30 brand guides to American grocery staples — who owns each name and where it is made.
Grocery staples are bought by habit from a crowded shelf, so the brand has to be recognised in a moment from a wrapper, a bread bag or a yogurt lid. These guides set out who owns each name and where it is made.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Deli and breakfast meats
Oscar Mayer, Boar’s Head, Hillshire Farm, Johnsonville, Ball Park, Nathan’s Famous, Hebrew National and Jimmy Dean.
- Oscar Mayer — The meat brand begun by brothers Oscar F. and Gottfried Mayer in a leased Chicago meat market in 1883, known for the yellow band of 1929, the Wienermobile of 1936 and a 1960s jingle, sold to General Foods in 1981 and part of Kraft Heinz since 2015.
- Boar’s Head — The deli meat and cheese brand that traces to Frank Brunckhorst’s Brooklyn deliveries in 1905, still owned by the Brunckhorst and Bischoff family lines, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, since 2001 and built around the supermarket deli counter.
- Hillshire Farm — The smoked-sausage brand that grew from Fritz and Armella Bernegger’s meat business in New London, Wisconsin, merged into Consolidated Foods in 1971, gave its name to Hillshire Brands in 2012 and has been owned by Tyson Foods since 2014.
- Johnsonville — The privately owned sausage company that began in 1945 as a butcher shop in the village of Johnsonville, Wisconsin, founded by Ralph F. and Alice Stayer with Carl and Anna Hirsch, now headquartered at Sheboygan Falls and known for its bratwurst.
- Ball Park — The hot dog Detroit meatpacker Hygrade Food Products made for the Tigers in the late 1950s, sold in Detroit grocery stores by 1959, taken national with W.B. Doner’s “they plump when you cook them” line, owned by Sara Lee from 1989 and by Tyson Foods since 2014.
- Nathan’s Famous — The hot dog business Nathan and Ida Handwerker opened at Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island in 1916, which their son Murray took public in 1968, which MLB named its official hot dog in 2017, and which agreed in January 2026 to be acquired by Smithfield Foods.
- Hebrew National — The kosher hot dog and deli meat brand founded in 1905 as the Hebrew National Kosher Sausage Factory on East Broadway in Manhattan, run by the Pines family, owned by ConAgra since 1993 and known for the slogan “We answer to a higher authority.”
- Jimmy Dean — The breakfast sausage brand the country singer Jimmy Dean started in 1969 as the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in Plainview, Texas, sold to Sara Lee in 1984, part of Hillshire Brands from 2012 and owned by Tyson Foods since 2014.
Bread and rolls
Wonder, Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Arnold, Thomas’, King’s Hawaiian and Martin’s.
- Wonder — The sliced white bread launched by the Taggart Baking Company in Indianapolis on 21 May 1921, named after a balloon race, sold to Continental Baking in 1925, later part of Interstate Bakeries and Hostess, and owned in the US by Flowers Foods since 2013.
- Nature’s Own — The soft variety bread line Flowers Foods of Thomasville, Georgia, debuted in 1977, made without artificial preservatives, colours or flavours, extended with Perfectly Crafted in 2018 and relaunched in 2026 with new packaging, the line “Real. Soft. Bread.” and John Cena.
- Dave’s Killer Bread — The organic whole-grain bread brand launched in 2005 from the Dahl family’s bakery in Milwaukie, Oregon, part-sold to Goode Partners in 2012, owned by Flowers Foods since 2015, with a guitar-playing cartoon on every bag and a second-chance hiring story.
- Arnold — The premium bread brand Dean and Betty Arnold began baking in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1940, which moved to Port Chester and Greenwich, bought Levy’s in 1979, passed through CPC, Bestfoods and George Weston, and has been owned by Grupo Bimbo since 2009.
- Thomas’ — The English muffin and bagel brand named after Samuel Bath Thomas, who emigrated from England to New York in 1874 and opened a Manhattan bakery by 1880; later owned by CPC, Bestfoods, George Weston and, since 2009, Bimbo Bakeries USA, with an orange-led look refreshed by Mono in 2019.
