Eckrich is a prepared meat brand owned by Smithfield Foods, a subsidiary of China's WH Group. Eckrich sells smoked sausages, cold cuts,

hot dog A hot dog is a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term ''hot dog'' can also refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter ( Frankfurter Würs ...

s, corn dogs, Vienna sausages, breakfast sausages and

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

under the Eckrich brand name.

History

Eckrich was founded as a local meat market in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, USA, in 1894 by Peter Eckrich, an immigrant from Waldsee,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The firm expanded in the local market, becoming a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

r in 1907 and incorporating as ''Peter Eckrich and Sons'' in 1925. It closed its last retail operation in 1932 and operated exclusively as a wholesale meat vendor. In 1972, thirty years after Peter Eckrich had died,

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...

bought the firm and merged it into its Swift and Sons meat processing division in 1986 as ''Swift-Eckrich''. Beatrice Foods' brands were sold off over the late 1980s, culminating in 1990 with the sale of many of its brands, including Eckrich, to ConAgra. ConAgra sold Eckrich to Smithfield Foods on October 2, 2006. All 11 of Peter's children worked delivering meat for the company. Peter's brother Henry took over leadership of the business from Peter and was succeeded by Donald P. Eckrich, who served as president and chief operating officer of Beatrice Companies and president Eckrich. He was the grandson of the founder of the company.

Marketing

Smithfield refreshed the design of Eckrich packaging for deli meats in 2020 by working with ''COHO Creative Agency'' out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

References

External links

Eckrich
- brand website Food and drink companies established in 1894 Defunct companies based in Indiana Smithfield Foods brands 1894 establishments in Indiana Food and drink companies disestablished in 2006 2006 disestablishments in Illinois {{food-product-stub