food & drink founded 1945 ; 71 years ago 1945 founder robert e. rich sr. headquarters buffalo new york u.s. area served worldwide key people robert e. rich jr. chairman william g. gisel jr. president & ceo melinda r. rich vice chairman services foodservice foodservice supplier revenue us 3.3 billion 2014 number of employees 9 200 2014 website richs.com rich products corporation also known as rich s is a privately held multinational food products corporation headquartered in buffalo new york . the company was founded in 1945 by robert e. rich sr. after his development of a non dairy whipped topping based on soybean oil . 1 since then the company has expanded its non dairy frozen food offerings and also supplies products to retailers in store bakeries and foodservice providers . 2 rich s employs 9 200 associates worldwide with manufacturing facilities in brazil 3 canada 4 india china korea vietnam thailand 5 mexico 6 south africa 7 australia the united kingdom 8 and the united states . 9 the company sells more than 2 000 products in 112 countries . 2 rich s currently ranks number 140 on forbes list of america s largest private companies . contents 1 company history 1.1 1940s 1.2 1950s 1.3 1960s 1.4 1970s 1.5 1980s 1.6 1990s 1.7 2000s 2 product portfolio 3 sports 4 references 5 external links company history edit 1940s edit rich s began in 1945 when robert e. rich sr. sought a replacement for dairy based whip cream due to milk shortages during world war ii . 1 through the use of soybeans rich created a cream that was less expensive than dairy based whipped cream yet lasted longer in the refrigerator and could remain frozen for more than a year without degrading . 10 1950s edit in 1954 the company introduced the first commercial line of frozen clairs and cr me puffs which are still produced today . 11 1960s edit during the 1960s rich s expanded further introducing coffeerich a non dairy frozen creamer in 1961 . 11 the company also constructed a manufacturing plant in fort erie ontario canada the following year . this facility is now known as rich products of canada ltd. the acquisition of elm tree baking co. in 1969 expanded rich s offerings to include frozen baked goods . 12 1970s edit the 1970s were also a decade of growth for rich s with the acquisition of nine new production facilities as well as seapak a company based in st. simons georgia that produces frozen seafood specialties . 12 1980s edit in 1980 rich s introduced freeze flo a process that allows foods to remain soft while frozen . the company introduced another product on top a non dairy dessert topping in 1986 which was notable for its packaging a pastry bag with its own tip . rich s also expanded its product line through the acquisition of casa di bertacchi a specialty meat and frozen pasta producer in 1982 and byron s a barbecue and meat producer in 1986 . 12 1990s edit during the 1990s rich s expanded internationally opening facilities in mexico london singapore hong kong tokyo and australia among others . 13 2000s edit since 2000 rich s has acquired a number of companies to diversify its offerings . these include frozen dessert and bakery mix producer jw allen & co. 14 jon donaire desserts 15 and donut producer rolling pin manufacturing . 16 rich s integration of french meadow bakery and acquisition of world catch llc all natural seafood 17 and glp manufacturing gluten free baked goods 18 entered the company into the health and wellness food sector . 12 in 2005 the company celebrated 60 years as a family owned company with the 60 delicious years worldwide birthday party on march 14 . as part of the celebration rich s renovated lunch and break rooms at all of its manufacturing sites and launched an employee recognition program . 19 on august 23 2013 rich s celebrated the 50th anniversary of its fort erie ontario plant . 20 on june 24 2014 rich s unveiled its new innovation center and atrium rich s. 21 product portfolio edit rich s offers a diverse body of products including toppings and icings ; sweet goods ; finished desserts ; appetizers ; bread and rolls ; pizza products ; italian specialties ; barbecue ; and shrimp and seafood . 2 in addition to the rich s brand the company sells products under a number of other brands it has acquired such as seapak ; farm rich ; french meadow casa di bertacchi ; byron s barbecue ; carvel f real and jon donaire . 22 sports edit in 1972 rich products signed a 25 year deal for the naming rights to the buffalo bills new stadium then under construction in suburban orchard park . 23 from 1973 to 1998 this stadium was known as rich stadium . this is one of the earliest examples of the sale of naming rights in north american sports ; it was for 1.5 million or 60 000 per year . 23 when the original deal expired in 1998 and rich chose not to renew at a much higher rate the stadium was renamed in honor of ralph c. wilson the bills owner and founder . 24 rich s also owns three minor league baseball teams most notably the buffalo bisons triple a international league affiliate of the toronto blue jays . 25 the other two teams are the northwest arkansas naturals double a affiliate of the kansas city royals and the west virginia black bears formerly the jamestown jammers the single a short season affiliate of the pittsburgh pirates . 26 27 28 on november 4 2010 bob rich announced that rich products shall be the official kit sponsor of the english northern league division one team bedlington terriers f.c. 29 in 2013 rich s farm rich brand became sponsor for front row motorsports david ragan in the nascar sprint cup series and in its first race as sponsor ragan won the 2013 aaron s 499 at talladega superspeedway ; farm rich again served as ragan s sponsor at richmond international raceway in the 2013 federated auto parts 400 . 30 references edit a b germain david june 11 1995 . rich has one cold foot in past other in future . times daily . florence alabama . associated press . p. 5d . a b c richs.com business page richs.com south american region page richs.com canadian region page richs.com asian region page richs.com central american region page richs.com african region page richs.com european region page richs.com united states region page new york times article 2006 a b sife company profile a b c d richs.com history page nations restaurant news buffalo business first snack food & wholesale bakery baking management magazine focus investment banking niagara frontier publications frozen food digest 1 buffalo news richs.com product page a b fauber john may 17 1989 . what s in a name . milwaukee journal . p. 8c . ralph wilson owner of buffalo bills dies at 95 http toronto.bluejays.mlb.com news article.jsp ymd 20120918 & content id 38603918 & vkey pr tor & c id tor & partnerid aw 4764878935764618869 1046 http www.milb.com team4 page.jsp ymd 20070301 & content id 184959 & vkey team4 t489 & fext . jsp & sid t489 http pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com news article.jsp ymd 20120918 & content id 38607832 & vkey pr pit & c id pit http www.milb.com news article.jsp ymd 20141022 & content id 99261150 & fext . jsp & vkey pr milb & sid milb 2 farm rich sponsors david ragan for sept. 7 richmond race . speedway media . august 20 2013 . retrieved september 11 2013 . external links edit official site corporate overview video seapak shrimp casa di bertacchi worldcatch llc farm rich retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rich products & oldid 743175576 categories companies based in buffalo new yorkprivately held companies in the united statescompanies established in 1945food manufacturers of the united statesprivately held companies based in new york navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 09 06 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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