- King’s Hawaiian — The family bakery Robert Taira started as Robert’s Bakery in Hilo in 1950, moved to Honolulu’s King Street in 1963 and to Torrance, California in 1977, known for orange packaging and a crown redrawn by Mrs&Mr for its 75th anniversary in 2025.
- Martin’s — The potato roll and bread brand of Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, the family-owned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, baker that Lloyd and Lois Martin started at home in the 1950s, with a second bakery in Valdosta, Georgia, and the tagline “The Taste is Golden!”
Yogurt
Yoplait, Chobani, Dannon, Oikos, Siggi’s, Activia and Noosa.
- Yoplait — The yogurt brand launched by French dairy cooperatives in 1965, with a petal-flower logo; Sodiaal has owned the brand since 2021, Sodiaal took the Canadian business in January 2025, and Lactalis has run the US business under licence since June 2025.
- Chobani — The strained-yogurt brand Hamdi Ulukaya started in 2005 in a former Kraft plant at South Edmeston, New York, launched in 2007, expanded to Twin Falls, Idaho, in 2012, and redrawn in 2017 with folk-art packaging and a typeface developed by Commercial Type.
- Dannon — Danone’s American yogurt brand, incorporated in New York in 1942 as Dannon Milk Products by Daniel Carasso with Joe and Juan Metzger, moved from the Bronx to Long Island City in 1952, owned by Beatrice Foods from 1959 and bought back by the French group in 1981.
- Oikos — Danone’s Greek yogurt brand, sold as Stonyfield Organic Oikos from 2007 and launched as Dannon Oikos in August 2011 with John Stamos, later fronted by Cam Newton with the NFL shield on Triple Zero, and moved from blue to white packs in 2021.
- Siggi’s — The skyr brand Siggi Hilmarsson started in upstate New York in 2005, sold at Murray’s Cheese from 2006, made at a Norwich, New York, factory from 2007, stocked by Whole Foods from 2008 and owned by Lactalis since 2018.
- Activia — The Danone yogurt launched in France in 1987 under the name Bio, sold nationwide in the United States by Dannon from January 2006, and given a single worldwide look with a darker green and a new logo by FutureBrand in 2016.
- noosa — The Australian-style whole-milk yoghurt co-founded in 2009 by Koel Thomae and dairy farmer Rob Graves, made in Bellvue, Colorado, backed by Advent International from 2014, merged into Sovos Brands in 2018, held by Campbell’s in 2024 and owned by Lakeview Farms, now Novus Foods, since 2025.
Nuts and rice
Planters, Blue Diamond, Wonderful Pistachios, Diamond of California, Minute Rice, Mahatma, Near East and Success.
- Planters — The snack-nut brand Amedeo Obici and Mario Peruzzi started in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1906, moved to Suffolk, Virginia, and gave a top-hatted mascot in 1916; owned by Standard Brands, Nabisco and Kraft Heinz, and by Hormel Foods since 2021.
- Blue Diamond — The almond brand of Blue Diamond Growers, the Sacramento cooperative founded in 1910 as the California Almond Growers Exchange, which says it adopted the blue diamond label in 1915 and refreshed its logo with Turner Duckworth in 2025.
- Wonderful Pistachios — The Resnicks’ California pistachio brand, sold by Paramount Farms (formed 1989) and by Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds since the 2015 renaming, launched nationally with the “Get Crackin’” celebrity campaign on 5 October 2009 and now advertised as “The Don’t Hold Back Snack.”
- Diamond of California — The culinary nut brand that began in 1912 as a California walnut growers’ cooperative, centred on Stockton from 1956, took the Diamond of California name in 1999, went public as Diamond Foods in 2005 and was sold by Snyder’s-Lance to Blue Road Capital, agreed in November 2016.
