| Type | Limited liability company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | Charlestown, MA (1846) |
| Founder(s) | Harvey Perley Hood |
| Headquarters | Lynnfield, MA, U.S. |
| Area served | United States |
| Products | Dairy |
| Employees | approximately 4,500 |
| Website | http://www.hphood.com |
HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 in Charlestown, Massachusetts by Harvey Perley Hood. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New England to the broader United States. Today, the company has an annual sales revenue of about $2.2 billion.
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In 2004, the company acquired Crowley Foods, based in Binghamton, New York; and Kemps, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2007, HP Hood acquired Crystal Cream and Butter Company,[1] based in Sacramento, California, shortly selling it to Foster Farms Dairy. In 2008, they acquired the ice cream business of Brigham's Ice Cream,[2] based in Arlington, Massachusetts. These acquisitions effectively expanded the company's reach from New England and New York to the broader United States.
HP Hood is a New England icon and their name and logo are well known. While Hood no longer produces milk at their facility along Interstate 93 in Charlestown, they do conduct all their research and development there and the building is still referred to as "the Hood plant" by traffic reporters. The company ran a highway safety campaign called Hood Samaritan (see Good Samaritan) circa 1960, that was later taken over by the CVS Pharmacy chain.
At Boston Children's Museum, the outdoor ice cream stand takes the form of a large Hood Milk Bottle. The Hood blimp often appears at sport and cultural events. The Hood blimp made news on September 26, 2006 when it crashed in a wooded area near Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.[3]
A Supreme Court Case, H.P. Hood and Sons v. DuMond, was decided in the Hood Company's favor, in which New York was prevented from withholding a license to sell milk made in New York in Massachusetts, based on the dormant commerce clause limitations on state intervention in interstate commerce.
The company and their logo served as somewhat of an inspiration to the popular Phish tune "Harry Hood".[4][5]