Colonel William A. Phillips

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The most sanitary milk depot in New England, early 20th Century

HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1844 in Derry, New Hampshire, by Harvey Perley Hood. After two years in Derry, Hood took his milk south and established a factory in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Recent company acquisitions by HP Hood have expanded its reach from predominantly New England to the broader United States. Today, the company has an annual sales revenue of about $3.2 billion and more than 3,400 employees.

Hood Blimp - 2005

From 1980 to 1995, HP Hood was owned by Agway. That year, the company was acquired by the Kaneb Family.[1][2] HP Hood is an independently owned, private company and is listed at #216 on the Forbes "America's Largest Private Companies 2018" list.[3]

History

In 1984, HP Hood was the first dairy to bring Lactaid-branded milk to the New England market;[4] entrepreneur Alan Kligerman had introduced the Lactaid brand of lactase dietary supplements in 1977[5] and then started to license the brand to dairies in 1982.[6] In 1987, HP Hood, which had always been focused on New England, went nationwide for the first time with a low-fat ice milk product, Hood Light.[4]

In early 1991, Kligerman licensed the Lactaid brand to Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil, which launched a massive advertising campaign that turned Lactaid into J&J's fastest-growing brand of the 1990s.[5] That same year, under McNeil's supervision of the brand, HP Hood became the official supplier of Lactaid milk for the East Coast of the United States.[7]

In 2001, HP Hood renegotiated its contract with McNeil and became the official supplier of Lactaid milk for the entire United States market.[7] By 2004, Lactaid was the No. 1 national brand of milk in the United States.[8]

In 2004, the company acquired Crowley Foods, based in Binghamton, New York; and Kemps, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2007, HP Hood acquired Crystal Cream and Butter Company,[9] based in Sacramento, California, but then sold it that same year to Foster Farms Dairy. In 2008, they acquired the ice cream business of Brigham's Ice Cream,[10] based in Arlington, Massachusetts. These acquisitions effectively expanded the company's reach from New England and New York to the broader United States.

In 2017, the company purchased a former Muller Quaker plant in Batavia, New York.[11] In 2022, the company purchased land in Greenville, Texas,[12] and has plans to expand capacity.

Brands

Current brands

Former brands

Iconography

H.P. Hood & Sons delivery wagon on display at the Owl's Head Museum

HP Hood and the logo is a well known New England company. The smoke stack marked "Hoods Milk" at their former facility near Sullivan Square, Charlestown remains a landmark. The 20-acre facility is being redeveloped as a mixed residential-commercial campus called the "Hood Park".[16][17]

The company ran a highway safety campaign called Hood Samaritan (see Good Samaritan) circa 1960, that was later taken over[18] by the CVS Pharmacy chain.

At Boston Children's Museum, the outdoor ice cream stand takes the form of a large Hood Milk Bottle. The Hood blimp often appears at sport and cultural events (most often Red Sox home games above Boston, and the Eastern States Exposition in October). The Hood blimp made news on September 26, 2006 when it crashed in a wooded area near Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.[19]

The Hoodsie cup, a small cardboard cup of ice cream, is an iconic product;[20] the term "Hoodsie" is occasionally cited as a shibboleth of the Boston-area dialect.[21]

A United States Supreme Court case, H.P. Hood & Sons v. Du Mond, was decided in the Hood Company's favor, in which the State of New York was prevented from withholding a license to acquire milk produced in New York, and sold in Massachusetts, based on the dormant commerce clause limitations on state intervention in interstate commerce.

The company and their logo served as somewhat of an inspiration to the popular Phish tune "Harry Hood".[22][23]

See also

References

  1. ^ AGWAY OFFICIAL MUM ON H.P. HOOD MERGER
  2. ^ Agway sells H.P. Hood
  3. ^ "HP Hood on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  4. ^ a b McLaughlin, Mark (February 16, 1987). "Hood Turns to Low-Fat Ice Milk to Gain Weight as a National Contender". New England Business. 9 (3): 31. Available through ProQuest.
  5. ^ a b Hwang, Suein L. (April 20, 1993). "Makers of Remedies Breed a Cash Cow As They Publicize Lactose Intolerance". The Wall Street Journal. p. B1. Available through ProQuest.
  6. ^ Brody, Jane E. (May 5, 1982). "Enzyme Deficiency Is the Reason Many Can't Digest Milk". The New York Times. p. C1.
  7. ^ a b Phillips, David (December 2001). "Processor of the Year: HP Hood—New England's leading dairy going coast to coast with ESL". Dairy Foods. 102 (12): 22–29. Available through ProQuest.
  8. ^ Phillips, David (February 2004). "Changing Tide for Milk". Dairy Foods. 105 (2): 20–24. Available through ProQuest.
  9. ^ [1] Archived February 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Brigham's can't beat the heat; assets go to 2 buyers - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2008-06-28. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  11. ^ Owens, Howard B. (2017-06-09). "New England's large dairy company, HP Hood, buying former Muller Quaker plant". The Batavian. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  12. ^ Staff, Brad Kellar | Herald-Banner. "Ready to welcome milk men". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  13. ^ Sacramento Business Journal - New owners whip up work at old Crystal Cream plant by Melanie Turner (June 29, 2012), Retrieved Apr. 23, 2015.
  14. ^ Kansas City Business Journal, Dairy Farmers of America Will Become Owner of Kemps (April 15, 2011), Retrieved Feb. 6, 2015.
  15. ^ WBNG Channel 12 Action News, Conklin Dairy Distribution Center Staying Open by Anna Norris (September 26, 2014) Archived February 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved Feb. 6, 2015.
  16. ^ "Site Plan", Hood Park
  17. ^ Tom Acitelli, "Hood Park's first residential component officially underway: 177 apartments", Curbed Boston October 18, 2017 [2]
  18. ^ "Web Page Under Construction". Cvssamaritan.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  19. ^ "Hood Blimp Crashes North Of Boston | WCVB Home - WCVB Home". Thebostonchannel.com. 2006-09-26. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  20. ^ Rimer, Sara (Aug 10, 1997). "The City That Worships Ice Cream in All Flavors". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  21. ^ "Committed to his colloquialisms". The Boston Globe. 2012-04-11. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2014-09-23.
  22. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Phish.net. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  23. ^ The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music - Mockingbird Foundation, Tom Marshall - Google Books. 2000. ISBN 9780879306311. Retrieved 2012-10-17.

External links