Kraft Foods

This article is about the post-2012 de-mergered grocery business. For the pre-2012 Kraft Foods, see Kraft Foods Inc.
"Kraft" redirects here. For other uses, see Kraft (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with The Kraft Group.
Kraft Foods Group, Inc.
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: KRFT
S&P 500 Component
NASDAQ-100 Component[1]
Industry Food processing
Founded 2012
Headquarters Northfield, Illinois, U.S.
Area served
 WorldWide
Key people
 John Cahill
(Chairman and CEO)
Products List of products
Revenue Decrease US$ 18.218 billion (2013)[2]
Increase US$ 4.591 billion (2013)[2]
Increase US$ 2.715 billion (2013)[2]
Total assets Decrease US$ 23.148 billion (2013)[2]
Total equity Increase US$ 5.187 billion (2013)[2]
Number of employees
 23,000 (2012)[3]
Website www.kraftfoodsgroup.com

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRFT) is an American grocery manufacturing and processing conglomerate[4] headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Northfield, Illinois.[5]

The company was formed in 2012 as a spin off from Kraft Foods Inc., which in turn was renamed Mondelēz International. The new Kraft Foods Group is focused mainly on grocery products for the North American market, while Mondelēz is an international distributor of Kraft Foods snacks and confectionery brands. Kraft Foods Group is an independent public company; it is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

On March 25, 2015, the company announced its merger with Heinz, arranged by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital.[6][7] If the merger proceeds, the resulting Kraft Heinz Company is expected to be the fifth largest food company in the world.[8]

History

Spinoff of Kraft Foods Group from Mondelēz International, Inc

Former Kraft Foods corporate logo

In August 2011, Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies—a snack food company and a grocery company.[9]

On April 2, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it had filed a Form 10 Registration Statement to the SEC to split the company into two companies to serve the "North American grocery business."[10]

On October 1, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. spun off its North American grocery business to a new company called Kraft Foods Group, Inc. The remainder of Kraft Foods Inc. was renamed Mondelēz International, Inc. and was refocused as an international snack and confection company.[11]

On November 19, 2013, it was ruled that Starbucks will have to pay Kraft Foods Inc. $2.7 billion because of an early contract termination. The money will go to Mondelēz International, Inc.[12]

Kraft and Heinz Merger

On March 25, 2015 Kraft Foods Group Inc, the maker of Velveeta cheese and Oscar Mayer meats, announced that it would merge with ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc, to form the world's fifth-largest food and beverage company. Kraft's shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading after the announcement of the deal, which will bring Heinz back to the public market following its takeover two years ago. [13] The companies expect the merger to close in the second half of 2015. [14]

Sponsorships and promotions

Kraft is an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and sponsors the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the LPGA tour. The company also sponsored the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, a post-season college football bowl game, from 2010 to 2012.

Kraft HockeyVille is a Canadian reality television series developed by CBC/SRC Sports and sponsored by Kraft Foods in which communities across Canada compete to demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey. The contest revolves around a central theme of community spirit in Canada and is directed by Mike Dodson.

Kraft has released an iPad app called "Big Fork Little Fork" which, in addition to games and other distractions, has information regarding how to use Kraft foods in nutritious ways.[15][16] This app costs $1.99; a version for home computers is available on Apple's App Store.

Kraft is also involved in political sponsorship. Kraft is among the major funders of the State Policy Network, "made up of free market think tanks - at least one in every state - fighting to limit government and advance market-friendly public policy".[17][18]

Brands

Main article: List of Kraft brands
The old Kraft logo still used on Kraft branded products
A container of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts

The company's core businesses are in beverage, cheese, dairy foods, snack foods, and convenience foods. A selection of Kraft's major brands is as follows:[19]

Corporate social responsibility

For years, Kraft purchased paper for its packaging from Asia Pulp & Paper, the third largest paper producer in the world, which was labeled as a "forest criminal" for destroying "precious habitat" in Indonesia's rainforest.[20] In 2011, when Kraft canceled its contract with Asia Pulp & Paper, Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford commended Kraft for efforts made towards forest protection, for "taking rainforest conservation seriously."[21]

