Chiquita

100 Years and Counting...

1870 Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker purchased 160 bunches of bananas in Jamaica and sailed them to Jersey City in 11 days, where he sold them for a profit.

1871 Minor C. Keith went to Costa Rica and contracted to build a national railroad. Since he needed cargo and passengers for the railroad, he planted bananas alongside the tracks to provide paying fares both inland and back to the sea.

1885 Captain Baker started a partnership with Andrew Preston and some investors and called it Boston Fruit Company.

1899 Keith and his railroad companies merged with the Boston Fruit Company to create the United Fruit Company on March 30, 1899.

1899 Fruit Dispatch Company was formed to distribute bananas throughout the United States. The company broke new ground over the years in the distribution of fresh perishable produce to interior regions.

1899 Painted ships white to reflect tropical sun and maintain optimum temperature for bananas. The ships were referred to as The Great White Fleet.

1900 Panama disease first destroyed banana farms in Latin America.

1900 United Fruit Company issued first annual report.

1903 Revolutionized ocean transportation of perishable food products by using refrigerated vessels.

1903 Company listed on New York Stock Exchange.

1904 Company perfected an unbroken string of wireless communication from the United States to South America. The first to bring this new technology to the tropics so that the ships at sea could communicate vital information with company locations in Latin America.

1910 Initiated the first banana research in Latin America to develop new disease-resistant varieties.

1930 Chiquita's fleet reached 95 ships.

1935 Sigatoka disease, a leaf fungus, arrived from the western Pacific and spread throughout the Americas' tropics.

1941 WWII brought the banana industry to a virtual standstill. Company ships were requisitioned by British and American governments to aid in the war effort.

1944 Introduced the name Chiquita and the Miss Chiquita character and jingle.

1947 "Chiquita" registered as a trademark in the United States.

1955 Handled more than 2.7 billion pounds (1.2 billion kilograms) of fruit.

1958 Scientists recommended new varieties of bananas which were resistant to Panama disease.

1961 Began shipping pre-cut hands of bananas in cardboard boxes instead of bunches, to protect against bruising.

1963 Began the largest branding program ever undertaken by a produce marketer, accompanied by a record-breaking ad campaign which included affixing the trademark blue sticker to bananas: "This seal outside means the best inside."

1966 The Chiquita brand arrived in Europe.

1967 Chiquita label introduced in Europe.

1968 First year more than 4 billion pounds (1.8 billion kilograms) of bananas were shipped and sold by the company worldwide.

1969 Awarded first patent for modified atmosphere packaging to provide a low oxygen atmosphere in individual boxes of bananas to arrest ripening during transit.

1970 Merged with AMK Corporation, which operated the John Morrell meat business; name changed to United Brands Company.

1973 The company introduced the first refrigerated container ships for transport of bananas between Latin America and Texas.

1980 Chiquita was the official sponsor and supplier of bananas to the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York.

1984 Chiquita took delivery of the first of four new refrigerated ships for the Panama to Europe trade.

1989 Introduced "Chiquita. Quite Possibly, The World's Perfect Food."

1990 Took delivery of first of 16 refrigerated ships in its modern fleet.

1990 Chiquita invests in major banana expansion in the Atlantic zone of Costa Rica.

1990 Changed name to Chiquita Brands International, Inc. to take advantage of global name recognition.

1991 Built a state-of-the-art banana processing plant in Costa Rica.

1992 Acquired Friday Canning Corporation, a leading private label vegetable canner.

1992 Began working with the environmental organizations Rainforest Alliance on the Better Banana Project.

1992 Refrigerated ships fitted with controlled atmosphere to slow the ripening process and enhanced the quality of fruit shipments.

1993 European Union imposed illegal quotas and tariffs on bananas imported from Latin America, took away over half of our most profitable market.

1994 First Chiquita farms certified by the Rainforest Alliance's Better Banana Project.

1994 Celebrated 50th anniversary of Miss Chiquita.

1995 Completed the sale of John Morrell meat business.

1997 Chiquita bananas were certified by the American Heart Association.

1997 Acquired Owatonna Canning Company and American Fine Foods.

1998 Completed the expansion of the world's largest banana processing plant located in Costa Rica.

1998 Completed the acquisition of Stokely USA Inc.

1998 A new, updated illustration of Miss Chiquita is unveiled.

1999 In March Chiquita celebrated it's 100th Anniversary...and what a century it was!

2000 Adopted Core Values and updated Code of Conduct to include Social Accountability International's SA8000 labor standard.

2000 Rainforest Alliance certified 100 percent of Chiquita's farms in Latin America to strict environmental and social standards of the Better Banana Project.

2001 Wal-Mart named Chiquita Environmental Supplier of the Year.

2001 IUF, COLSIBA and Chiquita signed historic agreement on labor rights for banana workers.

2001 Chiquita filed Chapter 11 debt restructuring plan in November.

2002 Chiquita emerged from pre-arranged Chapter 11 in March with solid financial structure, and Cyrus Freidheim named CEO and chairman of the board.

2002 Chiquita joined Ethical Trading Initiative.

2002 The Progressive Investor named Chiquita one of top 20 "green stocks."

2003 Chiquita marked 100th anniversary of stock listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

2003 Acquired Atlanta AG, major German fresh produce distributor.

2003 Sold Chiquita Processed Foods, vegetable canning subsidiary, to Seneca Foods.

2003 Sold assets of Armuelles, Panama, banana division to worker cooperative.

2003 Received 'Corporate Conscience Award' from Social Accountability International.

2003 Launched new Fresh Cut Fruit business.

2004 100% of owned farms in Latin America certified to SA8000 labor standard.

2004 Chiquita earns "Corporate Citizen of the Americas Award" from Organization of American States for Nuevo San Juan home-ownership project in Honduras.

2004 Sold banana production and port operations in Colombia.

2005 Acquired Fresh Express, the No. 1 seller of packaged salads in the United States, with 40 percent retail market share and approximately $1 billion in revenues.

2005 Chiquita stock added to KLD Domini 400 Social Index.

2007 Chiquita signed a strategic shipping agreement with an alliance formed by Eastwind Maritime and NYKCool. The transaction included sale and lease-back of 12 owned ships.

2007 Acquired privately held Verdelli Farms, one of the premier regional processors of value-added salads, vegetables and fruit snacks on the East Coast of the United States.