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Ore-Ida
American frozen food brand From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ore-Ida (/ɔːrˈaɪdə/; orr-EYE-də) is a brand of potato-based frozen foods owned by Kraft Heinz's, H.J. Heinz Company Brands LLC. based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Ore-Ida's primary production facility is located in Ontario, Oregon, near the Idaho border where the company was originally founded in 1949.[3][4]
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History
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In 1934, entrepreneurs Francis Nephi Grigg and Golden Grigg began growing sweet corn in eastern Oregon. Their first company, "Grigg Brothers", became the largest distributor of sweet corn in the United States.[1][5][2] In 1949, with financial backing from their brother-in-law Otis Williams, the brothers rented a frozen food plant located in Ontario and converted it into a potato-processing facility. The three purchased the facility around 1952 after the plant went into foreclosure.[1][5][6] The company was officially founded that year as the "Oregon Frozen Foods Company".[6][7]
The company initially produced and sold frozen corn and French fries.[1][5][8] In 1953, Nephi, Golden, Otis, and Ross developed Tater Tots, bite-sized "logs" formed from seasoned slivers of potatoes, which were leftovers from French fry production.[1][3][9] The name “tater tots” can be attributed to Clora Lay Orton after the brothers created a contest with their friends and employees to create a name for the potato “logs".[10] Tater Tots are today considered the brand's most well known product.[9][2][4]
In 1960, the company built a second plant in Burley, Idaho.[6][11] The company's name is a syllabic abbreviation of the first few letters of Oregon and Idaho and the original logo consisted of the outlines of Oregon and Idaho with Ore-Ida superimposed in italicized letters.[1]
After going public in 1961,[1][12] the Ore-Ida brand was acquired by the H. J. Heinz Company in 1965.[1][11][13] The Heinz company coined Ore-Ida's long-time advertising slogan: “When it says Ore-Ida, it’s All Righta.”[11]
McCain Foods purchased Ore-Ida's foodservice division in 1997, acquiring five of the company's plants, including the Burley location.[2][14][15] Ore-Ida's division headquarters were located in Boise until 1999, when a new frozen foods division was created based at Heinz's corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[14][16]
In 2022, Boise-based J.R. Simplot Company acquired the Ontario facility; Kraft Heinz retains ownership of the Ore-Ida brand, which is now produced by Simplot under a long-term agreement.[17][18][19]
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Sports sponsorship
- Ore-Ida Women's Challenge road cycling race in the 1980s and 1990s.[20][21]
- In 2005 and 2006, Ore-Ida sponsored Brian Vickers' #57 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series.[22][23] In 2007, Ore-Ida/Heinz and Delimex foods (another Heinz brand) sponsored the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford for selected NASCAR NEXTEL Cup events, driven by Jon Wood and Bill Elliott.[24][25][26]
- In 2025, Ore-Ida entered into an NIL deal with BYU Cougars men’s basketball star Richie Saunders, whose great-grandfather, Francis Nephi Grigg, co-founded the company. Ore-Ida would refer to itself as “Ore-Richie” for the duration of Saunders’ and BYU’s stay in the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.[27][28]
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