Frank Gerber
Frank Gerber's father, Joseph, owned a canning business in northern
Michigan known as the Fremont Canning Company.
In 1901, Gerber joined the company, which he eventually took over.
In 1928, Frank and his wife had a daughter named Sally. Sally Gerber
was not a healthy baby, and her doctor told the Gerbers to serve the
child a diet of fruits and vegetables. So Gerber and his son, Dan,
applied a process used to make tomato puree to produce strained fruit.
Word of the baby food spread throughout Freemont, where it became very
popular with mothers. What made the baby food so successful, though,
was the marketing.
While most commercially available baby foods at the time sold for 35
cents, Gerber's baby food sold for only 15 cents. He then advertised
the product with an offer of free samples, which mothers snapped up.
The move convinced grocers to carry the product, and soon the cannery
was devoted entirely to Gerber baby food. The company name was then
changed to Gerber Products Company.
Gerber's hometown. Freemont, Michigan, is home to an annual baby food
festival.
|
|