History of McCormick & Company

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has been the largest U.S. seller of spices, seasonings, and flavorings for nearly the entirety of the 20th century.

A 25 years old founder Willoughby M. McCormick (1864–1932) started the company in the basement of a Baltimore home in 1889, when he began making fruit syrups, juices, flavoring extracts, and root beer in his home. McCormick enlisted three young assistants to help with production and with door-to-door sales.

Once the flavors of McCormick caught on, the company moved into more suitable Baltimore headquarters. At this time, McCormick added a number of new products, including food colorings, cream of tartar, liver pills, castor oil, talcum powder, witch hazel, blood purifier, cold cream, bay rum, tooth powder, and toilet water.

In 1896 the company took a crucial step forward by acquiring Philadelphia-based F.G. Emmett Spice Company and entered the spice industry.

Willoughby died on November 4, 1932, and Willoughby's nephew, Charles Perry McCormick was elected president and Chairman of the Board at age 36. The big "Mc" became a trademark for nearly all U.S. products in 1941.

In 1947, McCormick acquisition of Schilling of San Francesco – the largest spice business west of the Mississippi – make McCormick a US industry leader.

After securing its position as an industry leader in the U.S. in the early 1900s, the company started its global sprawl, expanding into Mexico, South and Central America, Canada, Australia, and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1975, the McCormick (east) and Schilling (west) retail units were consolidated to form a Grocery Products Division in 1975 with headquarters in Baltimore. In 2017 the company added Frank’s RedHot Sauce and French’s Mustard to its portfolio.

Today, the company uses more than 3,000 agricultural products from 80 countries to develop its global product line.
History of McCormick & Company

Bush Boake Allen - the merger of three companies

In 1965 BBA was formed from WJ Bush & Co Limited, A. Boake Roberts & Co Limited and Stafford Allen & Sons Limited.

W. J Bush & Co., manufacturers of Fine Chemicals and Essential Oils, was founded in 1852 by William John Bush.

A. Boake Roberts & Co was established in 1865. The company discovered and pioneered spray-dried flavors which the aromatics are encapsulated in a protective casing of gum Arabic or one of the modified starch.

Stafford Allen founded the pharmaceutical company Stafford Allen & Sons in 1833. The business was involved in the production of flavors, fragrances, pure drugs and essential oils, and cloves.

The company grew throughout the nineteenth century; in the decades following Allen’s death in 1889, it became a multinational corporation.

Through the mergers and acquisitions, the company became known as Bush Boake Allen in 1966.

In 2001 Bush Boake Allen was acquired by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF).
Bush Boake Allen - the merger of three companies 

Firmenich SA

Founded in 1895, Chuit & Naef was established in Switzerland by two brothers-in-law named Philippe Chuit, a talented Swiss chemist, and Martin Naef, a shrewd businessman.

They were joined shortly after by Fred Firmenich, who soon became majority partner. The company was renamed Firmenich SA. It remains a family owned company headquarter in Switzerland.

Firmenich’s business is divided into two main segments: flavors and perfumery. It ahs associated companies all over the world; the British company, Firmenich UK ltd, was set-up in 1949 and is based in Southall, Middlesex, while the US headquarters has been in Princeton since 1936.

Since 1895, Firmenich has built its business on innovative research. Leopold Ruzicka, professor at ETH-Zurich and Nobel Prize winner in 1939, was Firmenich’s first research director and a life-long consultant.
Firmenich SA

Bell Flavor and Fragrances

Bell Flavor and Fragrances was founded in 1912 as William M. Bell Company. William sold his flavors to local grocery stores and shops.

In 1955, the company was sold to Theonette & Company. This company is a flavor company which supplies its product to beverage industry.

The new name of Bell Flavors and Fragrances was announced in 1979 after acquiring Roubechez Inc. Roubechez Inc. is a fragrance company located in Chicago.

In 1993, Bell Flavors and Fragrances acquired the operations of the former firm Schimmel & Co, in Leipzig, Germany.
Bell Flavor and Fragrances

Flavor Dynamics Inc.

Flavor Dynamics was founded in 1989 by Dolf DeRovira. It is a leading provider of high-quality food and beverage flavors.

The company products include sweet flavors for confectionery items, baked goods, and desserts; savory flavors consisting of meat, cheese, and vegetable flavors, as well as oil-soluble, dried, and water-soluble flavors; beverage flavors for cocoa, soft drinks, energy drinks, and juices; and coffee and tea flavors.

By 1999, Flavor Dynamics was bursting beyond the limitations of their second plant and the move was made to their present location in South Plainfield, New Jersey.
Flavor Dynamics Inc.

History of Givaudan

The Givaudan Group, based in Switzerland, is one of the world’s leading wholesale producers of fragrances and favors.  Spray-dried encapsulated flavorings constitute an important category in the company’s product portfolio.

The company was started in 1895 by two French Brothers, Leon and Xavier Givaudan, both chemists, to supply the French perfume houses from a factory at Vernier, near Geneva.

Leon Givaudan

In 1963 it became a part of the Hoffmann-Loa Roche group of companies. In 2002 Givaudan acquired Nestle’s FIS (Food Ingredients Specialties)

In the end of 2006 Givaudan announced that they will acquire Quest International.
History of Givaudan

Givaudan had launched a new-state-of-the-art spray drying facility in 2014 in Indonesia, after an investment of CHF 24 million, to meet the rising demand for flavors in savory, dairy and beverage applications.
History of Givaudan

International Flavors & Fragrances

International Flavors & Fragrances was founded in the United States in the 1930s as ‘Van Ameringen-Haebler’ and is headquartered in New York City.

This American company had it origins in a small business created by Arnold Lewis van Ameringen, a Dutch man who had emigrated to the United States in 1917.  After working briefly for a Dutch exporter of essential oils to the United States he set up his own firm in New York and then merged his company with Morana Inc. Morana Inc. a producer of perfumes was established in 1909.

As its employees were highly skilled, highly paid and sworn to secrecy, the company became during the 1920s a leader in its unique small specialized niche.

After the company joined with the Dutch fragrance firm Polak & Schwarz in 1958, the name became International Flavors and Fragrances.

The new company became an immediate success in Europe, where it focus on food flavors.

By 1963 International Flavors & Fragrances had sales of %47 million, of which perfumery accounted for $32.5 million, making it the single largest supplier firm to the fragrance industry.

Its major manufacturing plants are in Europe, Asia and South America. By the 1980s, International Flavors & Fragrances had catalogued more than 30,000 different fragrance and flavor molecules.

In 2000, International Flavors & Fragrances acquired Bush Boake Allen, making International Flavors & Fragrances the largest flavor and fragrance house at that time. Bush Boake Allen was about one-third the size of International Flavors & Fragrances.

The flavor division of the company is a leading creator of flavor solutions for beverages, sweet goods, and savory and dairy products around the world.

The fragrances division develops scents and fragrances that are key component in many of the world’s finest perfumes and best-known consumer products brands including beauty care, fabric care, home care and personal wash products.
International Flavors & Fragrances