The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smucker's, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major business units: consumer foods, pet foods, and coffee. Its flagship brand, Smucker's, produces fruit preserves, peanut butter, syrups, frozen crustless sandwiches, and ice cream toppings. Among J.M. Smucker's other food and coffee brands are Café Bustelo, Carnation Milk (Canada), Crosse & Blackwell, Dunkin', Five Roses (Canada), Folgers, Golden Temple (Canada), Jif, Knott's Berry Farm, Laura Scudder's, Robin Hood (Canada), Santa Cruz Organic, and Smucker's Uncrustables. Pet food brands include Meow Mix and Milk-Bone, among others. In 2023, Smuckers acquired Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies, in a $5.6 billion cash and stock deal. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: SJM), J.M. Smucker ranks 426th on the Fortune 500, with an estimated 2022 market value of $14.6 billion.
History
Founding (1897–1958) The J.M. Smucker Company was founded in 1897 by Jerome Monroe Smucker. Smucker was born on December 5, 1858, in Orrville, Ohio, and much of his life was spent as a farmer in Orrville. In 1897 Smucker built a cider mill in Orrville. The company, which came to produce jellies, jams, and other food items, has stated that he used apples from local Orrville trees planted by Johnny Appleseed in the early nineteenth century. Smucker prepared apple butter and sold it from the back of a horse-drawn wagon.
The company was incorporated in 1921. At the time, the company sold preserves and jellies, and by 1928 was distributing in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. After the company recorded losses in 1932 and 1933, in 1935 Smucker's eldest son Willard established a Smucker's plant in the state of Washington for pre-processing apples, which were then shipped to Orrville to be cooked. After introducing its trademark glass jar in 1939, annual sales reached $1 million. In 1940, Smucker's introduced its first line of ice cream toppings, and two years later began distributing its products nationally. During World War II, the company faced shortages of labor, glass, and fruit. In 1946, Smucker's earned the designation "U.S. Grade A Fancy" after it paid U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors to "oversee every aspect of its production."
National expansion and IPO (1959–1984) The company went public in 1959, and the following year J.M. Smucker opened a manufacturing plant in Salinas, California that increased its production capacity by 40%. In 1960, Paul Smucker became president and the company hired Wyse Advertising of Cleveland to produce radio spots. J.M. Smucker was then listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1965. 1963 saw J.M. Smucker's acquisition of the jams and jellies company Mary Ellen. Profits increased between 1959 and 1969 before dropping in 1970. Between 1973 and 1980, J.M. Smucker implemented cost-cutting measures to increase profit margins, acquiring manufacturing operations in Oregon, Tennessee and California and consolidating packing operations. In 1978, J.M. Smucker debuted a low sugar "spread" that was so low in sugar the Food and Drug Administration wouldn't allow Smucker's to market it as a jam. J.M. Smucker acquired gourmet preserves company Dickinson's in 1979, and by 1980, J.M. Smucker was the number one jams and jellies company in the United States, with over 25% of the market in the United States. In 1981, Timothy Smucker was named president and the company purchased Magic Shell the following year. After purchasing the pickle companies Wooster Preserving Co. and the H.W. Madison Co. in the 1960s, the company sold its unsuccessful pickle line in the early 1980s. J.M. Smucker in 1984 continued to be traded on the NYSE, with the Smucker family retaining a 30% interest in the business. That year J.M. Smucker acquired the juices company Knudsen & Sons.
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