International Multifoods Corporation

The company that would become International Multifoods Corporation began as a small flour mill in 1892 on property leased in New Prague, Minnesota. The mill was operated by F. A. Bean, Sr., a man who, with his father, had previously owned the Polar Star Milling Company of Faribault which, in 1890 or 1891, had closed with an amassed debt of over $100,000. After four years of profitable operation at the New Prague site and at a site purchased in Wells, Minnesota, Bean lost the New Prague lease due to questionable circumstances surrounding the owner's redemption of mortgages held against the property. [F.A. Bean, "Interesting Events in the Early Days of the Company," The Grist (April 1942), p.9-10.] Forced to find new facilities, Bean built a mill complete with grain storage and railroad trackage and incorporated this business as The New Prague Flouring Mill.

In 1902, ten years after its initial start-up, the New Prague Flouring Mill expanded by acquiring a mill in Wells, Minnesota. Four years later the company acquired a third operation in Davenport, Iowa. In 1908 the company purchased the Moose Jaw Milling Company in Saskatchewan, Canada and began its international operations by marketing the Robin Hood brand of flours. The company was renamed International Milling Company in 1910 and, in 1912, Bean repaid the debts owed by the Polar Star Milling Company from some 20 years previous.

Throughout the remaining first half of the twentieth century, International Milling Company continued to expand operations within both the United States and Canada by acquiring or building additional mills in New York, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. To augment its manufacturing operations the company added docks, terminal elevators, and warehouses to its assets. Beginning in 1951, the company diversified its trade lines through the purchase of the Eagle Roller Mill Company of New Ulm, Minnesota, manufacturers of rye flours and the Supersweet animal formula feeds. By the early 1960s the company had mills manufacturing feed products in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

During the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s the company continued to expand its international operations and to diversify its product lines. Flour mills in Puerto Cabello and Maracaibo, Venezuela were opened under the subsidiary Robin Hood Flour Mills Limited of Molinos Nacionales C.A. (MONACA). A sales office was opened in Caracas in 1960 and mill facilities were purchased in Cumana and constructed in Valencia. An Ecuadorian feed mill was purchased in 1961 and was replaced by new facilities in 1966. In 1965, after acquiring several poultry and egg operations across the midwestern United States, the company "purchased a substantial (approximately 50%) interest in La Hacienda, an agricultural processing and manufacturing business in Mexico. Included in the business were three formula feed plants, an alfalfa dehydration plant, a feed equipment fabricating factory, three chicken hatcheries and seven poultry farms." [From the chronology in Harry's Bay Research Files found in the Historical Background series of the International Multifoods Corporation corporate records.] Throughout this period of international expansion, various proposals were investigated for operations in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Nicaragua.

The 1960s and 1970s were a period of self examination, reorganization, and movement toward an increased presence in consumer markets. In 1964 the corporation first offered common stock to the public. In 1970 the company renamed itself International Multifoods Corporation and, in August of 1971, began listing its stock on the New York Stock Exchange. During this time the public relations department undertook a number of studies regarding the corporation's identity, examining its name, symbol, and logo. Product diversification continued and the corporation entered the consumer foods market with prepared mixes, delicatessen items, and frozen foods. At the same time, the corporation also began restaurant franchising and marketing home interior accessories. Some of the companies acquired during this time included the Kretschmer Wheat Germ Company of Carrollton, Michigan (1964); Bick's of Canada, a pickle manufacturer, (1966); Mister Donut of Weston, Massachusetts (1970); Kaukauna Cheese of Kaukauna, Wisconsin (1972); Freeman-McFarlin of El Monte, California and Nadler Lighting of Cleveland, Ohio (1973); Smokecraft of Albany, Oregon (1976); Hickory Farms of Wichita, Kansas (1978); and Morey Fish Company of Motley, Minnesota (1979).

Following this period of expansion and diversification, the corporation underwent major restructuring in the 1980s and early 1990s in an effort to increase efficiency and to streamline its operations. During this time many of the companies acquired throughout the 1960s and 1970s were divested including its interior decorative lines, its consumer and pet food operations, its restaurant franchises, and its agricultural operations. As part of this streamlining the corporation even sold to General Mills, Inc. the operations which gave the company its start, the United States flour milling firms. By 1992, the year of the company's centennial, Multifoods enjoyed a major presence in the food industry with over $2 billion in annual sales.