History

  • The history of Grupo Herdez began in 1914 as a company distributing beauty and personal care products, selling a large number of diverse and well-known brands that provided an outstanding competitive advantage.
  • Mr. Ignacio Hernandez Del Castillo joined the company in 1929, making an important contribution to its growth and success with his strong business skills that drove sales growth significantly.
  • The Company was not isolated from the problems of the depression in the U.S. that affected the Mexican economy, which began to face serious problems as a result of the acute world crisis.

    In order to confront these problems, the Company developed sales, advertising and promotional programs and implemented a series of projects to incentivize growth. The optimism and vision of Don Ignacio resulted in his becoming the owner of the Company.
  • Faced with a better economic environment, the Company began to show positive results. Don Enrique and Don Ignacio Hernandez-Pons took charge of sales, production and warehousing in order to help the rising arc of success.

    In 1947, The Company entered into a 50% association with McCormick & Company, Inc. and formed McCormick de Mexico S.A. de C.V. Important products such as mayonnaise, mustard and marmalades were born of this union and led to significant growth.
  • The Company was positioned as one of the strongest representative and distribution companies in Mexico, managing a wide range of leading brands and products. A plant was constructed in Mexico for the production, warehousing and distribution of products.
  • The loss of certain representation rights for products important to the Company’s sales led to one of the most vital decisions in its history: to create its own line of canned products under the Herdez name, including vegetables, fruits, home-style sauces and peppers.

    Successful advertising campaigns with the themes, “You can trust Herdez” and “Put on the flavor” are launched. A television variety show called “Domingos Herdez” enjoyed first place in audience preference polls for many years, making history and consolidating the corporate prestige of Herdez.
  • The Doña Maria factory was acquired in San Luis Potosi, and a plant was purchased in Los Robles, Veracruz for processing peppers, pineapples, oranges, mangoes and papayas.

    A distribution center was constructed in Mexico that unified and integrated important areas of the company and led to greater growth. The Company opened the path for exports to the U.S., which enabled it to achieve additional expansion and business recognition.

    The Company suffered two great losses in this decade, the passing of Don Ignacio Hernandez Del Castillo and his son, Don Ignacio Hernandez-Pons. Don Enrique Hernández-Pons assumed the position of Chairman and Chief Executive of the company and continued on the path left by both his father and his brother.
  • A new plant was inaugurated in San Luis Potosi and the facilities already located there were expanded to include a Distribution Center. Arpons S.A. de C.V. was acquired to strengthen the beauty and personal care products business.

    Fundacion Herdez, A.C. was created with the main goal of conducting research and development in the area of food. The Company acquired the Miel Carlota, S.A. de C.V. plant, thereby entering the honey market.
  • Grupo Herdez, S.A.B. de C.V. was formed in 1991 and the Company listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange. Grupo Bufalo, S.A. de C.V. is acquired, introducing new products and innovative salsa packaging in glass jars. At the facilities on Av. de la Paz in San Luis Potosi, a new plant started production of McCormick teas, spices, mustard and mayonnaise with the most modern processes.

    A new plant began operations in the city of Ensenada, Baja California to process and can home-style sauces and vegetables, essentially for export. Alimentos Deshidratados del Bajio, S.A. de C.V. was acquired, a plant located in the State of Guanajuato for drying various vegetables such as peppers, garlic, onion and parsley.
  • The Company suffered the loss of Don Enrique Hernandez-Pons in mid-2000 and his two sons, Enrique and Hector Hernandez-Pons, assumed the roles of Chairman and Vice President of the company.

    In 2002, the Group entered a 50% strategic alliance with Barilla, GeR Fratelli, S.p.A., a world leader in pasta, for the production, distribution and marketing of pasta products in Mexico through Barilla Mexico, S.A. de C.V., which acquired the Yemina and Vesta pasta brands.

    In 2004, the Board of Directors appointed Mr. Hector Hernandez-Pons Torres Chairman and Chief Executive of the Group, undertaking an internal restructuring to implement measures such as expense reduction, product portfolio rationalization and bank debt reduction. The assets of the personal care products unit were divested, operations at Herdez Europa, S.A. were suspended due to better distribution alternatives, and two sardine fishing vessels with low capacity were sold, certain operations were closed related to fruit planting, the “Los Robles” plant in Veracruz was closed and certain production lines were relocated to San Luis Potosi.

    In 2005 the new McCormick de Mexico plant was inaugurated in the “Duque de Herdez” industrial complex, and during 2006 Herdez launched the “Herdez Nutre” social responsibility program, whose mission is to contribute to the nutrition of malnourished mothers and children in indigenous communities in the mountains and coast of the State of Oaxaca. Additionally, a distribution contract was signed with Ocean Spray International, Inc. for the exclusive distribution of cranberry juice beverages in Mexico.

    During 2007 the most remarkable achievement was the creation of “Herdez Del Fuerte S.A. de C.V.” a 50% strategic alliance with Grupo Kuo S.A.B. de C.V. for the marketing of food products. Likewise, ending the operational restructure started in 2004 regarding the centralization of operations and disinvestments, the “Yavaros Industrial” sardine business was sold and the “Ensenada” plant in Baja California was closed, relocating production lines to San Luis Potosi.
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