The Standard Fruit Company (now
Dole plc) was established in the United States in 1924 by the
Vaccaro brothers. Its forerunner was started in 1899, when
Sicilian Arberesh immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
Joseph, Luca and Felix Vaccaro, together with Salvador D'Antoni, began importing bananas to
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
from
La Ceiba
La Ceiba () is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida (department), Atlántida, and a port city on the northern Caribbean coast in Honduras. It forms part of the southeastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras. With ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
. By 1915, the business had grown so large that it bought most of the ice factories in New Orleans in order to refrigerate its banana ships, leading to its president, Joseph Vaccaro, becoming known as the "Ice King".
Along with the
United Fruit Company
The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was ...
, Standard Fruit played a significant role in the governments of Honduras and other
Central America
Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
n countries, which became known as "
banana republics" due to the high degree of control which the fruit companies held over the nations.
In 1926, the company changed its name from Standard Fruit Company to Standard Fruit & Steamship Company. Between 1964 and 1968, the company was acquired by the
Castle & Cooke Corporation, which also acquired
James Dole
James Drummond Dole (September 27, 1877 – May 20, 1958), the "Pineapple King", was an American industrialist who developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii. He established the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HAPCO) which was later reorganized to ...
's Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HAPCO) around the same time. In 1991, Castle & Cooke was renamed
Dole Food Company
Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company and Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish- American agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables ...
. Castle & Cooke Inc, a
real estate company, was spun off in 1995 and, following a 2000 management buyout, is now privately held.
1954 Honduras strike
In 1954, there was a
general strike in Honduras against the Standard Fruit company among others. A detailed timeline can be seen below:
References
Further reading
*
External links
United Fruit Historical Resources websiteDole Food Company, Inc. website
{{banana production
Dole plc
1924 establishments in Louisiana
1968 disestablishments in Louisiana
1968 mergers and acquisitions
Agriculture in Hawaii
American companies established in 1924
Banana production in the United States
Business in Hawaii
Defunct agriculture companies of the United States
Defunct companies based in Hawaii
Defunct companies based in Louisiana
Food and drink companies disestablished in 1968
Food and drink companies established in 1924
Pineapple production