Two years later, the company became part of the federal meat inspection program. Although branding was not a common industry practice at the time, the Mayers reasoned that a name and logo would help customers notice the difference between their meat and the lower quality products sold by others. In 1904, the company adopted the "Edelweiss" trademark for some of its products, including bacon, linked sausage, and lard. Salesman were delivering Mayer sausages and other meats to every part of Chicago and even out to the suburbs. By this time, a third brother, Max, had joined the operation.īy the turn of the century, Oscar Mayer's reputation had spread well beyond the immediate neighborhood, and the company had at least 40 employees. The new market was an immediate success, and neighborhood residents flocked to the shop for its old world sausages and traditional meat cuts. Learning from this experience, the Mayer brothers borrowed $10,000 and bought their own building, with room for living quarters, just a few blocks away and reopened without much delay. When their lease expired in 1888, the Kollings refused to renew it, hoping to get back into business themselves by exploiting the solid reputation the Mayers had secured for the store. On its first day of operation, the store sold $59 worth of meat. Gottfried followed his older brothers advice, and in 1883 the two Mayers rented the failing Kolling Meat Market on the north side of Chicago and opened a shop of their own. In hopes of starting a family business, he wrote home suggesting that his brother Gottfried learn the art of sausage-making as an apprentice in Germany. By 1880, Mayer had learned the meat business from top to bottom.
Mayer moved to Chicago three years later, where he continued his apprenticeship in the meat industry, working in the stockyards of Armour & Co., as well as in a series of retail meat operations over the next few years. Settling in Detroit, his first job was as a butcher boy in a meat market. Mayer, the company's founder, arrived in America from Bavaria in 1873 at the age of 14. Oscar Mayer, now part of the Kraft General Foods empire, grew from a modest family business into an international food giant, maintaining a firm presence in both the American refrigerator and the American consciousness.
In the early 1990s, the company also tried its hand at the restaurant business, in an attempt to find additional outlets for its food products. Oscar Mayer's product line includes a wide range of popular meats, including hot dogs, bacon, and prepackaged lunch combinations. The company's sliced meats and other products are sold across North America and in parts of South America and Asia. is the maker of one of the most venerable and successful food brands currently available on supermarket shelves. SICs: 2013 Sausages and Other Prepared Meat Products 2015 Poultry Slaughtering and Processing 2035 Pickled Vegetables, Vegetable Sauces and Seasonings, and Salad Dressings 2092 Prepared Fresh or Frozen Fish and Seafoods 4731 Arrangement of Transportation of Freight and Cargo 4213 Trucking, Except Local Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Kraft General Foods Inc.