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 Stouffer's cooked Swedish Meatballs | |
| Product type | Frozen food products |
|---|---|
| Owner | Nestlé (1973-) |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1922; 103 years ago (1922) |
| Discontinued | 2023 (Canada only) |
| Related brands | Lean Cuisine |
| Markets |
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| Previous owners | Litton Industries (1967–1973) |
| Website | goodnes.com/stouffers |
Stouffer's is a brand offrozen prepared foods currently owned byNestlé.[1] Its products are available in theUnited States andCanada. Stouffer's is known for such popular fare aslasagna,macaroni and cheese,meatloaf,ravioli,fettuccine Alfredo, andsalisbury steak. It also produces a line of reduced-fat products under theLean Cuisine brand name. In February 2023, Nestle Canada announced their intentions to wind down and exit the frozen meals and pizza business within the next six months.[2]
The Stouffer family business traces its roots to 1898, when James B. Stouffer and his son Abraham E. Stouffer started the Stouffer's Cottage Creamery Company[3] at the Sheriff Street Market in Cleveland. In 1901, James's son Abraham E. Stouffer (age 26) became vice-president of the company.[4][5]
In 1905, the Stouffer family established the Medina County Creamery Company in Medina, Ohio.[6]
James B. Stouffer died on November 23, 1908, at age 62 inOrlando, Florida, and Abraham took over the running of the Medina County Creamery.
On January 11, 1912, the Medina County Creamery Company filed a change of address to Cleveland.[7] By 1914, the company had expanded and opened a branch of the Medina County Creamery Company inDetroit. By the mid-1910s, the creamery claimed to be the largest manufacturer and wholesaler of creamery products in the city of Cleveland, supplied by over 1,500 farmers.[8]
In early 1920, Stouffer's lucrative creamery drew the attention of the Fairmont Creamery (now Fairmont Foods), the largest creamery company in the United States. In December 1920, Abraham Stouffer announced that the Medina County Creamery Company would merge with Fairmont Creamery Company of Omaha, Nebraska, through stock ownership.[9] As part of the merger, Abraham Stouffer would oversee the Cleveland plant until 1922.[10][11]
In 1922, Abraham Stouffer and his wife Lena Mahala Bigelow took over one of the company's milk stands, on the lower level of theCleveland Arcade, and converted it into a restaurant serving buttermilk, sandwiches, and Lena Stouffer's homemadeDutch apple pie[12] (credited by some as the reason for the almost instant success of the restaurant).[13]
Abraham had reportedly had the idea for the "Stouffer Lunch System" before 1920.[14] They opened the first restaurant, called the Stouffer Lunch, in 1924.[15] As time went on, the couple continued the program of expansion with the assistance of their sonsVernon,[16] a graduate of theWharton School of Finance, and Gordon, who together led the reorganization of the business, taking it public as theStouffer Corporation in 1929 with Abraham as chairman of the board.[12]
The year 1929 also marked the beginning of the company's effort to establish locations outside of Ohio, with the opening of a restaurant inDetroit, Michigan, and another inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[citation needed] After Abraham's death in 1936 the company continued its program of expansion by opening its first restaurant inNew York City,[citation needed] and eventually began a program ofdiversification, entering the frozen food business in 1946.[citation needed] In 1956 the company was formally renamed Stouffer Foods Corporation.
In 1960 Stouffer purchased its first hotel, the Anacapri Inn ofFort Lauderdale, Florida, and, by the end of that year, the company was composed of three divisions: Stouffer Foods Corporation, Stouffer Hotels Corporation,[17] and Stouffer Restaurants Corporation.[citation needed] In 1961, Stouffer's opened two short-lived automated vending restaurants.[18]Stouffer's took over this complex of restaurants with the shared kitchen (Plaza Pavilion). In 1962 Stouffer's Disneyland operated the Plaza Pavilion Restaurant,[19][20] theTahitian Terrace,[20] and the French Market Restaurant.[21] As of 2007, Stouffer's operated the Liberty Tree Tavern inWalt Disney World's Liberty Square.[22]
In 1967, the Stouffer Corporation was purchased byLitton Industries forvertical integration purposes, when that company had a large share of themicrowave oven market,[23] but in 1973, Litton sold Stouffer toNestlé. In 1993, as part of a refocusing of the company on food products,[24] Nestlé announced its intention to sellStouffer Hotels to the New World Development Company (which at that time owned theRenaissance andRamada hotel brands). The transaction was complete, and theStouffer Hotel brand was retired, by the end of 1996. As custodian, Primordial acquired the rights to bring Stouffer Hotels back in 2013.[23]
In 1991, theFederal Trade Commission issued a complaint that Stouffer Foods had misrepresented sodium content in theirLean Cuisine entrees by stating that they were low in sodium. Stouffer's argued that the campaign had focused on good taste and controlled sodium, fat, and calories. They also argued that the sodium claim was relative, reflecting a lower amount of sodium, not necessarily that the entrees were low sodium. However, the Administrative Law Judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission.[25]
In 2003,Applebee's sued Stouffer's for a 1997trademark infringement of Applebee's marketing term "Skillet Sensations." Applebee's had a line of "Skillet Sensations" of their own and claimed that it caused confusion for customers that believed the Stouffer's line was linked to theirs. The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of Applebee's.[26]
Medina: J.K. Arnold, J.B. Stouffer, W.W. Watson, George Boult and T.H. Boult have incorporated the Medina County Creamery Company with $20,000 capital stock.
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