Editing Stouffer's

{{short description|Brand of frozen prepared foods}}
{{Distinguish|Stauffer's}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox brand
| name           = Stouffer's
| logo           = [[File:Stouffer's 2024.png]]
| logo_size   =  200
| image = Stouffer's cooked Swedish Meatballs, June 2018.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Stouffer's cooked Swedish Meatballs
| producttype    = [[Frozen food|Frozen food products]]
| currentowner   = [[Nestlé]] (1973-)
| origin         = [[United States]]
| introduced     = {{start date and age|1922}} 
| discontinued   = 2023 (Canada only)
| related        = [[Lean Cuisine]]
| markets        = {{Plainlist|
* [[United States]]
* [[Canada]] (until 2023)
}}
| previousowners = [[Litton Industries]] <br>(1967–1973)
| website        = {{URL|https://www.goodnes.com/stouffers/|goodnes.com/stouffers}}
}}
'''Stouffer's''' is a brand of [[frozen food|frozen prepared foods]] currently owned by [[Nestlé]].<ref name="StouffersFAQ"/> Its products are available in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. Stouffer's is known for such popular fare as [[lasagna]], [[macaroni and cheese]], [[meatloaf]], [[ravioli]], [[fettuccine Alfredo]], and [[salisbury steak]]. It also produces a line of reduced-fat products under the [[Lean Cuisine]] brand name. In February 2023, Nestle Canada announced their intentions to wind down and exit the frozen meals and pizza business within the next six months.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://canadiangrocer.com/nestle-canada-announces-wind-down-and-exit-frozen-meals-and-pizza-business?mibextid=S66gvF| title=Nestlé Canada announces wind down and exit of frozen meals and pizza business}}</ref>

== History ==
The Stouffer family business traces its roots to 1898, when James B. Stouffer and his son Abraham E. Stouffer started the Stouffer's Cottage Creamery Company<ref name="ClevelandDirectory1898"/> at the Sheriff Street Market in Cleveland. In 1901, James's son Abraham E. Stouffer (age 26) became vice-president of the company.<ref name="ClevelandDirectory1901"/><ref name="ClevelandDirectory1903"/>

In 1905, the Stouffer family established the Medina County Creamery Company in Medina, Ohio.<ref name="ColdStorage1905"/>

James B. Stouffer died on November 23, 1908, at age 62 in [[Orlando, Florida]], and Abraham took over the running of the Medina County Creamery.
 
On January 11, 1912, the Medina County Creamery Company filed a change of address to Cleveland.<ref name="Graves1913"/> By 1914, the company had expanded and opened a branch of the Medina County Creamery Company in [[Detroit]]. By the mid-1910s, the creamery claimed to be the largest manufacturer and wholesaler of creamery products in the city of Cleveland, supplied by over 1,500 farmers.<ref name="MedinaSquare"/>

In early 1920, Stouffer's lucrative creamery drew the attention of the Fairmont Creamery (now Fairmont Foods), the largest creamery company in the United States. In December 1920, Abraham Stouffer announced that the Medina County Creamery Company would merge with Fairmont Creamery Company of Omaha, Nebraska, through stock ownership.<ref name="Medina1920"/> As part of the merger, Abraham Stouffer would oversee the Cleveland plant until 1922.<ref name="Produce1920"/><ref name="Creamery1921"/>

In 1922, Abraham Stouffer and his wife Lena Mahala Bigelow took over one of the company's milk stands, on the lower level of the [[Cleveland Arcade]], and converted it into a restaurant serving buttermilk, sandwiches, and Lena Stouffer's homemade [[Dutch apple pie]]<ref name="Stouffer"/> (credited by some as the reason for the almost instant success of the restaurant).<ref name="STOUFFER FOODS">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=SF3|title=STOUFFER FOODS |date=July 22, 1997|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|publisher=A joint effort by Case Western Reserve University and the Western Reserve Historical Society|access-date=March 24, 2013}}</ref>

Abraham had reportedly had the idea for the "Stouffer Lunch System" before 1920.<ref name="Time1940"/> They opened the first restaurant, called the Stouffer Lunch, in 1924.<ref name="IDCH1994"/> As time went on, the couple continued the program of expansion with the assistance of their sons [[Vernon Stouffer|Vernon]],<ref name="VernonUH"/> a graduate of the [[Wharton School of Finance]], and Gordon, who together led the reorganization of the business, taking it public as the [[Stouffer Corporation]] in 1929 with Abraham as chairman of the board.<ref name="Stouffer"/>

The year 1929 also marked the beginning of the company's effort to establish locations outside of Ohio, with the opening of a restaurant in [[Detroit, Michigan]], and another in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]].{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} After Abraham's death in 1936 the company continued its program of expansion by opening its first restaurant in [[New York City]],{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} and eventually began a program of [[diversification (marketing strategy)|diversification]], entering the frozen food business in 1946.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} In 1956 the company was formally renamed Stouffer Foods Corporation.

