Mentholatum
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Personal Care Products |
| Founded | Wichita, Kansas, United States (1889) |
| Headquarters | Orchard Park, New York, United States |
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Key people
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Akiyoshi Yoshida, CEO; Taffy Collopy, Public Relations |
| Products | Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals |
| Revenue | $31.6 Million (est. 2007) |
| Parent | Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. |
| Website | www.mentholatum.com |
The Mentholatum Company, Inc., founded in 1889 by Albert Alexander Hyde, is an American maker of non-prescription health care products. It was bought out by Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese health care company, in 1988. The Mentholatum Company is widely associated with its top three products, the Mentholatum Ointment, Mentholatum Deep Heating Rub, and Mentholatum Lip Care.
The beginning of The Mentholatum Company started when Albert Alexander Hyde left the real estate market in 1889. With the collapse of the market, Hyde established a new partnership called The Yucca Company, located in Wichita, Kansas, which focused on manufacturing and marketing shaving creams, laundry soap, and toilet soap. The Yucca Company was the beginning of The Mentholatum Company.
When The Yucca Company started manufacturing a cough syrup containing a blend of camphor and menthol, named Vest Pocket Cough Specific, Hyde became intrigued by the soothing and antiinflammatory effects of menthol. After years of research and experimentation, the company introduced the original "Mentholatum Ointment" in December 1894, which consisted of a combination of menthol and petrolatum. Sales went wild. In 1903, Hyde opened a second office in Buffalo, New York, to handle sales and distribution east of the Mississippi River. In 1906, The Yucca Co. officially incorporated the name "The Mentholatum Company" after its flagship product and no longer sold soap. In 1909 a new factory was built in Wichita, Kansas, and in 1919 a second factory was built in Buffalo. The Wichita factory was closed after the death of A. A. Hyde in 1935 and the corporate offices were moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1937 and later to Buffalo in 1945.
The products of the company spread to Japan through the missionary work of the American, William Merrell Vories. When Vories acquired the rights to sell Mentholatum products in 1920, he began importing and selling the product in Japan under the name, "Menturm," which in turn, was marketed through a company called The Omi Sales Company. Business continued to thrive in Japan even after Vories died in 1964.
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Wikipedia