Danone, a French company? Hmmm, yes and no

A follow-up on the Danone syndrome. Little facts the French won't let you know unless you look for them yourself.

From Danone's official American website (emphasis mine):

The Dannon Company, Inc., has its roots in Spain, where Danone was founded by Isaac Carasso in 1919. Having previously lived in the Balkans where yogurt was a dietary staple, Carasso decided to introduce this healthy product in Barcelona. He opened a small yogurt business named "Danone," meaning "Little Daniel" after his son.

Carasso was aware of scientific advances that had been made with fermented milk by Elie Metchnikoff at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He perfected the first industrial manufacturing process by combining the traditional method of making yogurt with the pure cultures that had been isolated in Paris. The younger Carasso, Daniel, learned the family business in Spain and decided to establish Danone in France in 1929.

DANNON Comes to America

During World War II, Daniel Carasso immigrated to the United States. In 1942, he founded the first American yogurt company, Dannon Milk Products, Inc., in the Bronx, NY. He changed the name Danone to DANNON to make the brand sound more American. In 1943, Carasso met Joe Metzger, who helped him with the administrative work of the new company.

DANNON faced a major hurdle at its inception - few Americans had ever tried yogurt, then a staple in many European countries. Distribution was very limited at first and was confined to the local New York area.

In 1947, a breakthrough came when DANNON introduced yogurt with strawberry fruit on the bottom. This innovation appealed to Americans who found the sweetness of the fruit to be the perfect complement for the tart taste of yogurt. Blueberry and raspberry fruit, as well as orange and lemon flavors, were quickly added to the product line and started to become the favorite yogurt of America. The company grew rapidly, and in 1950, moved to a larger facility in Long Island while expanding its sales area to Philadelphia and Boston. DANNON then introduced a lowfat yogurt designed to appeal to health enthusiasts and dieters.

The IHT had also an interesting article about the true origins of Danone:

Ten years later his son, Daniel, moved to France, where Isaac Carasso died. As a Jew in Nazi-occupied France, Daniel Carasso entrusted control of the company to friends and fled to the United States, where he continued to sell yogurt but Americanized the name to Dannon, according to the company's Web site.

There is more interesting facts in the story of Danone. As the American website indicates:

While DANNON was growing in America [in the 60's], Daniel Carasso was leading Danone to rapid development in Europe. To accelerate its diversification and world expansion, Danone merged with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese business in France in 1967, and with BSN, the leading glass container and beverages company, in 1973. The resulting company, BSN Gervais Danone, became one of the world's largest food manufacturers present in 30 countries worldwide. In 1994, BSN Gervais Danone took the name Groupe Danone.

The Riboud family, currently at the head of Danone, actually came from BSN, which merged with Danone. Again, the IHT article:

Labasse, the author of the book about Danone, says many French have warm feelings toward Danone because the head of BSN who went on to lead Danone, Antoine Riboud, was respected for his relations with employees and his civic-mindedness. "When you think of Antoine Riboud you think of a civic company, close to the interests of the society and environment," Labasse said. "He was seen as keeping the interests of his employees at heart." Riboud died in 2002, having installed his son, Franck, as head of the company.

Let's also remember that Antoine Riboud's BSN launched the first hostile takeover of France's history:

Antoine Riboud leaves behind a legacy of one of France's great family owned enterprises, along with Michelin and Lagardere (Matra Hachette), even though the Riboud family has retained only about one percent of Danone's capital, unlike the others.

The elder Riboud in his 30 years at the helm increased the company's sales tenfold, bringing it to a level between automaker Renault and chemicals giant Rhone Poulenc. He also became a legend for launching a bold, if unsuccessful, takeover attempt of glassmaker Saint Gobain in 1969 that sent shock waves through the French business community, which had never seen such a move.

(...)

In 1989 Riboud wrote out a check for 3.4 billion dollars, paying cash for the European operations of U.S. based Nabisco. At the time, it was one of the biggest transactions of a French company in the United States. That enabled the French group to quadruple its non European revenues.

Short memory, the French.

Update: There's an interesting and complete article in right-leaning, French news weekly Valeurs Actuelles, "Soda kings' dreams about Danone".