Andrew F. Smith

Del Monte Foods

Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
Eighteen California packers, representing about half of the fruit canners in California, formed the California Fruit Canners Association in 1899. Seventeen years later the association incorporated under the name California Packers Association (Calpak); its premier brand was Del Monte. It was not until 1967 that the Calpak name was phased out and the company used only “Del Monte.”

From the beginning, the company expanded its operations and packed a vast array of products, including peaches, baked beans, olives, berries, squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, and cranberries, as well as dried fruit, jams, and jellies. It also aggressively marketed its products. In 1914 the company produced a silent film, The Winning of a Peach, which may have been the first industrial promotion film produced in the United States. In 1917 Calpak enlisted the culinary expert Marion Harris Neil to write an advertising cookbooklet, Good Things to Eat, featuring Del Monte products. The company has regularly published cookbooklets ever since. Early print advertisements announced that Del Monte was “not a label, but a guarantee.” During the 1920s the company expanded its operations into an array of other canning businesses, including tuna and coffee.