Carnation Company
 |
|
| Product type | Canned milk products |
|---|---|
| Owner |
Nestlé (Philippine rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation) |
| Markets | Worldwide |
Carnation is a brand of food products. The brand was especially known for its evaporated milk product created in 1899, then called Carnation Sterilized Cream and later called Carnation Evaporated Milk. The brand has since been used for other related products including milk-flavoring mixes, flavored beverages, flavor syrups, hot cocoa mixes, instant breakfasts, corn flakes, ice cream novelties, and dog food. Nestlé acquired the Carnation Company in 1985.
Carnation was founded as an evaporated milk company. With the increased availability of home refrigeration of fresh milk and cream throughout the 20th century, the demand for evaporated milk decreased. Carnation diversified its product portfolio after the 1950s and was acquired by Nestlé in 1984 for $3 billion.
Elbridge Amos Stuart (10 September 1856 in Guilford County, North Carolina–14 January 1944 in Los Angeles, California) was an American milk industrialist and creator of Carnation evaporated milk and its famous slogan, that it came from "Contented Cows".
On 6 September 1899, Stuart and a business partner founded the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company in Kent, Washington, and he became its first President (a post he held until 1932, then serving as Chairman from 1932 to 1944). Its product was based on the relatively new process of commercial evaporation of beverages. Stuart believed that there was value in sanitary milk at a time when fresh milk was neither universally available nor always drinkable, and correctly believed that his product would join other staples on grocers' shelves.
In 1901, his partner sold out, leaving Stuart the company and $105,000 of debt. As sales gradually grew, Stuart sought a brand name for the product. Passing a tobacconist's window in downtown Seattle, Stuart saw a display of cigars round a sign with the name: Carnation. His own firm subsequently adopted the name Carnation Evaporated Milk Company.
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