immigrant Oscar F. Mayer, born in Kösingen, Germany, began working at a meat market in Detroit, Michigan, and later in Chicago, Illinois. In 1883, Mayer and his brother Gottfried leased the Kolling Meat Market on the near-northside of Chicago. The Mayer brothers sold bratwurst, liverwurst, and weißwurst, which were popular in the predominantly German neighborhoods around their Chicago meat market. As the meat market's popularity grew, it expanded its storefront and participated in sponsoring local events including the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. By 1900, the company had 43 employees and Chicago-wide delivery service. In 1904, Oscar Mayer began branding its meats to capitalize on their popularity, beginning an industry-wide trend. Early company specialties were "Old World" sausages and Westphalian hams, soon followed by bacon and wieners. In 1906, Oscar Mayer & Co. was among the first to volunteer to join the newly created federal meat inspection program. In 1919, the company made its first major expansion, with the purchase of a processing plant in Madison, Wisconsin. The plant quickly proved to be a profitable, efficient operation, and in 1919 Madison became the corporate headquarters.
Kraft ownership
For nearly a century, Oscar Mayer remained an independent company owned primarily by descendants of the Mayer brothers who started it. In 1981, Oscar Mayer stockholders elected to sell the company to General Foods. Four years later, Philip Morris acquired General Foods, and in 1989 merged General Foods with the newly acquired Kraft Foods transforming it into Kraft General foods. Shares of Kraft Foods were first offered to the public via an initial public offering in 2001. Altria Groupspun off remaining shares of Kraft Foods to Altria shareholders in 2007. On November 4, 2015, owner Kraft Heinz announced it would move the Oscar Mayer headquarters and the company's U.S. meats business from Madison to Chicago. The company also announced plans to consolidate its production facilities during the two following years, resulting in the shutdown of seven North American manufacturing facilities: Fullerton, California, San Leandro, California, Federalsburg, Maryland, St. Marys, Ontario, Campbell, New York, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; and Madison. In August 2017, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the company planned to spend $10 million to reinvent the hot dog for a more health-conscious consumer. According to company research, this new strategy could increase sales of their hot dogs by 6%.
Advertisements
Oscar Mayer had several advertisements on TV involving young children, including the Oscar Mayer Wiener ad in 1963. The commercial shows a young girl leading a group of children, singing about what they would get if they "were an Oscar Mayer wiener". It was written by Richard D. Trentlage. A 1974 TV commercial featured 4-year-old Andy Lambros holding a fishing rod and sandwich while singing, "My bologna has a first name, it's 'O-S-C-A-R'...". It became one of the longest-running TV commercials in the country. Oscar Mayer is known for its Wienermobile, which has toured the United States for over 70 years. The first Wienermobile was created in 1936. In 2019, Oscar Mayers started sponsoring Ryan Newman in the NASCAR cup series in the number 6 Roush Fenway Racing car.
