KRAFT, INC.

subsidiary of Philip Morris Companies Inc., and a major American manufacturer and marketer of food products; it is a leading producer of cheese and other dairy products. The firm's headquarters are in Glenview, Ill., U.S. Kraft, Inc., grew out of a wholesale cheese-delivery business established in Chicago in 1903 by James L. Kraft. Three years later he and his brother Charles began processing cheese for distribution to area retailers. Two other brothers later joined the firm, and in 1909 it was incorporated as J.L. Kraft Bros. & Company. The brothers patented a spoil-resistant processed cheese, which was sold in great quantities to the U.S. Army during World War I. In 1930 the company was acquired by National Dairy Products Corporation (established 1923), which adopted the name Kraftco Corporation in 1969 and Kraft, Inc., in 1976. From 1980 to 1986 the company was merged with Dart Industries, Inc., a diversified company manufacturing goods including home appliances, plastic products, and batteries. When Kraft, Inc., split off in 1986, it retained the batteries division for two years. In 1988 the company was taken over the Philip Morris Companies Inc.