ConAgra Foods Acquires Brand Trademarks for Marie Callender’s
June 14 2011 - 1:39PM
Business Wire
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America’s leading
food makers, today announced the purchase, effective June 9, 2011,
of the Marie Callender’s® brand trademarks from Marie Callender Pie
Shops, Inc., for a price of $57.5 million. Marie Callender Pie
Shops, Inc. operates the Marie Callender’s® Restaurant & Bakery
chain in California and the southwestern U.S.
This transaction fits into ConAgra Foods' acquisition strategy
which seeks to add depth and strength to its existing product lines
in key strategic pillars such as convenient meals, snacks and meal
enhancers.
“ConAgra Foods has experienced great success as a long-term
licensee of the Marie Callender’s trademark more than tripling the
brand’s annual retail sales in the past ten years,” said André
Hawaux, Consumer Foods president, ConAgra Foods. “Owning the
trademark not only allows for greater control of the brand, but
gives us the added flexibility to further grow the Marie
Callender’s brand.”
The company's current Marie Callender's frozen foods business
includes pot pies, desserts and a wide array of single and
multi-serve frozen dinners and entrees, sales of which have grown
to nearly $800 million annually. Marie Callender’s is now ConAgra
Foods’ No. 2 retail brand, after Banquet®, selling 284 million
frozen meals and desserts each year .
ConAgra Foods originally acquired a license to sell Marie
Callender’s frozen meals and pot pies in 1994. In 2010, the company
additionally acquired the license for frozen dessert pies held by
American Pie, LLC. This latest acquisition on June 9 represents the
purchase of the brand trademarks from the restaurant operating
company with ConAgra Foods taking ownership of the Marie
Callender’s trademarks. Concurrent with the purchase, ConAgra Foods
will no longer pay licensing fees to Marie Callender Pie Shops,
Inc. and has granted the restaurant chain a license for the
continued use of the Marie Callender’s brand name for its
restaurant and bakery operations.
About ConAgra Foods
Marie Callender’s is a brand of ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE:
CAG), one of North America’s leading food companies, with brands in
97 percent of America’s households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef
Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s,
Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack
Pack and many other ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience,
mass merchandise and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong
business-to-business presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet
potato products as well as other vegetable, spice and grain
products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice
operators and commercial customers. For more information, please
visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
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