citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message the schwan food company type private industry frozen food founded 1952 founder marvin schwan headquarters marshall minnesota usa revenue 3b 1 number of employees 14 000 website www.theschwanfoodcompany.com the schwan food company is a multibillion dollar privately owned company with approximately 14 000 employees in the united states . 2 based in marshall minnesota the company sells frozen foods from home delivery trucks in grocery store freezers by mail and to the food service industry . the company produces markets and distributes products developed under brands such as schwan s red baron freschetta tony s mrs. smith s edwards pagoda express and many others . contents 1 corporate divisions 2 company history 3 red baron squadron 4 fiestada 5 references 6 external links corporate divisions edit the company s major business units include schwan s home service schwan s consumer brands schwan s food service and schwan s global supply chain . schwan s home service the company s flagship business unit is the largest direct to home food delivery provider in the united states . home service markets and distributes more than 400 products under the schwan s and livesmart brands . the business has more than 400 sales and distribution centers located throughout the united states with 4 500 delivery vehicles . schwan s consumer brands markets frozen food products in grocery stores primarily in the western hemisphere . schwan s food service markets and distributes frozen food products to the food service industry . schwan s global supply chain is a manufacturing cooperative that coordinates the company s production processes and helps develop new products . company history edit in 1952 marvin schwan 1929 1993 began home delivery of his family s homemade ice cream the marshall creamery company to rural western minnesota . 3 schwan s expanded quickly to cover much of the midwestern united states and made a number of acquisitions including the holiday ice cream company and russell dairy . in 1957 the product line was expanded to include juice concentrates and in 1962 schwan s began selling frozen fish products . during the 1970s the company began selling pizza to schools launched the red baron pizza brand for sale in grocery stores and formed the red baron squadron flight team to promote the brand . during the 1980s schwan s made further acquisitions including pizza manufacturer sabatasso foods and asian foods manufacturer minh food corporation . schwan s opened a plant in leyland preston england in 1989 . in 1993 founder marvin schwan died of a heart attack at the age of 64 . 4 the marvin schwan memorial drive in marshall is named after him . his older brother alfred schwan who had been the company s head of manufacturing was named president . in october 1994 the minnesota department of health informed the schwan s food company that 67 people in southern minnesota had been infected with salmonella enteritis and that there was a strong statistical link between the illnesses and schwan s ice cream . schwan quickly halted the production and sale of the company s ice cream and began a public awareness campaign asking people not to eat schwan s ice cream products . an investigation found that the source of the contamination was a contractor s truck that had delivered ice cream pre mix to schwan . the trucking company had inadequately washed the tanker truck after transporting raw unpasteurized eggs . 5 schwan s actions in response to the recall were unconventional at the time and have since been imitated by companies facing recalls . in 1996 schwan s introduced the freschetta pizza line and acquired la roue du pay d auge a frozen foods producer in france . in 1998 schwan s opened a pizza plant in osterweddingen germany . in 2001 schwan acquired the edwards dessert company from ripplewood holdings and in 2003 the mrs. smith s dessert company from flowers foods . also in 2003 the corporation changed its name from schwan s sales enterprises to the schwan food company . recently the schwan food company began to focus on convenience of meals at affordable prices under their new prepared to serve tagline . in 2010 schwan teamed up with the tv series top chef and served dishes that were made famous by chefs that were featured on the bravo television series . in december 2011 schwan ceased operations in louisiana . this effectively ended the louisiana project which was launched in 2003 2004 . in january 2012 citing the poor economy schwan closed its depot in stockbridge georgia . this closure eliminated all but ups delivery shipment service to the south atlanta metropolitan area . red baron squadron edit the red baron squadron was established in 1979 as a promotion for red baron pizza . the squadron flew five vintage stearman biplanes modified with 450 hp engines . a separate 38 foot support vehicle followed with spare parts and engines . 6 at the time they were the oldest civilian air team in the united states . they attended air shows throughout the country and flew formation aerobatics . their base of operations and air museum was at the southwest minnesota regional airport in marshall minnesota . in 2007 after 28 years of flying the company announced the retirement of the squadron . fiestada edit fiestada sometimes mistakenly called fiesta is a brand name and registered trademark for a mexican pizza . it is hexagonal in shape and is created like a regular pizza but adds elements of mexican cuisine . it is made up of a pizza crust a cheddar cheese topping taco sauce and optionally ground pork crumbles . it is produced by schwan food company and distributed by both schwan food company and gordon food service to be then delivered to schools for lunches . 7 references edit private companies top 25 the schwan food company website about us retrieved october 31 2015 radzilowski john . marvin m. schwan . in immigrant entrepreneurship german american business biographies 1720 to the present vol . 5 edited by r. daniel wadhwani . german historical institute . last modified july 01 2015 . marvin m. schwan 64 builder of a billion dollar food empire ny times may 12 1993 schwan s salmonella recall . national institutes of health . may 1996 . peter price march 1993 . red baron stearman squadron . air progress . coyote grill beef fiestada pizza pan mates . schwan s food service inc. retrieved 2008 01 14 . external links edit official site home delivery site v t e minnesota based corporations fortune 500 corporations by size unitedhealth group target best buy supervalu chs 3m u.s. bancorp medtronic general mills xcel energy ameriprise financial c. h. robinson worldwide mosaic hormel thrivent financial for lutherans ecolab st. jude medical nash finch other public companies pentair valspar patterson companies securian financial group regis polaris industries toro deluxe donaldson fastenal federated mutual insurance company mts systems corporation major non public corporations alphabetically andersen cargill carlson holiday stationstores land o lakes schwan food company securian financial group related topics list of companies based in minneapolis saint paul retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title schwan food company & oldid 737184106 categories companies based in minnesotafood recallsprivately held companies based in minnesotafrozen pizza brandshidden categories articles needing additional references from july 2010all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters 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 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