PILLSBURY COMPANY

major American flour miller and food products manufacturer. Pillsbury is a subsidiary of the British company Grand Metropolitan, P.L.C. Headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minn. In 1869 Charles A. Pillsbury bought a share in a Minneapolis flour mill. After the purchase of additional mills and the introduction of enhancements to the milling process, his firm was reorganized in 1872 as C.A. Pillsbury and Company. It was sold in 1889 to an English syndicate, which merged Pillsbury with other mills in their holdings to form Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, Ltd., with Charles Pillsbury as managing director. The Pillsbury family regained ownership of the company in the 1920s, and it was incorporated as Pillsbury Flour Mills Company in 1935. The company was acquired by Grand Metropolitan in 1989. Through its long history in the baking-goods industry, its cookbooks, and its promotional baking contestsnotably the annual Pillsbury Bake-offPillsbury has become identified with home baking. One of the company's first products, Pillsbury's Best flour, is still produced. In addition, the company manufactures a wide variety of branded consumer food products, including flour and baking mixes and refrigerated and frozen dough products. The company also produces flour and prepared bread mixes for bakeries, restaurants, and other institutions. Through the Green Giant Company, acquired in 1979, it markets canned and frozen vegetables and frozen prepared foods. In 1972 Pillsbury began purchasing Burger King fast-food outlets, and it soon came to own the entire chain. Burger King now operates as a separate division of Grand Metropolitan. Pillsbury acquired Hagen-Dazs, makers of premium ice cream and frozen yogurt, in 1983. The company's consumer food products are marketed internationally.