science

Pinnacle Foods

Pinnacle Foods is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pinnacle Foods rather than just read about it. In short: Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018.

Key takeaways

Pinnacle Foods belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pinnacle Foods to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pinnacle Foods from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018.

History The company was founded in 1998 as "Vlasic Foods International", acquiring the Swanson TV dinners, Open Pit, and Vlasic Pickles brands from the Campbell Soup Company. In 2001, Vlasic Foods International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Between 2001 and 2007 the spinoff of former Campbell Soup Company branded food lines was owned by the Metropoulos Group which named it Pinnacle Foods. In 2007, Pinnacle Foods was acquired by the Blackstone Group, a New York City-based private equity firm. In 2013, Pinnacle Foods' Parsippany office was named Inc. Magazine's "World's Coolest Office." That year, Pinnacle Foods had its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, raising approximately $580 million for its owners, the private equity Blackstone Group. Shares began trading under the ticker symbol PF on April 4 at the upper range of its offering, $20 per share, thereby valuing Pinnacle Foods with a market capitalization of $2.3 billion. In May 2014, Hillshire Brands announced it was buying Pinnacle Foods for $4.23 billion in a cash and stock deal. Hillshire Brands' portfolio includes Jimmy Dean, Ball Park, and Sara Lee. But on June 30, 2014, it was announced that Pinnacle Foods had scrapped its sale to Hillshire Brands, which would allow Hillshire Brands to be acquired by Tyson Foods. Pinnacle was to receive a $163 million payment as part of the breakup from Hillshire, and also receive an expected $25 million in one-time costs connected to the scotched sale. In March 2016, it was announced that CEO Robert Gamgort would be leaving Pinnacle Foods to be the new CEO of Keurig Green Mountain. Mark A. Clouse, formerly of Mondelēz, succeeded Gamgort as CEO of the company. In June 2018, Conagra announced it would acquire Pinnacle Foods for $8.1 billion. The sale was completed on October 26, 2018 and the company was delisted in the NYSE.

Other acquisitions In March 2004, Pinnacle Foods acquired Aurora Foods of St. Louis, Missouri. Two years later, it acquired the food business of Dial Corporation including the Armour Star canned meats business. In 2009, the Swanson brand was discontinued in the United States, but remained in use in Canada. That same year, Pinnacle Foods also acquired Birds Eye Foods, Inc. adding a mix of frozen and specialty brands to its portfolio. In November 2014, Pinnacle Foods announced that it would acquire Garden Protein International, Inc., maker of Gardein, from founder Yves Potvin, for $154 million. In November 2015, Pinnacle Foods announced that it would be acquiring Boulder Brands for around $710 million, as part of the company's strategy to expand its health and wellness services.

Brands

Grocery Armour Star (acquired from The Dial Corporation in 2006) Appian Way Pizza Crust Mix (acquired from The Dial Corporation in 2006) Banner Sausage (acquired from The Dial Corporation in 2006) Bernstein's dressings Brooks beans and chili Cream Corn Starch (acquired from The Dial Corporation in 2006) Duncan Hines including Duncan Hines Comstock, Duncan Hines Wilderness (acquired from Procter & Gamble in 1997) Log Cabin Syrup (acquired from Kraft Foods) Milwaukee's Pickles Mrs. Butterworth's (acquired from Unilever) Nalley Open Pit barbecue sauce Smart Balance Vlasic Wish-Bone (acquired from Unilever in 2013)

Frozen Birds Eye including Birds Eye C&W and Birds Eye Voila! Celeste Hungry-Man frozen TV dinners (acquired from Campbell Soup Company) Lender's (acquired from Kraft Foods in 1999) Mrs. Paul's frozen fish products (acquired from Campbell Soup Company) Van de Kamp's frozen fish products

Boulder Brands Earth Balance EVOL Gardein Glutino Udi's

Specialty El Restaurante Erin's Hawaiian Kettle Style Potato Chips and Snack Rings Husman's Snyder of Berlin (no longer related to Snyder's of Hanover) Tim's Cascade Snacks

Former

Frozen Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast foods, produced continuously under license from Quaker Oats beginning in 1996 under Aurora Foods until discontinuation of the entire lineup in 2017 soon after a voluntary product recall over potential listeria contamination.

References

External links

Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pinnacle Foods

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pinnacle Foods claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pinnacle Foods before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pinnacle Foods ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pinnacle Foods

In research: Pinnacle Foods appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pinnacle Foods in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pinnacle Foods is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2007 mergers and acquisitions, 2013 initial public offerings, 2018 mergers and acquisitions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pinnacle Foods outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pinnacle Foods in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pinnacle Foods means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pinnacle Foods out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pinnacle Foods in simple terms?

Why does Pinnacle Foods matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pinnacle Foods?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pinnacle Foods.