Gorton's of Gloucester facts for kids
Gorton's of Gloucester is a famous company that makes frozen seafood, like fish sticks, for families to buy in stores. They also sell seafood to restaurants, including fast-food places. This company has been in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a town in the United States, for a very long time, since 1849! It's now part of a bigger Japanese seafood company called Nissui.
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | 1849 (as John Pew & Sons) |
| Founders | John Pew Slade Gorton William Pew |
| Headquarters | Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
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Key people
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Kurt Hogan, CEO |
| Products | Frozen seafood |
| Parent | Nissui |
Contents
How Gorton's Started
Early Fishing Businesses
The story of Gorton's began with a fishing business called John Pew & Sons. William Pew, whose father was John Pew, became a fisherman after serving as a soldier. He arrived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1755. The family's fishing business officially became a company, John Pew & Sons, in 1849.
Another important person was Slade Gorton. His old job at a cotton mill ended when the mill burned down. In 1874, he started his own fishing business called Slade Gorton & Company. He began to package and sell salted codfish and mackerel in small barrels. His company was the first to sell salt-dried fish this way.
The Famous Fisherman Logo
In 1899, Slade Gorton & Company created a special product: the "Original Gorton Fish Cake." A few years later, in 1905, the company chose a fisherman steering a boat as its trademark. This image is now known as the Gorton's Fisherman!
Becoming Gorton's of Gloucester
Merging Companies
In 1906, Slade Gorton & Company joined with John Pew & Sons and two other fishing businesses. They all merged to form the Gorton-Pew Fisheries. This new, bigger company made Gorton's codfish cakes very popular, especially in New England.
Freezing Fish and Fish Sticks
The company started freezing fish in the early 1930s. In 1949, Gorton-Pew made history by sending the first refrigerated truck full of frozen fish from Gloucester all the way to San Francisco. This long trip took eight days!
A big moment for the company came in 1953. Gorton-Pew was the first company to introduce a frozen fish stick that was ready to cook. This new product was so good that it even won an award from Parents magazine!
Name Changes Over Time
The company's name changed a few times. In 1957, Gorton-Pew Fisheries became Gorton's of Gloucester. Then, in 1965, it changed to The Gorton Corporation. Today, it is simply known as Gorton's. In 1968, Gorton's joined a larger company called General Mills, Inc.
New Owners and Campaigns
In 1995, a company called Unilever bought Gorton's from General Mills. Later, in 2001, Unilever sold Gorton's to Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc., which is part of the Japanese company Nissui.
In 2005, the Gorton's Fisherman appeared in a MasterCard TV commercial during the Super Bowl. This ad showed many famous food and cleaning mascots having dinner together.
Around the same time, some environmental groups asked Gorton's to help stop the hunting of whales by its parent company, Nissui. By 2006, these groups announced that Gorton's and Nissui had stopped supporting whale hunting. This showed how companies can listen to people who care about the environment.
