cake mixes. This venture was very successful, but did not lead Consolidated to consider other food ventures. Instead, they sold their assets in Duncan Hines to
Procter & Gamble in
1956 . As American households purchased more and more prepared and instant foods in the
1950s and
1960s , Consolidated chose not to expand into the businesses that used their flour, instead turning in the opposite direction and focusing more on raw foods like poultry and expanding its livestock feed business.
In
1971 , Consolidated Mills changed its name to , short for ''"Consolidate Agriculture"''. The
1970s brought the company to the brink of ruin as it lost money expanding into the fertilizer, catfish, and pet product industries and as commodity speculation wiped out ConAgra's margins on raw foods. In
1974 ,
Charles M. Harper ("Mike" Harper), an experienced food industry executive, took over the firm and brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy. Nonetheless, ConAgra's business model left it at the mercy of volatile commodity prices. In response, the company set off on a two decade long buying spree, purchasing over 100 prepared food brands starting with its
1980 purchase of
Banquet Foods . It moved heavily into the frozen food business and the packaged meat industry, and then picked up a selection of other brands from firms like
RJR Nabisco and
Beatrice Foods among others, as the
Leveraged Buyout s of the
1980s gutted and sold off many major American consumer product firms. In
1993 alone it purchased
$500 Million in smaller firms, and in
1998 it purchased another
$480 Million in brands from
Nabisco .
Current members of the ,
Mogens Bay ,
Howard Buffett ,
Stephen Butler ,
John Chain ,
Steven Goldstone ,
Alice Hayes ,
W.G. Jurgensen ,
Mark Rauenhorst ,
Carl Reichardt ,
Gary Rodkin ,
Ronald Roskens , and
Kenneth Stinson .
Here is a list of ConAgra's consumer brands
As Of 2005 , according to their website:
