mix a smucker co. product product type refrigerated and baking products owner general mills the pillsbury company brand owner ; refrigerated products manufacturer the j.m. smucker company brand licensee ; baking products manufacturer country u.s. introduced 1872 ; 144 years ago 1872 tagline give it a pop website pillsbury.com pillsburybaking.com pillsbury company former type public industry food processing fate acquired by general mills ; assets divided successor general mills founded minneapolis minnesota u.s. 1872 1872 defunct 2001 2001 headquarters minneapolis minnesota u.s. website www.pillsbury.com pillsbury is a brand name used by minneapolis based general mills and orrville ohio based j.m. smucker company . historically the pillsbury company also based in minneapolis was a rival company to general mills and was one of the world s largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought out by general mills in 2001 . antitrust law required general mills to sell off some of the products . general mills kept the rights to refrigerated and frozen pillsbury products while dry baking products and frosting are now sold by smucker under license . leo burnett created pillsbury s doughboy and jolly green giant which are two of the agency s top brand icons . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early development 1.2 the 1950s 1.3 the 1960s 1.4 the 1980s and after 2 notable achievements 3 see also 4 footnotes 5 references 6 external links history edit a pillsbury ghost sign in new kensington pennsylvania . founding and early development edit c.a. pillsbury and company was founded in 1872 by charles alfred pillsbury and his uncle john s. pillsbury . the company was second only to washburn crosby to use steel rollers for processing grain in the united states . the finished product required transportation so the pillsburys assisted in funding railroad development in minnesota . in 1889 pillsbury and its five mills on the banks of the mississippi river were purchased by a british company . the company also tried to purchase and merge with the washburn crosby company a precursor of general mills but the principals at washburn prevented the takeover . 2 in 1923 the pillsbury family reacquired pillsbury washburn flour mills company limited which subsequently was incorporated in 1935 as pillsbury flour mills company . 3 the 1950s edit in 1949 the company introduced a national baking competition which would come to be known as the pillsbury bake off ; it was nationally broadcast on cbs for many years . only seven products used the pillsbury name in 1950 but the company began adding to its product line . 4 the early 1950s brought the acquisition of ballard & ballard company and the beginning of packaged biscuit dough which would become one of the company s most important and profitable product lines in later decades . the company began advertising heavily on television . in 1957 pillsbury commissioned a television commercial jingle from its advertising agency leo burnett with the main lyrics nothin says lovin like somethin from the oven and pillsbury says it best ; the jingle became a well known signature of the company and was used with modifications in some form for at least the next 20 years . later corporate acquisitions included restaurants such as burger king steak and ale bennigan s godfather s pizza h agen dazs and quik wok plus popular grocery store food brands such as green giant . citation needed the 1960s edit in the 1960s pillsbury added sweet 10 made with cyclamate which became the most popular artificial sweetener . in 1964 pillsbury introduced funny face drink mix with the names goofy grape rootin tootin raspberry freckle face strawberry loud mouth lime chinese cherry later choo choo cherry and injun orange later jolly olly orange . lefty lemon followed in 1965 along with other flavors . the funny face characters as well as the funny face brand were created in 1963 by hal silverman a creative director at campbell mithun advertising . when cyclamate was banned sweet 10 and funny face had to be dropped resulting in a 4.5 million loss . both products were re introduced after changes and the drinks became available sweetened and unsweetened . 