How Food Shaped Unilever for Nearly a Century

How food shaped Unilever for nearly a century

The Evolution of Unilever's Food Business

March 31 (Reuters) - Unilever said on Tuesday it will merge its food business with spice maker McCormick in what would be the second-largest food transaction in history, creating a company worth roughly $65 billion.

The transaction marks the end of an era for Unilever, whose origins in the food business date back to a butter business from 1860.

Unilever will retain a 9.9% stake in the combined business though the company plans to sell it down one year after the deal closes.

The agreement excludes certain assets such as Unilever's operations in India, the companies added.

The following timeline traces Unilever's evolution from a soap-and-margarine company into the world's second-largest packaged food company after Switzerland's Nestle:

Unilever's Early Roots

The Butter and Margarine Era

1860

The Jurgens family, originally carpenters, begin selling butter received as payment for their work. As the trade proves highly profitable, they relocate to Oss in the Netherlands in 1860 to focus on building a butter business.

1869

Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invents margarine, a butter substitute made from beef fat, in response to a French government push for an affordable alternative for the working classes and military.

1870

The Van den Bergh family, butter merchants based in Oss, expand their thriving trade and begin exporting to England, the largest market for Dutch butter at the time.

1871

In 1871, the Jurgens family acquire the margarine production patent from Mège Mouriès. Jan Jurgens introduces the product to Simon Van den Bergh, who develops a similar offering. Both businesses flourish through new products and innovations.

Building a Food Empire

Key Mergers and Acquisitions

1922

Lever Brothers Ltd, a rapidly growing British soap and detergent company, buys Wall's, a popular sausage company that wants to expand into the ice cream business.

Wall's begins to sell ice cream directly to customers via salesmen on tricycles. This is the first time in Britain that ice cream has been factory-made, pre-hardened and wrapped for mass distribution, branded and retailed.

1927

Several margarine businesses including Jurgens and Van den Bergh, combine to create Margarine Unie - the Margarine Union. By this point, Jurgens and Van den Bergh have operations in Britain and make cheese and soft drinks in addition to margarine.

1930

Lever Brothers merges with Margarine Unie to form Unilever, creating a global consumer goods giant in one of Europe's biggest mergers at the time.

Expansion into Frozen and Packaged Foods

Frozen Food Innovations

1943

Unilever enters the frozen food market by acquiring a controlling stake in Frosted Foods and the UK rights to deep freezing. The deal secures the Birds Eye brand in Britain and lays the foundation for Unilever's expansion into frozen food. Around the same time, Unilever acquires Batchelors, which specialises in freeze-dried vegetables and canned goods.

1946

Birds Eye launches the first frozen peas in the UK. At this time meat, fish, ice cream and canned goods account for only 9% of Unilever's total turnover.

Nutrition and Research

1950

Unilever launches a nutrition research group in the Netherlands that later becomes the Unilever Food & Health Research Institute.

Iconic Products and Brands

1955

Fish fingers, made by Birds Eye, are introduced in the UK and within a decade they account for 10% of British fish consumption.

Globalization and Diversification

Packaged Foods and Tea

1960s - 1980s

Unilever expands into packaged foods such as soups, sauces and ready meals by leveraging its fats-and-oils expertise, investing in food processing and cold-chain technology, and scaling brands like Birds Eye and Batchelors while building distribution across Europe and North America.  For instance, Unilever buys Lipton International and PG Tips and becomes one of the world's largest tea companies.

Major Acquisitions

2000

Unilever buys Ben & Jerry's the same year it buys Bestfoods, which makes Hellmann's mayonnaise and condiments and Knorr stock cubes and soup powders, in what was at the time the second-largest cash acquisition in history.

2007

Unilever announces agreements to acquire the Buavita vitality drinks brand in Indonesia and Inmarko, the leading ice cream business in Russia.

Reshaping the Portfolio

Strategic Divestments

2016

Unilever shocks the market by selling Upfield, its rooted margarine and spreads business - that owned the Flora and Stork brands - to KKR for 6.8 billion euros ($7.79 billion).

2022

Unilever sells most of its global tea business to CVC Capital Partners for 4.5 billion euros, including the Lipton, PG Tips and Pukka Herbs brands.

Recent Developments

2025

Under CEO Fernando Fernandez, Unilever spins off its ice cream business that owns Ben & Jerry's, Magnum, Cornetto and other major global brands. Fernandez also sees through the sale of The Vegetarian Butcher and healthy snacking brand Graze.

2026

Unilever confirms reports that it is in talks with U.S. spice maker McCormick for a deal for its food business.   ($1 = 0.8728 euros)

Reporting

(Reporting by Richa Naidu in London and Rishab Shaju and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)