In 1960 Stouffer purchased its first hotel, the Anacapri Inn of [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]], and, by the end of that year, the company was composed of three divisions: Stouffer Foods Corporation, Stouffer Hotels Corporation,<ref name="LATimes1998"/> and Stouffer Restaurants Corporation.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} In 1961, Stouffer's opened two short-lived automated vending restaurants.<ref name="Whitaker2015"/>
Stouffer's took over this complex of restaurants with the shared kitchen (Plaza Pavilion). In 1962 Stouffer's Disneyland operated the Plaza Pavilion Restaurant,<ref name="Strodder2012"/><ref name="Weiss2020"/> the [[Tahitian Terrace]],<ref name="Weiss2020"/> and the French Market Restaurant.<ref name="MiceChat2008"/> As of 2007, Stouffer's operated the Liberty Tree Tavern in [[Walt Disney World]]'s Liberty Square.<ref name="Mongello2007"/>

In 1967, the Stouffer Corporation was purchased by [[Litton Industries]] for [[vertical integration]] purposes, when that company had a large share of the [[microwave oven]] market,<ref name="OHC"/> but in 1973, Litton sold Stouffer to [[Nestlé]]. In 1993, as part of a refocusing of the company on food products,<ref name="McDowell1993"/> Nestlé announced its intention to sell [[Stouffer Hotels]] to the New World Development Company (which at that time owned the [[Renaissance Hotels|Renaissance]] and [[Ramada]] hotel brands). The transaction was complete, and the [[Stouffer Hotel]] brand was retired, by the end of 1996. As custodian, Primordial acquired the rights to bring Stouffer Hotels back in 2013. <ref name="OHC"/>

==Legal dealings==
In 1991, the [[Federal Trade Commission]] issued a complaint that Stouffer Foods had misrepresented sodium content in their [[Lean Cuisine]] entrees by stating that they were low in sodium. Stouffer's argued that the campaign had focused on good taste and controlled sodium, fat, and calories. They also argued that the sodium claim was relative, reflecting a lower amount of sodium, not necessarily that the entrees were low sodium. However, the Administrative Law Judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission.<ref name="Andrews1995"/>

In 2003, [[Applebee's]] sued Stouffer's for a 1997 [[trademark infringement]] of Applebee's marketing term "Skillet Sensations." Applebee's had a line of "Skillet Sensations" of their own and claimed that it caused confusion for customers that believed the Stouffer's line was linked to theirs. The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of Applebee's.<ref name="SkilletSensations"/>

==References==
<references>

<ref name="Andrews1995">{{cite journal |author1=J. Craig Andrews |author2=Thomas J. Maronic |title=Advertising Research Issues from FTC versus Stouffer Foods Corporation |journal=Journal of Public Policy & Marketing |date=Fall 1995 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=301–309 |doi=10.1177/074391569501400211 |jstor =30000137 |s2cid=159075183 |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1169&context=market_fac|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="ClevelandDirectory1898">{{cite web |title=The Cleveland Directory for the year ending July 1899 |publisher=Cleveland Directory Publishing Company |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9zw0147vEMC&pg=PA234 |page=234}}</ref>

<ref name="ClevelandDirectory1901">{{cite book |title=The Cleveland Directory for the year ending August 1902 |publisher=Cleveland Directory Company |year=1901 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdE23Z6aflMC&pg=PA1194 |page=1194}}</ref>

<ref name="ClevelandDirectory1903">{{cite book |title=The Cleveland Directory for the year ending August 1904 |publisher=Cleveland Directory Company |year=1903 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRdJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA280 |page=280}}</ref>

<ref name="ColdStorage1905">{{cite journal |title=News Of Companies And Plants  |journal=Cold Storage and Ice Trade Journal |date=December 1905 |page=107 |publisher=Food Trade Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdUyAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA13-PA107 |access-date=December 21, 2022 |quote=Medina: J.K. Arnold, J.B. Stouffer, W.W. Watson, George Boult and T.H. Boult have incorporated the Medina County Creamery Company with $20,000 capital stock.}}</ref>

<ref name="Creamery1921">{{cite journal |title=Reorganizations |journal=The Creamery and Milk Plant Monthly |volume=10 |issue=1 |publisher=National Milk Publishing Company |date=January 1921 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szRCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA41}}</ref>

<ref name="Graves1913">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOU9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA76 |title=Annual Statistical Report of the Secretary of State, to the Governor of the State of Ohio for the Year ending November 15, 1912 |author=[[Charles H. Graves (Ohio politician)|Charles H. Graves]] |publisher=Springfield Publishing/State Printers |location=Springfield |year=1913}}</ref>

