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, London, England Mentone, Victoria, Australia |
| Products | Frozen food |
| Owner | Conagra Brands (US, 2018–present) Nomad Foods (Europe, 2014-present) Simplot (AU) |
| Parent |
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Birds Eye is a well-known brand that sells frozen foods all over the world. It started in the United States. Today, different companies own the brand in different parts of the world. Conagra Brands owns it in the U.S., Nomad Foods owns it in Europe, and Simplot owns it in Australia.
The original company, "Birdseye Seafood, Inc.", was started in 1922. It was founded by Clarence Birdseye to sell frozen fish. Later, in 1929, the Postum Cereal Company bought it. Over the years, Birds Eye has been owned by several other companies. These include Dean Foods and Pinnacle Foods. In 2018, Conagra Brands took over Pinnacle Foods. Since then, Conagra has managed the Birds Eye brand in the U.S.
Contents
The Story of Birds Eye
How Frozen Food Began in the U.S.
In the early 1900s, a man named Clarence Birdseye traveled to Northern Canada. He was from Montclair, New Jersey. While there, he saw the Inuit people. They used ice, wind, and cold temperatures to freeze fresh fish very quickly. This made Clarence curious. He wondered if this fast-freezing method could work for other foods too. This trip in the 1920s gave him the idea for his food preservation method.
Clarence Birdseye started doing experiments. He found better ways to freeze fish for selling to people. In 1922, he created "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." This company froze fish fillets using very cold air. In 1924, he found a new way to quick-freeze food for businesses. He would pack fish into cartons. Then, he froze them between two very cold surfaces under pressure.
Birdseye then started the "General Seafood Corporation." This company helped promote his new freezing method. In 1929, he sold his company and his special freezing ideas. He sold them for $22 million to Goldman Sachs and the Postum Cereal Company. These companies then created a new business called General Foods. They also started the "Birds Eye Frozen Food Company."
Over the years, the ownership of Birds Eye in the U.S. changed many times. General Foods merged with Kraft Foods Inc. in 1990. Birds Eye was then sold to Dean Foods in 1993. It was an independent company for a while. Then, Pinnacle Foods bought it in 2009. In 2010, Pinnacle Foods moved Birds Eye's main offices. Finally, in June 2018, Conagra Brands bought Pinnacle Foods. Birds Eye became one of Conagra's many brands.
Birds Eye in Europe
In June 1938, a company called Frosted Foods was created. Its goal was to use the Birds Eye brand in the United Kingdom.
In 1943, a large company called Unilever bought a big part of Frosted Foods. This meant Unilever then owned the Birds Eye brand in the UK.
Birds Eye also had a factory in Grimsby, England. They made many frozen fish and vegetable products there. In 1955, they moved to a bigger factory to make more fish fingers. The fish finger became a very important product for the company. It was created in 1955 at their factory in Lowestoft. They tested it first, then started making lots of them.
In 2006, Unilever sold the Birds Eye brand in the UK. A company called Permira bought it for a lot of money.
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.
Birds Eye Brands
Birds Eye has bought many other well-known food brands. Some of these brands are sold only in certain areas, not everywhere. 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
In the United Kingdom, Captain Birdseye was a famous advertising character. He was the face of the brand from the 1960s to the late 1990s. He appeared in many television and billboard ads starting in 1967. The actor John Hewer played him for many years. After John Hewer retired, the company tried a younger Captain. But this new version was not as popular. In 2014, the brand's packaging was redesigned. It now looks more like the original Captain Birdseye.
Other British Ads
In the early 1970s, child actress Patsy Kensit was in an ad for frozen peas. The ad had a catchy song that said, "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. These ads often ended with the line: "... it can make a dishonest woman of you!"
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 featured a boy who only wanted to eat Birds Eye beefburgers. The slogan was "somehow, other beefburgers just don't taste the same."
In the 1980s, an ad for Potato waffles had a jingle that said, 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 included the line "we hope it's chips."
In the early 2010s, Birds Eye ads featured a polar bear puppet named Clarence. Clarence would appear in people's freezers. He would advise them to choose Birds Eye products. In 2011, Birds Eye even made toy versions of Clarence. Kids could get them by sending in tokens from Birds Eye fish finger boxes.
