This Supremely Popular Condiment Brand Is Owned By The Clorox Company

While you might associate Clorox with household cleaning, it actually owns one of the biggest names in seasonings and salad dressing: Hidden Valley Ranch. And if you think this is a new development, you'd be wrong. Clorox bought Hidden Valley Ranch more than five decades ago in 1972. Hidden Valley Ranch is one of a few unusual brands under the Clorox umbrella that also randomly includes kitty litter and barbecue charcoal.

Clorox acquired the company and took it to the national level with its reach and decision to bottle a shelf-stable product. But before that, you could only get it as a packet. Steve Henson, the creator of this now-infamous spice blend, originally crafted his memorable combo of flavors and sold it from a real place called Hidden Valley Ranch, a dude ranch he bought near Santa Barbara, California, hence the name. It's hard to believe that a tiny mail-order seasoning packet business has become an iconic American condiment. 

Once acquired by Clorox, Hidden Valley Ranch went through many iterations and product extensions. Initially, the brand added some additional dry seasoning variations like Blue Cheese and Green Goddess, before expanding to a lineup of dry dip products that included Creamy Taco and Toasted Onion. Clorox got a little more adventurous with bottled flavor combos in the 1990s like Taco Ranch and Pizza Ranch, before settling on the bottled ranch varieties we know today, like Organic Ranch, Fat-Free Ranch, and Lite Ranch.

Today, Hidden Valley is synonymous with ranch dressing. In fact, several fast food chains use Hidden Valley Ranch, like Burger King, Taco Bell, and Dairy Queen, and Clorox refers to ranch as a flavor unto itself, rather than just a dip or dressing. While bottles of Hidden Valley Ranch are readily available on grocery shelves across the country, which Clorox pioneered with the brand in 1983, the dry seasoning envelope you mix at home is still a fixture. You've likely used a packet at some point in your life to make a game-day ranch dip or even to liven up the flavors of chicken tenders.

As the nation's biggest ranch brand, Hidden Valley Ranch has developed a legion of loyal followers. You can even buy Hidden Valley Ranch merch, with shirts, hats, and bags that declare you proudly Team Ranch. Clorox wants you to think of ranch as a flavor to seek throughout the day, with its signature tang being featured in everything from a drizzle on your pizza to collabs with ice cream brands. Today, ranch is an over $1.3 billion industry. It's hard to imagine that Clorox could have envisioned what a sensation this condiment would become.