National Research Corporation was founded in 1940 by Richard Stetson Mores, a talented businessman with a strong scientific background. During World War II the Boston-based National Research Corporation developed high-vacuum evaporation processes for dehydrating penicillin, blood plasma, and streptomycin for use in the U.S. war effort.
In 1945, the U.S. Army orders 500,000 pounds of powdered orange juice. Florida Foods Corporation wins the contract. National Research Corporation organized Florida Foods Corporation headed by John M. (Jack) Fox. The new company quickly opened a pilot plant in Plymouth the heart of the Florida citrus belt.
The plan was to fulfill contract with army. However, the war ends before the product ships. Since the war was over, Fox shifted the company’s focus to the consumer market. In need of a brand name, Florida Foods hired an advertising agency based in Boston, a city whose rich history included the famous Minutemen. The agency thereby created the Minute Maid® brand, a name connoting convenience and ease of preparation.
They explored the possibility of marketing an “intermediate step” in the production process. Converting the powdered orange juice into a commercial product proved to be trickier than planned. The solution was an intermediate step - frozen orange juice concentrate which had a rich, fresh-squeezed taste.
The first concentrated orange juice brand—took place on April 15,1946, from the Plymouth plant. That same month the company changed its name to Vacuum Foods Corporation.
Vacuum Foods (which eventually becomes the Minute Maid Corporation) launches a national radio campaign featuring Bing Crosby, kicking off a 30-year promotional relationship between Vacuum Foods and Crosby.
Coke acquired Minute Maid in 1960 as its first brand outside of its core soft drink business. In Canada, it was in the 1950's that the Minute Maid Company made its first Canadian acquisition with Clinton Foods of Canada.
Vacuum Foods Corporation
