McCormick Canada celebrates 125th anniversary

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

McCormick Canada celebrates 125th anniversary
McCormick Canada celebrates its 125th
anniversary this year with a plant expansion and new brand acquisitions.

McCormick Canada celebrates its 125th anniversary this year with a plant expansion and new brand acquisitions.

Well known McCormick brands in Canada include Club House; McCormick Gourmet; Thai Kitchen; Simply Asia; Zatarain's; Fish Crisp; Old Bay; Hy's; and French's dry sauce mixes and gravy. Billy Bee and Doyon Honey brands were acquired in February. In August, McCormick acquired another iconic product, Lawry's Seasoning Salt, previously owned by Unilever.

"McCormick prides itself on a culture that supports its people and delivers business growth through innovation," says McCormick Canada president and CEO Angie Francolini.
Few other Canadian companies have celebrated the 125th milestone. McCormick joins an elite club that includes Grand & Toy, BCE, Tiger Brand Knitting and E.D. Smith.

McCormick Canada began in London in Canada's 16th year, 1883, as Forest City Spice Mills. Its first food products included coffee, baking powder, extracts and spices, with olives added to the line in 1890. By 1905, the company was the largest olive packer in the British Empire, and by the 1930s, the coffee was the official brew of the governor general's residence at Rideau Hall. The Club House brand was introduced in 1928 as a brand of peanut butter, and within three years was the market leader in that category.

Today, McCormick has become the largest spice, dry sauce, seasonings, extracts and specialty foods operation in the country, employing more than 600 Canadians and enjoying annual sales of more than $250 million.

According to Nielsen's Top 100 Brands ranking in 2008, McCormick Canada's largest brand, Club House, is ranked 76th in sales nationally across all categories in Canada. And McCormick continues to grow, with a new 210,000-square-foot warehousing facility slated to open in April 2009 in London.