<ref name="IDCH1994">{{cite journal |title=Stouffer Corp. |journal=International Directory of Company Histories |volume=8 |date=1994 |publisher=St. James Press |location=Detroit |editor=Paula Kepos |isbn=1-55862-323-X |author=April S. Dougal |pages=498–501 |url=https://archive.org/details/internationaldir0008unse/page/498}}</ref>

<ref name="LATimes1998">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-07-mn-47415-story.html |title=J. Robert Thibaut, President of Restaurant Chain (obituary) |date=May 7, 1998 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

<ref name="McDowell1993">{{cite news |title=Nestle to Sell Its Stouffer Hotel Unit |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D91438F932A35757C0A965958260 |work=The New York Times |author=Edwin McDowell |date=April 1, 1993 |access-date=December 1, 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="Medina1920">{{Cite news |title=Medina Creamery joins Omaha firm |newspaper=The Medina Sentinel |location=Medina, Ohio |date=December 24, 1920 |page=8 |issn=2376-161X |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028262/1920-12-24/ed-1/seq-8/ |access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="MedinaSquare">{{Cite web |url=http://www.medinasquare.org/west-liberty-street |title=West Liberty Street/South |website=Beyond the Storefronts |access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="MiceChat2008">{{cite web |url=http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al080508c.htm |title=N-E-S-T-L-E-S; Time to go with all the rest |author=Al Lutz |date=2008 |website=MiceChat.com |access-date=January 14, 2017 |archive-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116160517/http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al080508c.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="Mongello2007">{{cite web |author=Lou Mongello |title=Liberty Square Trivia |date=September 17, 2007 |url=http://www.wdwradio.com/2007/09/liberty-square-trivia/ |access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="OHC">{{cite web |url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Stouffer_Corporation?rec=991 |title=Stouffer Corporation |publisher=Ohio Historical Society |access-date=December 1, 2013 |archive-date=October 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027023613/https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Stouffer_Corporation?rec=991 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="Produce1920">{{cite web |title=New York Produce Review and American Creamery |volume=51 |issue=9 |publisher=Urner-Barry Company |location=New York |date=December 29, 1920 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjQ_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA382}}</ref>

<ref name="SkilletSensations">{{cite web |title=Applebee's sues over 'Skillet Sensations' label |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_42_37/ai_109271523/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708085021/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_42_37/ai_109271523/ |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |work=Nation's Restaurant News |publisher=FindArticles.com| access-date=March 18, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="Stouffer">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=SAE|title=STOUFFER, ABRAHAM E. AND STOUFFER, LENA MAHALA (BIGELOW) |date=July 22, 1997|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|publisher=A joint effort by [[Case Western Reserve University]] and the [[Western Reserve Historical Society]]|access-date=March 24, 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="StouffersFAQ">{{cite web |website=Stouffers.com |url=https://www.stouffers.com/faqs.aspx |title=FAQ |access-date=May 16, 2012 |archive-date=March 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317051822/http://www.stouffers.com/faqs.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="Strodder2012">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7JqPBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT590 |chapter=Plaza Pavilion Restaurant |title=The Disneyland Encyclopedia |edition=2nd |author=Chris Strodder |year=2012 |publisher=Santa Monica Press |isbn=9781595808462 |access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="Time1940">{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764305,00.html|title=FOOD: The Stouffer Boys |date=July 29, 1940 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="VernonUH">{{cite web |url=http://www.uh.edu/hilton-college/About/Hospitality-Industry-Hall-of-Honor/Inductees/Vernon-Stouffer%20/ |title=Vernon Stouffer |publisher=uh.edu |access-date=January 14, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="Weiss2020">{{cite web |url=http://www.yesterland.com/plazapavilion.html |author=Werner Weiss |date=August 28, 2020 |title=Plaza Pavilion |website=yesterland.com |access-date=December 21, 2022}}</ref>

<ref name="Whitaker2015">{{cite web |url=https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2015/11/16/automation-part-ii-the-disappearing-kitchen/ |title=Automation, part II: the disappearing kitchen |author=Jan Whitaker |date=November 16, 2015 |access-date=December 21, 2022}}</ref>
</references>

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Official website}}
* [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=991 "Stouffer Corporation"]—History at ''[[Ohio History Central]]''
* [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=SF3 "Stouffer Foods"] at the ''[[Encyclopedia of Cleveland History]]''

{{Nestlé}}

[[Category:1922 establishments in Ohio]]
[[Category:Companies based in Cleveland]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies established in 1922]]
[[Category:Frozen food brands]]
[[Category:Nestlé brands]]
[[Category:Restaurants established in 1922]]