Dole Food Company, Inc. is an American-based agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California and is the leading grower and packer of such food items as bananas, pineapples (fresh and packaged), grapes, strawberries, and other fresh and frozen fruits. It is a leader in ready-to-eat packaged salads and other vegetables.
History
Dole was founded in 1851 in Hawaii as Hawaiian Pineapple Company by James Dole, who opened his first pineapple plantation in the central plateau of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Today the company does business in over 90 countries and takes in upwards of $5.3 billion in annual revenue. It is owned by billionaire David H. Murdock.
The Hawaiian Pineapple Company was later acquired by Castle & Cooke, and was renamed to Dole Food Company, Inc in 1991. Castle & Cooke Inc, a real estate company, was spun off in 1995; it is currently a separate company but is also owned by Murdock. Dole incorporates the Standard Fruit Company, which was acquired by Castle & Cooke between 1964 and 1968. It was then the U.S.'s second largest producer and importer of bananas. Dole and Chiquita remain the top two U.S. banana companies.
Historically, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company had a hand in the hostile overthrow of Hawaii's last queen, Liliuokalani, and the establishment of Hawaii as a U.S. territory. Sanford Dole, the cousin of James Dole, was briefly president of the Republic of Hawaii in the years immediately following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, in 1893.
Dole also has a plantation in the Philippines and a packing plant in Thailand.PepsiCo holds the rights to Dole's entire juice line.
The Guinness Book of World Records (2001) lists the pineapple maze at the Dole Plantation in Oahu, Hawaii as the world's largest maze.
Mascot
Bobby Banana is a mascot of Dole Food Company. He is an anthropomorphic banana character, who appears in print as well as (at one time) foam incarnations. A foam figure of Bobby Banana was produced for some time, which was eventually discontinued.
References
External links
- Dole Food Company, Inc.
- Dole's Commitment to Safe Salad
- Yahoo! - Dole Food Company, Inc. Company Profile
- Dole Corporate Social Responsibility Report
- Dole Nutrition Institute
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday July 24, 2008 at 16:45:33 PDT (GMT -0700)
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