William Larsen was born in Buffalo, New York on May 29, 1850, and his family moved to
Wisconsin near present day Ephraim soon after. As a young adult, Larsen worked
briefly as a teacher in Door County, then as a head clerk in a general store. While
working in this store Larsen gained knowledge of vegetables and produce. In 1875
Larsen opened his own retail grocery store with a partner in Fort Howard, Wisconsin,
but by 1882 had sold his share to concentrate on his farm produce wholesale
business. William Larsen became interested in canning as an extension of his fresh
fruit and vegetable business; thus in 1890 started to can peas as the William Larsen
Canning Company.
During this time, he bought property between Oneida and Green Bay for his new
canning business as well as to grow produce for canning. Land that was unsuitable
for farming was used as pasture land for cattle and Guernsey cows. The dairy part of
the business was phased out by 1928, and the beef cattle as well as the farmland
were phased out by 1945 and 1946.
Much of the work in the early years was done by hand. In 1908 the first machinery --
rotary graders and blanchers, fillers and cappers, and hoists -- was brought in to
process fruits and vegetables for canning. The earliest vegetables to be
mechanically processed were peas, followed by corn, tomatoes, sauerkraut, and
beets.
During World War I, the canning business supplied the United States Army with mixed
vegetables under the label Armour Very Best. In 1918 William Larsen retired, with
management passed onto four of his sons: Austin, Milton, Donald, and Sumner. William
Larsen died in 1922 and ownership was transferred to his sons. The William Larsen
Canning Company was dissolved in 1926 and reincorporated under the name The Larsen
Company. Austin served as president, Milton as head of sales, Donald as production
manager, and Sumner head of farm operations.
In the same year as the reincorporation, the Veg-All label for canned mixed
vegetables was introduced, baby food production began in 1930, and in the mid-1930s
vacuum packs were introduced under the label FreshLike. During this time, a canned
product with five vegetables separated by parchment in one can was also invented
under the name Layer-Pak.
The Larsen Company spent the next several decades growing, which included acquiring
smaller canning companies such as the Fox Valley Canning Company sometime in the
1970s. The company went public in 1962. The company merged with Dean Foods in 1986,
maintaining the Larsen Company brands, such as Veg-All and FreshLike. Dean Foods
then acquired Birds Eye Frozen Foods from Kraft Foods in 1994. Dean sold off its
vegetable side of the business and is now known as Birds Eye Foods as of 2003.
