Pinnacle Foods Corporation is one of North America's largest packaged food companies. The company was founded in 1998 as Vlasic Foods International, acquiring the Swanson TV dinners, Open Pit, Vlasic Pickles, etc. from the Campbell Soup Company. In 2003, it acquired Aurora Foods, based in St. Louis, Missouri, which had been hurt by an accounting scandal which put that company at the brink of bankruptcy. blank">http://www.mbly.com/html/news/viewNews.asp?newsID=1030.
Aurora was founded by Ian Wilson, a former executive with _Coca-Cola and Dole, in 1995. Wilson used the company to purchase the Van de Kamp's seafood brand from Pillsbury and several other brands as the years progressed. These brands were in many cases market leaders, but the parent companies no longer considered them a part of their core marketing strategy, and refused to spend any more money on new marketing and development.
In 2001, Wilson and other Aurora executives pleaded guilty to securities fraud for misrepresenting the company's financial statements. Wilson was sentenced to 33 months in prison and was fined $1 million.
In 2000, Jim Smith, a former executive with ConAgra, was named CEO and was charged with restoring Aurora Foods to health. http://www.mdcpartners.com/news/pr011111.html He remained until 2002, which set events in motion leading to Aurora's acquisition. After the 2003 merger with Pinnacle Foods, Pinnacle closed the St. Louis offices and relocated all operations into the Cherry Hill, New Jersey, headquarters.
