Dole plc facts for kids
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| Public | |
| Traded as | NYSE: DOLE |
| ISIN | IE0003LFZ4U7 |
| Industry | Agribusiness |
| Founded | June 2, 1851 Kingdom of Hawaii |
| Founder | Samuel Northrup Castle Amos Starr Cooke James Dole |
| Headquarters |
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Ireland
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Key people
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Carl McCann (Chairman) Rory Byrne (CEO) Johan Lindén (COO) |
| Products | Fruit Vegetables Other food products |
| Revenue | US$6.5 billion (2021) |
| $349.1 million (2021) | |
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Number of employees
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38,500 |
Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company, Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating with 38,500 full-time and seasonal employees who supply some 300 products in 75 countries. Dole reported 2021 revenues of $6.5 billion.
As of 2021, the company had approximately 250 processing plants and distribution centers worldwide in addition to 109,000 acres (44,000 ha) of farmland and real estate. The company operates through four segments: Fresh Fruit (bananas and pineapples; about 35% of 2020 revenues); Diversified Fresh Produce in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; Diversified Fresh Produce in the Americas and other world regions (combined 37% of 2020 revenues); and Fresh Vegetables (29% of 2020 revenues). Dole grows and markets bananas, pineapples, grapes, berries, deciduous and citrus fruits, and vegetable salads. Dole operates a 13-vessel shipping line for importing its produce and exporting third-party goods to Latin America.
The multinational company PepsiCo commercializes bottled fruit juices under license using the Dole brand.
Contents
History
Dole plc traces its origins to the foundation of Castle & Cooke in 1851, and Charles McCann's Fish, Fruit and Vegetable Market in the 1850s in Ireland. Castle & Cooke, a sugar and logistics company, was founded in Hawaii by Amos Starr Cooke and Samuel Northrup Castle.
In 1899, industrialist James Dole moved to Hawaii and two years later formed the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HPC). The HPC delivered its first shipment of canned pineapple in 1903. The company made technological advances in the early decades of the 20th century in processing the fruit—most notably the Ginaca Machine, created in 1911—that made canning pineapple commercially viable. In 1922, Dole purchased the Hawaiian island Lanai and turned it into the largest pineapple plantation in the world. The same year, Castle & Cooke acquired 33% of the company via lease agreement. In 1927, the HPC began stamping its cans with the "Dole" brand. By the end of the 1920s, the company grew more than 75% of all pineapples in the world. However, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company struggled to stay afloat during the Great Depression and Castle & Cooke took control of it in 1932. The HPC was renamed the "Dole Company" and became a subsidiary of Castle & Cooke in 1961. Two years later, the company began expanding its fruit growing operations into southeast Asia, opening plantations and canneries in the Philippines and Thailand.
While the HPC was getting established, the tropical fruit trade was growing in Central and South America, primarily with the banana trade. One of the major players in that trade, the Standard Fruit and Steamship Company, was established in 1906 by the Vaccaro brothers and Salvador D'Antoni as Vaccaro Brothers and Company. However, the quartet had been making shipments of tropical fruit such as bananas and coconuts, as well as other items, since 1899. The firm grew rapidly in its early years, establishing a headquarters in La Ceiba, Honduras, purchasing housing and cargo ships, and building rail and telephone lines at its plantations. The company's rapid growth has been attributed to the destruction of property records in the early 20th century, leading the firm to take control of large swaths of land with the support of the Honduran government. In 1924, the firm went public as the Standard Fruit and Steamship Company. In the 1920s, as Panama disease was destroying crops of the Gros Michel banana, Standard Fruit began looking for other cultivars to grow, settling on the Cavendish banana. Switching to the Cavendish allowed Standard Fruit to become the largest banana producer in the world by the 1960s. Standard Fruit merged with Castle & Cooke in 1968.
While these companies were forming in the United States, the McCanns expanded their operations in Ireland, opening a store in Dundalk in 1902. In the 1950s, the McCanns began consolidating with other companies in Ireland, creating United Fruit Importers and then Fruit Importers of Ireland, which became a publicly traded company.
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Headquarters
Following the 2021 merger with Total Produce, Dole plc has world headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and US headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Public relations
The Guinness Book of World Records (2007) lists the pineapple maze at the Dole Plantation on Oahu, Hawaii as the world's largest maze.
Bobby Banana, a mascot of Dole plc, is an anthropomorphic banana who appears in Dole comics and games for children.
Products
Including pineapples, Dole products include some 300 fresh plant foods as whole deciduous and citrus fruits, berries, and fresh-cut vegetables; salad products include greens, salad kits, and shreds.
See also
In Spanish: Dole Food Company para niños
