General Mills is a food product company that has a market cap of $32.39 billion. This Fortune 500 company has been around since 1866 and owns a ton of massive food product companies that are thriving in the global market. General Mills has been around for a long time and is a massive player in the food industry with more than 89 brand category leaders around the world, but here are five things you didn’t know about the company.
5. The company got it starts from the Minneapolis Milling Company
In 1856 the Minneapolis Milling Company was founded by Robert Smith, but the company got huge when his brother took over and expanded them to have multiple mill locations. They started producing more flour and wheat and eventually became General Mills in 1928.
4. The company is successful with engineering
General Mills has hit multiple milestones with their engineering over the years. In the 1930s, at the time engineer, Thomas R. James, created the puffing gun, which inflated or distorted cereal pieces into puffed up shapes. In 1939, Helmer Anderson created the Anderson sealer, which allowed for bags of flour to be sealed with glue rather than string. Finally, in 1956, the company created the tear strip to easily open packages.
3. They have a ton of discontinued cereals
The company has been producing cereal forever, but there are some flavors that had a very short lifespan or never even saw the market although they still sound delicious. Some of these include S’Mores grahams, Mr. Wonderfull’s Surprize (cereal with a chocolate cream filling), and even Banana Nut Cheerios.
2. General Mills was against Proposition 37
The company allocated $1,135,300 towards opposing the bill proposition 37 in California in 2012. This bill was requiring food production companies to label all of their foods that included genetically modified ingredients.
1. The company is unafraid to have a stance on things
General Mills has always been faced confronted with new scientific studies or the latest harmful thing to hit the food market in general, but has never been afraid to take a stance. In 2011 he company announced that they would be switching all of their eggs to cage-free (over 1 million) and in 2012 even opposed an amendment in Minnesota that would ban gay marriage.
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