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By Garland Pollard
Gosh, we didn’t realize how much we miss General Foods, the company founded by Clarence Birdseye, inventor of frozen foods, and C.W. Post, creator of Postum.
When General Foods merged with Kraft, the General Foods got lost. That is too bad. Because Kraft is a fine name, but we associate that with dairy foods. We love the little dots that graced the old General Foods logo. And what a great shade of blue!
The other thing critical was that for generations, General Foods was a brand, and not just a company name. So much was lost by not having the General Foods logo associated with the company’s products. What a great logo it is; a classic designed by Walter Dorwin Teague in 1962.
All of these General Foods food brands are still around, though some, like Log Cabin, have been sold to other companies who have tried to extract some value out of the brands. But we believe they lack something trustworthy without the General Foods logo on the back. Here is the great list of General Foods brands. Please put this logo back on Jell-O!
Please add more if you know of more:
10 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Mar 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Post, Jell-O, Baker’s, Calumet Baking Powder, Cool Whip, Stove Top, Shake N’Bake now bear the Kraft logo after removing General Foods moniker for Kraft. The addition of Nabisco put the Kraft label on Jet Puffed and Easy Cheese.
2 Anonymous // Apr 22, 2008 at 8:17 pm
In the 1980s, General Foods owned Frito-Lay in Canada, thanks to a partnership with PepsiCo, Frito’s parent company in the US. If only General Foods could have added Doritos, Lays, Ruffles, Fritos, Rold Gold and the entire Frito-Lay product inventory to its lineup, the beloved GF logo would likely have been seen on Frito’s snack food packages as well as those of Jell-O, Shake n Bake and Country Time. Too bad GF dropped the ball on Frito-Lay, which led to the demise of a great food company that would become absorbed by a corporation that is best known for dairy foods and little else while Frito lives on as a Pepsi flagship.
3 Anonymous // Apr 23, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Have you ever noticed how the “G” in the General Foods logo was as round and smooth as a baby’s face? Perhaps if General Foods would have used the photo of Indianapolis comedian Tom Griswold’s baby and puppy as its logo for the 1990s, the company would still be in business.
4 dig sandy // Nov 5, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Hellman’s was not a GF brand (it was Best Foods/CPC International), but here are some from GF not listed thus far: Certo, Sure-Jell, Dream Whip, Max-Pax, Maxim, Brim, Crystal Light, and D-Zerta. General Foods was the best!
5 dig sandy // Nov 5, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Oops! I forgot that GF also used to own Gainesburgers, Gravy Train, and Cycle dog foods. I also forgot Good Seasons salad dressing and Yuban coffee.
6 History of Allens canned foods | BrandlandUSA™ // Jan 11, 2009 at 5:59 pm
[...] the non-branded frozen food and canned food operations of Birdseye, which was once part of General Foods. Today, they own a number of brands [...]
7 leeann // Jan 28, 2009 at 3:13 am
Does anyone know what advertising company/executive came up with the Shake ‘n Bake commercials in the 1970s?
Thanks
8 Kraft new logo ignores General Foods | BrandlandUSA™ // Feb 18, 2009 at 5:54 am
[...] to numerous product brands like Tang, Maxwell House, Oscar Meyer and the like. Read our post on the unwise dumping of the General Foods name entitled Where is General [...]
9 Kraft Ditching Nabisco Brand? Looks Like It. | // Jun 9, 2009 at 8:55 pm
[...] Is Kraft (NYSE: KFT) dropping the Nabisco brand, just like they ditched the storied and valuable General Foods brand? And that’s on top of their cheesy new logo that no one [...]
10 John // Aug 10, 2010 at 4:49 am
I loved the General Foods logo, the GF with the four dots, used from 1962 to December 1984. In January 1985 they introduced a new short lived logo. It was a depressing stylized black and grey thing resembling a G. In November 1985 GF was acquired by Phillip Morris and in December 1988 they acquired Kraft. They tried to brand all food products as Kraft General Foods but this only served to confuse the buying public. In January 1990 the words General Foods was entirely removed. So technically, General Foods was officially defunct as of January 1990. There is a section of General Foods corporate brick buildings that still existed in 2008 though vacant and awaiting demolition for condos in White Plains, NY and the faint GF could still be seen on the brick where the letters were removed. I have a 2008 photo. Even Phillip Morris, the 1985 acquiring company of GF is no longer Phillip Morris but as of 2005 Altria Group. And that new forthcoming flowery Kraft Foods logo is silly and will eventually destroy the bold lettered KRAFT logo. It’s sad that so much has changed and for no good reason. All in all, the beginning of the end was in November 1985 when GF was acquired by Phillip Morris.
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