Schwans

Schwan's Company

Type	Private
Industry	Frozen food
Founded	1952
Founder	Marvin Schwan
Headquarters	Marshall, Minnesota, USA
Revenue	$3B
Number of employees	11,000
Website	www.schwanscompany.com

Schwan's Company is a multibillion-dollar, privately owned company with approximately 11,000 employees. Based in Marshall, Minnesota, the company sells frozen foods from home delivery trucks, in grocery store freezers, by mail, and to the food service industry. The company produces, markets, and distributes products developed under brands such as Schwan's, Red Baron, Freschetta, Tony's, Mrs. Smith's, Edwards, Pagoda, Larry's, and many others. The business was known as The Schwan Food Company from 2003 to 2017. The new name, Schwan's Company, was announced in April 2017.

The company's major business units include Schwan's Home Service, Schwan's Consumer Brands, Schwan's Food Service, and SFC Global Supply Chain.

Schwan's Home Service, the company's flagship business unit, is the largest direct-to-home food delivery provider in the United States. Home Service markets and distributes more than 400 products under the Schwan's and LiveSmart brands. The business has more than 400 sales-and-distribution centers located throughout the United States with 4,500 delivery vehicles.

Schwan's Consumer Brands markets frozen food products in grocery stores primarily in the Western Hemisphere. Schwan's Food Service markets and distributes frozen-food products to the food service industry. Schwan's Global Supply Chain is a manufacturing cooperative that coordinates the company's production processes and helps develop new products.

In 1952, Marvin Schwan (1929–1993) began home delivery of his family's homemade ice cream (The Marshall Creamery Company) to rural western Minnesota. Schwan's expanded quickly to cover much of the Midwestern United States and made a number of acquisitions, including the Holiday Ice Cream Company and Russell Dairy. In 1957, the product line was expanded to include juice concentrates, and in 1962, Schwan's began selling frozen fish products.

During the 1970s, the company began selling pizza to schools, launched the Red Baron pizza brand for sale in grocery stores, and formed the Red Baron Squadron flight team to promote the brand. During the 1980s, Schwan's made further acquisitions, including pizza manufacturer Sabatasso Foods and Asian-foods manufacturer Minh Food Corporation. Schwan's opened a plant in Leyland, Preston, England in 1989. In 1990 Schwans started Schwans Canada, with an ice cream plant in Manitoba and routes in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but they ceased operations in December of 1999.