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Gerber Products Company

Gerber Products Company is a purveyor of baby food and baby products. The company was founded in 1927 in Fremont, Michigan by Daniel Frank Gerber, owner of the Fremont Canning Company producing canned fruits and vegetables. At the suggestion of a pediatrician, Gerber's wife (Dorothy Gerber) began making hand-strained food for their seven-month-old daughter, Sally. Seeing a business opportunity, Gerber began devoting resources at the cannery to baby food production. By 1928, Gerber had developed five products for the market: strained peas, prunes, carrots and spinach, and beef vegetable soup. Six months later, Gerber's baby foods were distributed nationwide.

The brand eventually became a major international player in the baby food industry, offering more than 190 products in 80 countries, with labeling in 16 languages. The company's main competitors are Beech-Nut and Del Monte Foods, although Gerber controls about 83 percent of the baby food market in the United States.

Gerber merged with Sandoz Laboratories in 1994. In 1996, Sandoz merged with CIBA-Geigy to form Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. In 2007, Gerber was sold to the Nestlé Company for $5.5 billion.

Interestingly enough, Gerber means "to throw up" in French.

Product Diversification

In 1960, Gerber started selling its baby food in glass jars, which often found new life as a generic household storage item. Soon after, other items such as pacifiers, baby bottles and small baby toys were introduced. In 2003, Gerber partially replaced the glass jars with plastic tubs, for fruits and vegetables. Meats are still sold in jars.

In 1967, executives at Gerber Products decided to offer a line of life insurance products aimed at young families. Today, the Gerber Life Insurance Company is one of the largest purveyors of direct-marketed life insurance in the United States. Gerber Life currently has more than two million life insurance policies in force, and controls more than $650 million in assets. The company's term and whole life insurance products for adults and children are available in the United States, Puerto Rico, and most of Canada. Gerber Life currently has an A (Excellent) rating with independent rating entity AM Best, the third-highest rating out of thirteen categories.

Early in the 1990s, Gerber tried to enter into the sugar-free food market with a Sugar Free Vanilla Custard flavor, favorable to diabetic babies. The product did not see as much demand as expected, and it was dropped off the supermarket shelves after a few years. Gerber also began to produce juices, which are still being sold as of September 2008. In 1999, Gerber established Gerber Skincare products for babies. All of the skincare products were recalled as they caused unexpected spotting near the rectum.

Other Gerber products currently produced include breastfeeding supplies, such as the Premium Feeding System Manual Massaging Pump, as well as baby bottles and nipples. They also market a line of healthcare products, including Tooth and Gum Cleanser and Vitamin Drops.

Consumer Relations

Gerber has a long history of projecting a family-friendly image. When Gerber Products established a consumer relations department in 1938, then ten-year-old Sally Gerber began answering each customer's letter individually, a practice she would continue for many years, even after she became a senior vice president of the company. In 1986, the company set up the Gerber Parents' Resource Center, a toll-free customer relations hotline, which has been providing information on baby food and parenting issues ever since.

Gerber Baby

According to Gerber, Ann Turner Cook is the famous Gerber baby, whose portrait is featured prominently on all Gerber product packaging. Cook is now a retired teacher and mystery writer. She was depicted in a charcoal sketch by neighbor Dorothy Hope Smith. Smith submitted the sketch as an entry for the company's logo contest.

A few interim Gerber babies were selected to appear on Gerber products in the mid '70s including babies known only as Hogg and Murray.

Numerous urban legends have incorrectly identified the Gerber baby. Some legends claim that the baby is Sally Gerber herself, the reason why the company itself was established. Some legends say it is Michael Dolo, while other legends insist that it is a young Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey Bogart's portrait, drawn by his mother, was indeed used in national advertisements for Mellin baby foods, but not for Gerber Products. Other legends have even said it was an infant Richard Nixon.