Ralston Purina Company
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The Ralston Purina Company, based in St. Louis, Missouri, was a major American corporation best known for its production and marketing of animal feeds. It traced its roots back to 1894, when founder William H. Danforth began producing feed for various farm animals.
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[edit] Current operations
[edit] Ralston
The "Ralston" name was more associated with food for humans; soda crackers and a farina cereal, among other products, were marketed under this name. Ralston Purina also for many years produced the familiar line of "Chex" and Cookie Crisp cold breakfast cereals. The animal and human food businesses were seemingly only tenuously related. In 1994, the human food business was spun off to Ralcorp Holdings, operating as Ralston Foods, which then sold its branded products to General Mills. Ralston Foods manufacturers many store brand foods to grocery outlets across the United States and sold under the retailer's private label.
[edit] Purina
The Purina name was principally associated with the animal feed business, which included feed for livestock and household pets. The predominant brand for each animal was generally referred to as "Chow"; hence there was "Purina Horse Chow", "Purina Dog Chow", "Purina Cat Chow", and even "Purina Monkey Chow".
The animal feed business became the subject of a takeover bid by Swiss-based Nestlé, whose "Friskies" brand was the other leading brand of pet food in the U.S. This bid was eventually accepted in 2001. Several brands of pet food (e.g., "Meow Mix") had to be divested separately to meet antitrust concerns. Purina brands are now made and marketed by a division of Nestlé (Nestlé Purina PetCare) which is still headquartered in St. Louis. The work of developing manufactured diets for pets involves animal testing, thereby introducing controversy.
Purina Mills, Inc., the U.S. animal feed business that was sold by Ralston Purina Company in 1986, was purchased by Koch Industries in 1998, but a U.S. Bankruptcy Court cancelled out all equity held by Koch in order to maintain the company's viability. Purina Mills LLC is now owned by Land O'Lakes.
While primarily a pet food company, Ralston Purina also made some other pet-related products, such as Tidy Cats brand cat litter. Also, Purina has honoured several Canadian animals every year since 1968 in their Animal Hall of Fame. The latest inductees included a police service dog who "rushed and subdued an armed robber."
[edit] Acquisitions and diversifications
In 1977, Ralston Purina acquired Missouri Arena Corporation and the St. Louis Blues National Hockey League franchise. The franchise was later sold in the 1980s.
Ralston Purina purchased the Eveready Battery Company in 1986, owner of the Eveready and Energizer brands. The company was spun off in 2000.
Ralston Purina purchased Continental Baking Company "aka" Wonder Bread & Hostess Cake from ITT In 1984. Ralston did spin off Continental Baking Company and then was bought out by Interstate Brands Corporation "IBC" headquarters in Kansas City, MO.
[edit] Brands
Well-known brands include:
- Alpo
- Beggin' Strips
- Purina One
- Purina Pro Plan
- Various 'chows'
- Purina Dog Chow
- Purina Puppy Chow
- Purina Cat Chow
- Purina Kitten Chow
- Friskies
- Fancy Feast (canned wet cat food)
- Tender Vittles
- Beneful
[edit] Logo
The company was famed for its "checkerboard" trademark.
Its headquarters was called Checkerboard Square. At one point it owned an interest in the St. Louis Blues National Hockey League team; during this period the arena they then used was referred to as the "Checkerdome".
As a boy, William Danforth, one of the founders of Ralston Purina, worked in his father's store in Charleston, Missouri. Every Saturday he watched the Brown brood come to town, all clad in red and white checks. It was convenient for Mrs. Brown to make the entire family's clothes from the same bolt of checkerboard cloth.
In 1902, Danforth was looking for a distinctive dress for his products, and naturally remembered Mrs. Brown. His reasoning was sound, for the red and white checkerboard identified his products just as boldly as it had the Brown family.
The checkerboard logo then evolved into personal development concept Danforth put forth in his book I Dare You (ISBN 0-7661-2786-9) in which he used a checkerboard to explain it. Danforth proposed that four key components in life need to be in balance. In the illustration, "Physical" was on the left, "Mental" on top, "Social" on right and "Religious" on the bottom. To be healthy, you needed the four squares to stay in balance and one area was not to develop at expense of the other.[1]. The concept became intertwined with the company in 1921 when it began selling feed that was pressed in cubes called "checkers."
[edit] Trivia
- During the 2001 anthrax attacks, government scientists described the brown granule material contained in an anthrax letter as looking like Purina Dog Chow.
- In 2003, the punk rock band Propagandhi released a song entitled "Purina Hall Of Fame", which appeared on the Fat Wreck Chords charity record, Liberation: Songs to Benefit PETA.
- John Danforth, former United States Senator (R, Mo.) and American ambassador to the United Nations, is a descendant of William Danforth.
