Goodmark Foods, Inc. is an American food manufacturing company, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. [1] [2] It produces "meat snacks, packaged meats, and extruded grain snacks," [2] especially Slim Jim jerky meat snacks. [3] It is owned by ConAgra. [2]
Company history
Slim Jim snacks originated in Philadelphia. [4] Its manufacturer Cherry-Levis Food Company was sold to General Mills in 1967 for about $20 million [4] and renamed Slim Jim, Inc. [5] In 1970, General Mills purchased Jesse Jones Sausage Co. in Garner, North Carolina, and formed GoodMark Foods, Inc. to make Slim Jims there. [5] Ron Doggett, a General Mills finance executive involved in the purchase of Cherry-Levis, had moved to North Carolina to participate in managing the operations. "In June 1982, he directed a unique leveraged buyout with three other executives of GoodMark from General Mills, who had put the subsidiary up for sale." [3] They took the company public in 1985. [6] The company's stock was traded on NASDAQ as GDMK. [1]
It was acquired by ConAgra, Inc. in 1998 [2] for $225 million. [6] GoodMark's annual sales were about $170 million at that time. [1] Doggett retired as chairman, president and CEO in 1999, a year later. [3] [5]
Products and brands
- Slim Jim meat snacks
- Penrose sausages
- Pemmican meat snacks
- Andy Capp's grain snacks
- Jesse Jones sausages [5]
- Bugles (as of 1970s [update]) [5]
Notes
- ^ a b c "GoodMark Foods and ConAgra Have Definitive Agreement for GoodMark to Merge With ConAgra". PRNewswire.com (Press release). ConAgra, Inc. June 18, 1998. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Company Overview of GoodMark Foods, Inc". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c "Laureate: Ron E. Doggett (December 2, 1934 - ): Inducted 2004". HistoryNC.org. North Carolina Business Hall of Fame (Junior Achievement of the Carolinas, Inc.). Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b "Adolph Levis, creator of Slim Jim snacks, dead at 89". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. March 21, 2001. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "GoodMark Foods, Inc. History". FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ a b "ConAgra Inc. buys GoodMark Foods Inc. for $225 million". Triangle Business Journal. American City Business Journals. February 15, 1999. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
External links
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