Fyffes facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Produce |
| Founded | 1888 in London, United Kingdom |
| Founder | Edward Wathen Fyffe |
| Headquarters |
Geneva
,
Switzerland
|
|
Key people
|
Helge H. Sparsø
CEO
|
| Products | Fruit: bananas, melons, pineapples, |
| Revenue | €1.09 billion (2014) |
|
Operating income
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€38.8 million (2014) |
| €34.1 million (2014) | |
| Owner | Sumitomo Group (Japan) |
Fyffes is a company that sells fresh fruits and vegetables. It is most famous for its bananas. But Fyffes also sells many other fruits. These include Fyffes Gold Pineapples and Fyffes melons.
Fyffes grows, buys, ships, ripens, delivers, and sells bananas, pineapples, melons, and other special fruits. Today, Fyffes sells fruit in Europe and North America. They mainly use the Fyffes and Turbana brand names.
Contents
The History of Fyffes
Starting the Banana Business
In 1888, Edward Fyffe started bringing bananas into London. He was a food seller there. In 1897, he joined with Hudson Brothers. They were another fruit importer. Together, they formed Fyffe Hudson & Co.
Their business did very well. They even bought land in the Canary Islands to grow bananas. At the same time, Elder Dempster & Company, a big shipping company, saw their success. They also started importing fruit. In 1898, Elder Dempster began bringing fruit from Jamaica.
Forming Elders & Fyffes Ltd
The British government wanted to help Jamaica's economy. So, they agreed to pay Elder Dempster £40,000 each year. This was to run a regular ship service to Jamaica. The ships would bring many bananas to Britain.
In May 1901, the two companies joined together. They created Elders & Fyffes Ltd in London. The next year, a company from America, the United Fruit Company, bought 45% of Elders & Fyffes. After this, the business grew stronger. They used special ships to make sure the fruit arrived fresh.
Changes and Growth
In May 1969, the company changed its name. It became Fyffes Group Ltd. This new name showed how many different smaller companies it owned.
In 1986, an Irish company called FII plc bought Fyffes. This made Fyffes an Irish company. FII plc was formed when two other fruit companies joined in 1968. The combined company was first called FII Fyffes plc. But in 1989, it became simply Fyffes plc.
Challenges and Disputes
In 1990, there were not enough bananas in Honduras. This led to problems with another company, Chiquita. People called these problems the "Banana Wars."
In 2002, Fyffes had a legal case against DCC plc. This was about DCC selling its shares in Fyffes. The Supreme Court of Ireland later decided that DCC had used private information. This information was about Fyffes when DCC sold its shares in 2000. DCC had to pay about €42 million to settle the case in 2008.
A Rescue at Sea
In August 2004, a Fyffes banana ship helped save four sailors. The sailors were trying to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Their boat was destroyed by big waves near Foynes Port in County Limerick, Ireland.
The Fyffes ship was on its way from Costa Rica. It was carrying 250,000 boxes of bananas. The ship was almost done with its 12-day trip when it got the call for help. The crew quickly rescued the sailors from the stormy waters.
New Partnerships
In September 2008, UNICEF Ireland and Fyffes started working together. This partnership lasted five years. It helped UNICEF fight malaria in Mozambique. They focused on helping children who had lost their parents or were in need.
In March 2014, Fyffes planned to join with Chiquita. This would have made them the world's largest banana seller. But in October of that year, Fyffes decided not to go through with the deal.
Belize Banana Farms
In October 2015, Fyffes stopped buying bananas from Mayan King farms in Belize. Mayan King grew about a quarter of Belize's bananas. It also employed around 1,200 people. Workers at the farm worried about losing their jobs.
Fyffes stopped buying from the farm because of its links to John Zabaneh. The US government had said in 2012 that he had ties to certain groups. Fyffes had cut ties with Zabaneh in 2012. But they started buying from Mayan King again when they were told Zabaneh was no longer involved.
Growing the Business
In April 2016, Fyffes bought a Canadian mushroom company. It was called Highline Produce Limited. This cost C$145 million (€98 million). Later, they bought another Canadian mushroom business. This one was All Seasons Mushrooms Inc. for C$59.1 million (€41 million).
In February 2017, a Japanese company called Sumitomo bought Fyffes. This cost €751 million. Fyffes then stopped being traded on the stock market.
In 2020, Fyffes sold its mushroom business to Summit Fresh Produce.
How Fyffes Operates
Fyffes is a very old fruit brand. The famous blue label was first used on bananas in 1929. Fyffes also brings in many types of melons. These include Galia, cantaloupe, charentais, watermelon, piel de sapo, and yellow honeydew. These melons come from Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
The Fyffes Group has a large ripening center in Basingstoke, Europe. It can ripen 117,000 boxes of bananas at once. That's over 2,100 tonnes of bananas! The company used to have its own ships, called Fyffes Line.
See also
- List of Irish companies
