Background
John Baptist Meyenberg (1847–1914) was an operator at the Anglo-Swiss milk condensery at Cham, Switzerland. Anglo-Swiss made sweetened condensed milk. From 1866 through 1883, Meyenberg experimented with preservation of milk without the use of sugar. He discovered that condensed milk would last longer if heated to 120 °C (248 °F) in a sealed container, and hence could be preserved without adding sugar. When Anglo-Swiss declined to implement Meyenberg's work, he resigned from the company and emigrated to the United States. John Meyenberg first moved to St. Louis, but soon relocated to Highland, Illinois, due to its large Swiss population. On 25 November 1884, U.S. Patents 308,421 (Apparatus for Preserving Milk) and 308,422 (Process for Preserving Milk) were issued to Meyenberg.
Founding
Meyenberg associated with various local merchants in Highland, many of Swiss background, and starting in December 1884 had a series of meetings with John Wildi, Dr. John Knoebel, and Adolph Glock.[3] On February 14, 1885, they founded the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company,[4] named after the Latin word for Switzerland,[5] with US$15,000 in funds collected from other local farmers and businessmen including Louis Latzer, George Roth, and Fred Kaeser. Knoebel was named president and Wildi secretary and treasurer. Roth, Latzer, and Kaeser took director roles with Meyenberg as superintendent of manufacturing.[3]
Production of Helvetia's first product, "Highland Evaporated Cream" unsweetened condensed milk, started on June 14, 1885, in an old, converted wool factory.[3] They were soon processing 300 gallons of raw milk a day.[6] But, on July 8, 1885, the steam-powered sterilizer exploded and the company ceased operations for a month for repairs.
Production restarted in August 1885 and by the end of the year, Helvetia's evaporated milk was beginning to gain recognition in the Southern US. Its reputation was boosted after it donated 10 cases to victims of a fire in Galveston, Texas, and a grocer in El Paso, Texas, ordered 100 cases after crediting it with helping to bring his sick infant back to health.[7]
However, throughout its first year the company experienced a number of setbacks. The new equipment required frequent adjustment, the factory was short of water and the company had to drill a number of additional wells, and, most concerning, cases of its milk began spoiling on store shelves. Production was halted several times to deal with these issues and much of the blame was placed on Meyenberg. He was asked to take a reduced salary until the issues were resolved.[3] Although he believed that the cause of the spoilage was inadequately sealed cans, others claimed that Meyenberg's sterilization process was to blame.[7] Meyenberg refused to accept a reduced salary and left the company[3] in August 1886. He went on to assist Elbridge Amos Stuart in producing Carnation Evaporated Milk in 1899.[7]
At Helvetia, Latzer, who had resigned within a year of the company's founding,[6] rejoined and assumed the role of technical director and president. Latzer had both a college degree and an education in chemistry and went to work to determine the cause of the spoilage. Assisted by Dr. Werner Schmidt, Wildi, and Knoebel, all of whom had studied chemistry, the company determined that the spoilage had been caused by bacteria and resolved the problem.[3] During the investigation, Latzer made improvements to Helvetia's operations, automating its plant and improving production speed and safety in the process.[7]
Successful production
By 1890, they had resolved the spoilage issue and Helvetia began growing nationally and internationally. Wildi led the company's marketing efforts and, after seeing the benefits from its actions after the Galveston fire, one major strategy was to send in free product following natural disasters.[3] Particular focus regions for marketing were the Southern US where fresh milk spoiled quickly in the heat and mining regions in the Western US where it was scarce.[7]
The company exhibited its products at international events including the Paris Exposition of 1889 and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. A major aspect of the company's marketing under Wildi in the 1890s was to promote it as an infant formula, particularly as a better alternative to sweetened condensed milk which had previously been one of the only alternatives to breastfeeding. Sales began to slow in the 1890s, however, with competing products entering the market. In response, Wildi convinced the company to launch the "Economy" brand which sold alongside their Highland brand.[3]
The "Our Pet Evaporated Cream" brand was introduced when a New Orleans food broker asked Helvetia for a "baby-sized" can that could be sold for a nickel.[3]
Contested management
Just after the turn of the century, disputes between Latzer and Wildi on the direction of the company began to become more prominent. By 1906, they were two of only three stockholders in the company with the third being Kaeser. One aspect of the increased tensions was related to the number of family connections within the company. John Flournoy Montgomery, who had married Wildi's only child, Hedwig, in 1904, was hired as an advertising executive in 1905 or 1906. Latzer disliked Montgomery. After Kaeser's son, Albert, married Latzer's daughter, Mary Jane, in 1906, Latzer and Kaeser became a voting bloc, often opposing Wildi.[3]
At the 1907 annual meeting of the company, Wildi was forced out of daily operations and was no longer the secretary and treasurer. He still owned over 33% of the company's stock and so was still a member of its board but in 1907 the board passed new laws which forbade board members from working in the milk condensing industry.[3]
Despite the new rules, Wildi and Montgomery organized the "John Wildi Evaporated Milk Company" six months after Wildi was forced out. The new company was headquartered in Highland with a factory in Marysville, Ohio. The Helvetia board was outraged at this move but Wildi had enough votes to remain on the board, though he was denied access to meetings. The Wildi family successfully sued the company and, in November 1911, the court ruled that the 1907 change in rules was invalid.[3]
Government contracts