- Minute Rice — The instant rice made by a process General Foods bought from Ataullah K. Ozai-Durrani in 1941, supplied to the US Army in the Second World War, held by General Foods and Kraft, and owned by Riviana Foods of Houston, part of Ebro Foods, since 2006.
- Mahatma — The long-grain rice brand introduced in 1932 by the Louisiana State Rice Milling Company, part of Riviana Foods since the 1965 merger, owned through Riviana by Spain’s Ebro Foods since 2004, and which dropped its turbaned mascot from packaging in 2020.
- Near East — The rice pilaf and couscous brand that began with George and Hannah Kalajian’s Worcester grocery and luncheonette, moved to a Leominster plant in 1977, passed to H. J. Heinz and then Quaker Oats, and has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001.
- Success — The boil-in-bag rice that Houston’s Riviana Foods began test marketing in 1971, carried through Colgate-Palmolive ownership and a family buy-back, owned by Spain’s Ebro Foods since 2004, refreshed in 2022 around “Just One Ingredient.”
At a glance: who owns the name and where it is made
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Founded | Owner | Where made |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activia | See guide | Danone, since launch | See guide |
| Arnold | Stamford, Connecticut (1940) | Grupo Bimbo, via Bimbo Bakeries USA | See guide |
| Ball Park | Hygrade Food Products, Detroit (1957–58) | Tyson Foods | See guide |
| Blue Diamond | California Almond Growers Exchange, Sacramento (1910) | See guide | See guide |
| Boar’s Head | Frank Brunckhorst, Brooklyn (1905) | Brunckhorst and Bischoff family lines | See guide |
| Chobani | As Agro Farma, South Edmeston, New York (2005) | See guide | See guide |
| Dannon | See guide | BSN-Gervais-Danone, now Danone | See guide |
| Dave’s Killer Bread | Milwaukie, Oregon (2005) | Flowers Foods, Thomasville, Georgia | See guide |
| Diamond of California | Walnut growers’ cooperative, California (1912) | Blue Road Capital, sale agreed | See guide |
| Hebrew National | East Broadway, Lower East Side, Manhattan (1905) | ConAgra (now Conagra Brands) | See guide |
| Hillshire Farm | See guide | Tyson Foods | See guide |
| Jimmy Dean | Jimmy Dean Meat Co., Plainview, Texas (1969) | Tyson Foods | See guide |
| Johnsonville | Johnsonville, Wisconsin (1945) | See guide | See guide |
| King’s Hawaiian | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Mahatma | See guide | Riviana Foods, Houston | See guide |
| Martin’s | Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (1955 (company date)) | The Martin family, Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc. | See guide |
| Minute Rice | See guide | Riviana Foods, part of Ebro Foods | See guide |
| Nathan’s Famous | Coney Island, Brooklyn (1916) | See guide | See guide |
| Nature’s Own | Flowers Baking Company, Thomasville, Georgia (1919) | See guide | See guide |
| Near East | See guide | PepsiCo, through Quaker | See guide |
| noosa | noosa yoghurt, Colorado (2010) | Lakeview Farms, now Novus Foods | See guide |
| Oikos | See guide | See guide | See guide |
| Oscar Mayer | Oscar F. and Gottfried Mayer, Chicago (1883) | Kraft Heinz formed by merger | See guide |
| Planters | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (1906) | Hormel Foods, Austin, Minnesota | See guide |
| Siggi’s | See guide | Lactalis | See guide |
| Success | See guide | Ebro Foods, through Riviana | See guide |
| Thomas’ | See guide | Bimbo Bakeries USA | See guide |
| Wonder | See guide | Flowers Foods, in the United States | See guide |
| Wonderful Pistachios | See guide | The Wonderful Company, Los Angeles | See guide |
| Yoplait | Yoplait, by French dairy cooperatives (1965) | Sodiaal, full ownership of the brand | See guide |
See also our olive oil and pantry brand guidelines and snack and sweets brand guidelines.
Part of our Food & Beverage brand guidelines. See also all collections.