Birds Eye facts for kids
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Formerly
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Birdseye Seafood, Inc. |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Food |
| Fate | Acquired by Postum Cereal Company in 1929, other owners then |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Founder | Clarence Birdseye |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Feltham, Middlesex, England Mentone, Victoria, Australia |
| Products | Frozen food |
| Owner | Conagra Brands (US, 2018–present) Nomad Foods (Europe) Simplot (AU) |
| Parent |
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Birds Eye is a well-known international brand that sells frozen foods. It started in the USA. Today, different companies own the brand in different parts of the world. For example, Conagra Brands owns it in the United States. Nomad Foods owns it in Europe, and Simplot owns it in Australia.
The company was first called "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." It was started in 1922 by Clarence Birdseye. He wanted to sell frozen fish. Later, in 1929, the company was bought by the Postum Cereal Company. Over the years, other companies like Dean Foods and Pinnacle Foods owned Birds Eye. In 2018, Conagra Brands took over Pinnacle Foods. This made Birds Eye part of Conagra Brands in the U.S.
Contents
How Birds Eye Started and Grew
The Idea from Clarence Birdseye
In the early 1900s, a man named Clarence Birdseye traveled to Northern Canada. He saw how the Inuit people froze fresh fish very quickly. They used ice, wind, and cold temperatures. This quick freezing method made the fish stay fresh.
Clarence was very curious about this. He wondered if he could use this "flash freezing" method for other foods too. His trip in the 1920s gave him the idea for a new way to preserve food.
Developing Frozen Food
Clarence Birdseye did many experiments. He found better ways to freeze fish for sale. In 1922, he started "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." This company froze fish fillets using very cold air.
By 1924, he found an even better way to freeze food quickly. He would pack fish in boxes. Then, he would freeze the boxes between two very cold surfaces. This method worked well for selling frozen food. Clarence then created the "General Seafood Corporation" to use this new method.
In 1929, Clarence sold his company and his ideas for a lot of money. It was bought by Goldman Sachs and the Postum Cereal Company. They then started a new business called General Foods. This company created the "Birds Eye Frozen Food Company."
Birds Eye in the United States
Over time, Birds Eye changed owners several times. General Foods merged with Kraft Foods Inc. in 1990. Then, Birds Eye was sold to Dean Foods in 1993. It was an independent company for a while. In 2009, Pinnacle Foods bought it.
In 2010, Pinnacle Foods moved Birds Eye's main office to New Jersey. Finally, in June 2018, Conagra Brands bought Pinnacle Foods. This made Birds Eye a part of Conagra Brands.
Birds Eye in Europe
In 1938, a company called Frosted Foods was formed in the UK. Its goal was to sell Birds Eye frozen foods there.
Later, in 1943, Unilever bought a big part of Frosted Foods. Birds Eye also had a factory in Grimsby, England. This factory made many kinds of frozen fish and vegetables. In 1955, they started making fish fingers there. Fish fingers became a very popular product for the company.
Another big Birds Eye factory was in Gipsyville, Hull. It processed peas. This factory opened in 1967 but closed in 2007. In 2006, Unilever sold the Birds Eye brand in the UK to a company called Permira.
Birds Eye in Australia and New Zealand
In Australia and New Zealand, the Birds Eye brand is owned by Simplot Australia Pty Ltd. This company is part of the J.R. Simplot Company. Simplot bought Birds Eye and other food brands in the mid-1990s. In 2015, Birds Eye was named "Australia’s Most Trusted Frozen Food Brand" by Reader's Digest.
Other Brands from Birds Eye
Birds Eye has bought many other food brands over the years. Some of these brands are sold only in certain areas, not all over the country. Here are some of the brands owned and sold by Birds Eye:
- Bernstein's
- Brooks
- Comstock Wilderness
- C&W
- Freshlike
- Greenwood
- Husman's
- McKenzie's
- Nalley
- Riviera
- Snyder of Berlin
- Steamfresh
- Tim's Cascade Snacks
- Voila
Birds Eye Advertising
Captain Birdseye (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, Captain Birdseye is a famous advertising character. He has been the face of the brand since the 1960s. He appeared in many television and billboard ads. The actor John Hewer played him from 1967 to 1998.
After John Hewer retired, a younger actor played the Captain. But this new version was not as popular. So, the character was removed from Birds Eye's ads for a while. In 2014, the brand's packaging was redesigned. It showed artwork that looked like the original Captain Birdseye.
Other British Ads
The child actress Patsy Kensit was in a Birds Eye ad in the early 1970s. It was for frozen peas. The ad had a catchy song with the line "Sweet as the moment when the pod went 'pop'".
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, June Whitfield appeared in many Birds Eye TV ads. She would often say, "... it can make a dishonest woman of you!" at the end.
Another popular ad campaign in the 1970s was for Birds Eye Beefburgers. These ads were special because they used different accents from around the UK. This was new for TV ads at the time. The ads had a slogan: "somehow, other beefburgers just don't taste the same."
In the 1980s, an ad for Potato waffles had a song with the words Waffley versatile. Another popular ad was for Birds Eye Steakhouse Grills. It showed hungry construction workers singing about what they hoped their wives would serve with their steak burgers. The song used the tune of Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) and ended with "we hope it's chips."
Images for kids
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Birds Eye headquarters in Brighton, NY, 2010