Since it was easy to transport and did not spoil, "Our PET" was widely used by the US military, including Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders,[8] during the Spanish–American War and World War I.[7] American troops referred to a Helvetia milk can as a "Tin Cow". To fulfill these large government orders, Helvetia built a second plant in Greenville, Illinois and bought and converted a limburger cheese factory in New Glarus, Wisconsin to milk production in 1910.[9] By 1918, it was operating 10 production facilities across the US Midwest, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Many of these were closed after World War I as government orders tapered off and as a result the company was no longer able to supply buyers in the Western US.[7] In 1919, Pet formed a joint venture with Carnation, General Milk Co., for the purpose of expanding internationally. Pet's share of the venture cost US$875,000.[7]
PET Milk Company
Helvetia moved its headquarters to St. Louis in 1921 and Louis Latzer's son, John Latzer, took over leadership of the company though the former remained involved with the company.[6] Two years later, Helvetia renamed itself the PET Milk Company after its signature product.[7]
In 1925, Pet bought the Sego Milk Products Company of Salt Lake City which restored the company's access to the Western US markets lost after its post-World War I draw-down. The Sego purchase was followed by the acquisition of a Greenville, Illinois ice cream plant and a Johnson City, Tennessee fluid milk processing plant all in the late 1920s.[7]
Following its significant expansion during the 1920s, Pet Milk began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1928.[7] The next year, it established a subsidiary, "Pet Dairy Products Company", to start selling fluid milk produced at its newly-acquired Johnson City plant.[10]
Diversification
Pet acquired Michigan-based Pet-Ritz Foods Company in 1955, a deal orchestrated by Louis Latzer's grandson Theodore Gamble,[6] and established a Canadian subsidiary.[7] Gamble was elected president in 1959 and Robert Latzer became chairman.[6]
Pet created the Mary Lee Taylor Ice Milk brand in 1959 and in 1960 Pet's Canadian subsidiary acquired Canadian cheese company Old Cherry Hill Cheese House for over US$1 million. Also in 1959, Pet created another frozen pie brand, Swiss Miss. By 1960, it also had significant international operations through the General Milk Co. which was jointly owned by Pet (35%) and Carnation (65%). General Milk itself operated a number of joint ventures including with Standard Brands in Brazil and Beechnut-Life Savers in West Germany.[15]
Pet Incorporated
In 1966, changed its name to Pet Incorporated to reflect its more diverse interests. It then merged with the Hussmann Refrigerator Company and bought a controlling interest in American Refrigeration Products S.A., a Mexican company in the process of expanding to Guatemala which had been partially owned by Hussmann. Continuing with its expansion strategy, Pet bought Aunt Fanny's Bakery in Atlanta in 1966 and in 1967 Schrafft's restaurants for US$14 million.[7]
Mountain Pass Canning Company was Pet's next acquisition, buying the Texas-based company in 1968. With Mountain Pass came its Old El Paso brand of Mexican food. Around this time, Pet sold its portion of General Milk Co., receiving US$30.8 million more than its initial investment of US$875,000.[7] Pet further diversified its product lines in October 1968 buying the 9-0-5 Liquor Store chain of 31 St. Louis-area stores for $6 million.[20]
This period was not without its challenges. While Pet was in the process of moving Hussmann production to a new US$13 million St. Louis site from two old plants, a teamsters strike impacted the division's performance. The strike combined with negative market pressures due to slower housing and supermarket building meant Hussmann's performance was flagging. Additionally, a number of Pet's new products introduced in the previous decades had either failed or were facing competition from newcomers.
ICI
After almost tripling its revenue in 12 years to US$1.1 billion in 1977, Pet became the target of an unfriendly takeover bid by IC Industries (ICI) completed in 1978.[23] The deal was complicated by the fact that Pet was in the midst of negotiations to finalize its acquisition of restaurant chain Hardee's which it had agreed to buy for US$95 million in March 1978. Since ICI was not interested in Hardee's, the Pet/ICI merger put an end to that discussion. However, Hardee's accused both Pet and ICI of using the merger as a defensive move to avoid carrying through on Pet's agreement. In the end, ICI paid Hardee's US$1.1 million to settle the issue prior to completing the acquisition of Pet.[6]
ICI, named for the Illinois Central Railroad and led by former Railway Express Agency president William B. Johnson, was a Chicago-based conglomerate. It already owned diverse assets including the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, the American Brake Shoe Company, real estate in Chicago and New Orleans, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, Dad's Root Beer Company, Midas International
Resumed independence
Pet's parent company ICI changed its name to Whitman Corp. in 1988 and sold its railroad and defense units to focus on food products.[6] A few years later, in 1991, Whitman spun-off Pet, Inc. to once again operate as an independent company.[34]
By the early 1990s, Pet owned the LaCreme brand of whipped topping and Pet's subsidiary Pet-Ritz also held a regional brand of pie shells, Oronoque.[35] Pet sold the Whitman's chocolate brand in 1993 to Russell Stover Candies.[6] The next year, it sold Orval Kent a group of investors led by former Land O'Lakes executive Dick Fogg.[36]
In 1995, Pet was acquired by the Pillsbury Company
Post independence
Over the next decade, Pet's primary brands would be split-up as it and its parent companies underwent a number of transitions. In 1997, Pillsbury's parent Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form Diageo.[38] In 1999, Pillsbury sold the Underwood business, including the B&M, Ac'cent and Sa-son Ac'cent, Las Palmas, and Joan of Arc brands, to B&G Foods. Pillsbury's rationale for the sale was so that it could focus on its larger brands including Green Giant.[39]
A year later, General Mills agreed to acquire Pillsbury, and with it the PET brand and its evaporated milk and dry creamer product lines, from Diageo. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initially objected to the transaction citing antitrust concerns. To satisfy the FTC, Diageo and General Mills both agreed to sell several Pillsbury and General Mills brands, including PET, to International Multifoods. Both transactions were approved in 2001.[40]
