Foods & beverages

May 2024

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Company story – Quaker Oats

By Kiron Kasbekar | 08 Mar 2024

Quaker Oats is a company whose products I remember from my childhood days. Years before a foreign exchange crisis caused the Indian government to impose curbs on consumer product imports, we used to see a host of foreign brands in the Indian market. Including Quaker Oats, which I remember eating when I was a child, and which has been available for the past two decades or more.

How Quaker Oats grabbed customers’ attention

By Kiron Kasbekar | 07 Mar 2024

Quaker Oats, the American food products giant that was created in 1901 through the merger of many older oat millers, and was acquired by a bigger foods giant, Pepsi, in 2001, has been an innovative company. One example of its innovativeness shows in its packaging – the cereal box it launched in 1915.

Company story – Cunard Line

By Kiron Kasbekar | 12 Jan 2024

The Cunard Line started its life in Glasgow in 1839 as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company when Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract.

Samuel Slater – textile tycoon or traitor?

By Kiron Kasbekar | 26 Dec 2023

Samuel Slater is a name that holds significant importance in the annals of American industrial history. Often referred to as the ‘Father of the American Factory System’, Slater's contributions played a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s industrial landscape.

Underwood Typewriter Company – an icon of the past

By Kiron Kasbekar | 21 Dec 2023

You’ve probably never heard of Underwood typewriters. For the company folded up in 1963 – 60 years ago. You may not even have seen and handled a typewriter, unless someone in your family owned one.

The rise and fall of Chrysler

By Kiron Kasbekar | 16 Dec 2023

A century ago, the American automobile industry was more crowded than a vegetable market on a Sunday morning, with such a wide variety of stuff on sale that buyers were spoilt for choice. Buyers could pick and choose, bargain, pay up and drive out with the newly purchased vehicle.

TRW – the tide turned

By Kiron Kasbekar | 13 Dec 2023

There used to be an American company called Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc. This company, which was a global supplier of automotive systems, modules, and components to car and truck manufacturers, started small, as most companies do. Then, as the automotive industry grew bigger, so did TRW.

The rise and fall of Nokia

By Aniket Gupta | 07 Dec 2023

My interest is stories about dominant companies that failed all of a sudden. These companies were once etched into people’s minds but have since become a symbol of nostalgia. One such company, which was the biggest in its industry before it failed catastrophically, is Nokia.

Yahoo!: The first king of the internet

By Aniket Gupta | 01 Dec 2023

The year is 1994. You go to the internet to search for a particular website, but there is no Google that could be used to search your desired website. What do you do? The answer is that you use Yahoo.

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Company story – Quaker Oats