4 another drink mix introduced in the 1960s was moo juice a flavored powder combined with milk in a shaker to produce a milkshake . moo juice was also created by hal silverman . its tv commercial featured a talking animation of the product s cartoon cow head mascot . this was voiced by frank fontaine who was familiar at that time as crazy guggenheim in the jackie gleason show s joe the bartender skits . moo juice was short lived as its milkshakes tended to be thin compared to similar products such as borden s frosted and birds eye s thick and frosty . among the other crazy kid foods that silverman created for pillsbury was nugget town chocolate flavored nuggets that came in eight different collectable packages that when popped open and folded made into a whole western town . the tv commercial featured buddy hackett as the voice of the town s little bear sheriff . also there was gorilla milk ... you ll go ape for gorilla milk a glass in the morning and you ll swing all day a protein additive that turned milk into an instant breakfast . this product aimed at teenagers was not successful going against carnation instant breakfast . that decade pillsbury also created space food sticks to capitalize on the popularity of the space program . space food sticks were developed by robert muller the inventor of the haccp standards used by the food industry to ensure food safety . when nasa astronaut scott carpenter launched into space on mercury capsule aurora 7 in 1962 he was carrying with him the first solid space food small food cubes developed by pillsbury s research and development department . taking pillsbury scientists more than a year to develop space food cubes were followed by other space friendly foods such as cake that was not crumbly relish that could be served in slices and meat that needed no refrigeration . it acquired burger king in 1967 . 5 the 1980s and after edit in 1989 the british company grand metropolitan later diageo purchased the food maker and during this ownership period the company divested itself of all production and distribution facilities contracting these functions to other companies making itself simply a marketing entity for its own brands pillsbury green giant old el paso totino s etc. . in 2001 diageo sold pillsbury to its old rival general mills . however the baking products division was sold to international multifoods corporation which was later acquired by smucker s. pillsbury sold all of their restaurant brands and exited the business completely by the late 1990s . notable achievements edit the pillsbury a mill and neighboring phoenix mill in the early 1900s the pillsbury a mill in 2006 pillsbury once claimed to have the largest grain mill in the world at the pillsbury a mill overlooking saint anthony falls on the mississippi river in minneapolis . the building had two of the most powerful direct drive waterwheels ever built each putting out 1200 horsepower 900 kw . see also edit pillsbury doughboy footnotes edit sec info publicis groupe sa bcom3 group . march 7 2002 . and the green giant . advertising age . 2005 1999 . retrieved april 23 2007 . gray james 1954 . business without boundary the story of general mills . university of minnesota press . p. 50 . lccn 54 10286 . pillsbury company . encyclop dia britannica . 2007 . retrieved april 21 2007 . a b funny face history . retrieved february 8 2010 . smith andrew f. august 30 2006 . encyclopedia of junk food and fast food 1st ed . . greenwood publishing group . pp. 27 28 . isbn 0 313 33527 3 . references edit n.s. gill . charles alfred pillsbury . minneapolis.about.com andrew haeg july 17 2000 . general mills acquires pillsbury . minnesota public radio . external links edit pillsbury pillsbury baking v t e general mills historical figures cadwallader c. washburn charles alfred pillsbury james ford bell william de la barre adelaide hawley cumming cereals boo berry cheerios chex cinnamon toast crunch cocoa puffs cookie crisp count chocula franken berry french toast crunch golden grahams honey nut cheerios honey nut clusters kaboom kix lucky charms nesquik oatmeal crisp reese s puffs total trix wheaties brands betty crocker green giant hamburger helper old el paso progresso totino s wanchai ferry pillsbury jus rol pillsbury toaster strudel snacks bugles chex mix fruit by the foot fruit gushers fruit roll ups gardetto s nature valley shark bites dairy go gurt h agen dazs libert yoplait baking betty crocker bisquick gold medal flour natural and organic annie s homegrown cascadian farms food should taste good l rabar former colombo yogurt pet inc. squeezit other betty crocker kitchens cereal partners worldwide the general mills radio adventure theater mill city museum pillsbury bake off pillsbury doughboy key innovations dsv alvin hazard analysis and critical control points project strato lab skyhook balloon space food v t e the j.m. smucker company human food crisco crosse & blackwell dunkin donuts coffee eagle brand five roses flour folgers goober hungry jack jif knott s berry farm martha white millstone pet pillsbury robin hood flour r.w. knudsen family smucker s big heart pet brands meow mix kibbles n bits milk bone 9lives natural balance pup peroni gravy train nature s recipe canine carry outs milo s kitchen retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pillsbury company & oldid 743567843 categories companies established in 1872companies based in minneapolisgeneral mills brandsfood product brandsthe j.m. smucker co. brandshidden categories use mdy dates from october 2011all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces 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