Kraft Foods

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Universal comfort food.

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Kraft is a division and brand of Kraft Heinz Company, one of the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturers, which was formed by the 2015 merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation. Kraft Foods’ headquarters are in Northfield, Illinois.

Kraft grew out of a wholesale cheese-delivery business established in Chicago in 1903 by James L. Kraft. Three years later he and his brother Charles began processing cheese for distribution to area retailers. Two other brothers later joined the firm, and in 1909 it was incorporated as J.L. Kraft Bros. & Company.

The brothers patented a spoil-resistant processed cheese, which was sold in great quantities to the U.S. Army during World War I. As the company expanded in the postwar era, one key acquisition in 1927 was Velveeta, a process that combined bits of cheese and cheese byproducts into a blended product with a “velvety-smooth” texture. The following year, the company merged with the Phenix Cheese Company (makers of another top-selling Kraft product, Philadelphia cream cheese).

In 1930 Kraft-Phenix (as it was then called) was acquired by National Dairy Products Corporation (established in 1923), which adopted the names Kraftco Corporation in 1969 and Kraft, Inc., in 1976.

During the Great Depression, Kraft introduced what would become one of its most iconic branded products: a box of dried pasta combined with a package of long-shelf-life processed cheese called Kraft Dinner. It was later rebranded as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in the U.S.

In 1980 the company merged with Dart Industries, Inc., a diversified company that manufactured goods including home appliances, plastic products, and batteries. When Kraft, Inc., split off in 1986, it retained the batteries division for two years. Kraft was acquired in 1988 by tobacco giant Philip Morris Companies, which had also purchased General Foods in 1985 and went on to buy Nabisco Holdings in 2000.

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The Oscar Mayer brand (including its mobile mascot, the Wienermobile) joined the Kraft fleet as part of the Philip Morris deal.

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General Foods and Nabisco were integrated into the operations of a food giant with a new name: Kraft General Foods, Inc. In 2001, with a partial stock offering, Philip Morris began to sell off its stake in Kraft, and in 2007 Kraft Foods, Inc. became a fully independent, publicly traded corporation. (Meanwhile, in 2003, Philip Morris changed its name to Altria Group.)

In 2006 (after a brief tenure as head of the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo), long-time General Foods and Philip Morris executive Irene Rosenfeld was named CEO of Kraft. She immediately set about reinvigorating the company by introducing new products, entering expanding markets abroad, and reorganizing the selling of mature American brands. In 2007 Kraft paid about $7.2 billion to acquire the biscuit division of Groupe Danone, and in 2010, after lengthy and often contentious negotiations, Kraft purchased British confectioner Cadbury in a deal valued at $19.6 billion.

Two years later the company reorganized into two separate companies, one selling grocery products in North America (operating under the name Kraft) and the other snack products worldwide (Mondelēz International). Rosenfeld would remain as CEO of Mondelez until her retirement in 2017.

In 2015 Kraft’s parent company merged with the H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation. Kraft Foods became a division and brand within the newly formed conglomerate, Kraft Heinz.

Some of Kraft’s most popular products include (or have included) Kraft- and Velveeta-branded cheese products, Milka and Toblerone chocolates, Philadelphia cream cheese, Planters nuts, Jell-O desserts, Kool-Aid powdered beverages, Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees, Lu biscuits, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Oscar Mayer meats, and Cadbury chocolates.

As of 2015, Kraft products share a parent company with top Heinz products such as ketchup, vinegar, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, and Heinz 57 steak sauce.