The Giant American Company That Owns Your Favorite Condiment Brands

Whether it's garlic salt, steak seasoning, or Five Guys-style Cajun seasoning blend, McCormick is among the leading brands of the spice world. However, you may not know McCormick produces more than just spices. In fact, it owns many beloved condiment brands. This includes the likes of French's, Cholula, and Frank's Red Hot. 

Despite being a globally recognized spice brand on its own, the Maryland-based company has made a legacy of building its empire via acquisitions, one of which is Old Bay seasoning. McCormick & Co. purchased the Baltimore Spice Company in 1990, which owned the rights for Old Bay seasoning and its recipe. In the early aughts, McCormick purchased Lawry's from Unilever for $604 million, adding even more flavors to its seasoning line. In 2017, McCormick increased its portfolio by buying Reckitt Benckiser Group's food division, RB Foods, for roughly $4.2 billion. This granted McCormick ownership of French's Mustard, Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce, and the now-discontinued Tiger's Milk brand. A mere few years later, McCormick finalized an agreement in November of 2020 to buy Cholula Hot Sauce and its line of distinctive flavorings for $800 million. 

McCormick has a long history that didn't even start in the seasoning game. It might seem like McCormick has always been about spices, but that's not quite so. Its earliest days started in the basement of its founder, Willoughby M. McCormick. At the age of 25, Wiloughby's business was making and selling extracts, juice, and syrups door-to-door with the help of just three employees. It's not clear what prompted his move into the spice industry, but that legacy began with the 1896 purchase of F.G. Emmett Spice Company. Roughly 50 years later, it acquired A. Schilling and Company of San Francisco, another manufacturer of spices, extracts, and coffee. This allowed McCormick to become a leader in the seasoning industry with coast-to-coast reach, since Schilling was previously the largest spice business in the western United States.

Today, 57% of McCormick's business comes from selling directly to the consumer, with 43% stemming from business-to-business operations. However, it seems like just flavoring food isn't enough for the giant company, as McCormick also acquired Zatarain's for $180 million. The 2003 move granted McCormick an extended reach across grocery aisles, as its brands can now be found not only in the seasoning and condiment sections, but also in the form of frozen entrees and boxed mixes. Although we'd leave McCormick's Less Sodium Taco Seasoning on the shelves, we understand why you might be a fan of the seasoning giant.