What Is General Mills's Success?

General Mills, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries (Forbes, 2012). General Mills was incorporated in 1928, but its origins go back to 1866, when Cadwallader Washburn opened the first flour mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota (). His business, originally called the Minneapolis Milling Company, competed with local miller C.A. Pillsbury. In 1869, they joined forces to form the Minneapolis Millers Association. The 1940’s saw the company debut Cheerios and its first Betty Crocker cake mix. In the 1960’s the company entered the snack food sector with the purchase of Morton Foods. In addition, the company moved into retailing with purchases of Lacoste clothing and Monet Jewelry. In 1970, the company acquired the Red Lobster restaurant chain and debuted Hamburger Helper. The company saw an additional boom in business in the 1980’s when they lunched the Olive Garden Italian restaurant chain and introduced Pop Secret microwave popcorn. In 1995, General Mills awarded the restaurant division to

The company works to connect consumers and develop deep insight where we like to eat, where they shop for food and how they approach cooking today. According to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Powell “Our plan for the fiscal year ended May 25, 2014, called for sales and earnings growth consistent with our long-term business model and increased cash returns to our shareholders” (p. 4). We made good progress building our worldwide food businesses in both developed and emerging markets (p. 4). And we returned more than $2.7 billion in cash to shareholders through a 17 percent dividend increase and significant share repurchases (p. 4). But sales and profit results fell short of our targets. (Annual Report,