Controversy

In 2013, food blogger and activist Vani Hari and 100 Days of Real Food blogger Lisa Leake launched an online petition drive to compel Kraft Foods Group, Inc. to remove controversial synthetic dyes Yellow 5 (labeled as Tartrazine) and Yellow 6 from its macaroni and cheese products.[22][23]

In April 2013, Hari and Leake delivered a petition with some 270,000 signatures to Kraft headquarters in Chicago, Ill., and asked the company to change its macaroni and cheese recipes.[24][25]

In October 2013, Kraft announced that it would remove artificial dyes from three macaroni and cheese varieties made in kid-friendly shapes, but not its plain elbow-shaped Kraft Macaroni and Cheese product with "original flavor."[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kraft Foods Group to Join Nasdaq 100". Fox Business. March 8, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Kraft Foods Group, Inc. Form 10-K, Securities and Exchange Commission, February 21, 2014
  3. ↑ "About Us". Kraft Foods. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Kraft Foods Inc.". Funding Universe. 2002. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
  5. ↑ "2009 Fact Sheet." Kraft Foods. 6/7. Retrieved January 30, 2011. "Corporate Offices Kraft Foods Inc. Three Lakes Drive Northfield, IL 60093"
  6. ↑ "Kraft Foods to merge with ketchup maker Heinz". Reuters. March 25, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ "3G Capital, Berkshire to Buy Kraft Foods, Merge It With Heinz". Bloomberg. March 25, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ Nolan Feeney (25 March 2015). "Kraft and Heinz Merge to Become World’s 5th-Largest Food Company". TIME magazine.
  9. ↑ "Kraft Foods - Investor Center - Financial News Release". Phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Financial News Release: Kraft Foods Announces Filing Of Form 10 Registration Statement For Planned Spin-Off Of North American Grocery Company". PR Newswire. April 2, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ Rushe, Dominic (March 21, 2012). "Kraft spins off snacks business into new Mondelez International company". The Guardian (London). Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Starbucks To Pay Kraft $2.7 Billion For Early Contract Termination". Vending Machine News. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Kraft and Heinz merger to form world's fifth-largest food company lead by Warren Buffet.". Reuters. March 25, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  14. ↑ "H.J. Heinz Company And Kraft Foods Group Sign Definitive Merger Agreement To Form The Kraft Heinz Company" (Press release). 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  15. ↑ "Big Fork Little Fork". KraftRecipes.Com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  16. ↑ Kleinberg, Adam (January 4, 2011). "Why Every Brand Needs an Open API for Developers". Mashable.Com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  17. ↑ Pilkington, Ed; Goldenberg, Suzanne (December 5, 2013). "State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax". The Guardian (London). Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ State Policy Network, retrieved December 23, 2013
  19. ↑ "Largest Brands". Kraft Foods Group. 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Paper Giant Pledges to Leave the Poor Rainforest Alone. Finally. Asia Pulp & Paper—the notorious destroyer of pristine tiger and orangutan habitat—says it's changing its ways.". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  21. ↑ Phil Radford. "Hasbro Turns Over a New Leaf, Steps Up for Rainforests". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  22. ↑ Bachai, Sabrina. "Kraft To Remove Artificial Dyes From Mac And Cheese: Yellow Dye Linked To Hyperactivity In Children". Medical Daily. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Kraft: Stop Using Dangerous Food Dyes in Our Mac & Cheese". Change.org. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  24. ↑ Harris, Paul. "Kraft meets with bloggers protesting chemical additives in mac'n'cheese". theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  25. ↑ Wilson, Jacque. "Kraft removing artificial dyes from some mac and cheese". CNN. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  26. ↑ Choi, Candice. "Kraft to remove artificial dyes from 3 products". Associated Press. Retrieved 12 February 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kraft Foods.