Agenda - 10-15-2013 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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27 Attachment #4 1920: The Company begins production of powdered baby formula. 1925: The Company installs machinery and begins mass production of candies and confectionery. 1949: The dairy operation is spun off as a separate company, Morinaga Dairy Industries. 1956: Morinaga begins production of ice cream. 1964: The Company has a new hit product with the launch of Hi -Crown Chocolate. 1983: The Company launches a nutritional foods division and begins a product development and marketing agreement with Weider, of the United States. 1995: The highly popular Weider in Jelly product line is launched. 2000: The Company launches a new corporate "power brand" strategy focusing on core brands and product lines. 2004: A new manufacturing facility is completed in Shanghai in order to supply the market in China. 2013: The Company selects a site in Orange County, NC to produce "Hi- Chew" candy, marking its' first major investment in the United States. Company History: Established in 1899 by Taichiro Morinaga, who had a pioneer spirit and the dream of "offering nutritious and good- tasting confectionery to Japanese children," Morinaga & Co. Ltd. was the first Western -style confectionery manufacturer in Japan. During the past 114 years, Morinaga has carried out its corporate operations guided by the vision, "We Offer Good Health with Delight & Taste." One of Japan's leading candy and confectionery manufacturers, Morinaga & Co. Ltd. is also credited with introducing Western -style treats to Japan at the dawn of the 20th century. After more than 114 years, Morinaga has remained at the top of the Japanese candy industry, producing a strong line of candies, chocolates, frozen desserts and snacks, and nutritional products. Entering the new century, Morinaga has developed a new "power brand" strategy emphasizing its core product lines, which include Milk Cocoa, Hotcake Mix, Amazake drinks, frozen desserts, and Weider in Jelly, a line of drinkable, gelatin -like drinks marketed under license from the United States' Weider Nutrition International Inc. The company also produces a number of other licensed candy products, including Pez and Werther's Original. Morinaga operates five manufacturing facilities in the Tokyo region; the company also has a manufacturing subsidiary in Taiwan and built a new plant in Shanghai, China. The company also operates sales subsidiaries in Europe and North America, and sells its products in more than 26 countries. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Morinaga is led by Gota Morinaga, grandson of the company's founder. Born in Kyushu, in the north of Japan, in 1863, founder Taichiro Morinaga went to work for his uncle, a potter, in exchange for room and board after his father's death when Morinaga was just seven. Morinaga, who had no formal education, became the bookkeeper of the pottery business, and then, at the age of 18, was sent to Tokyo as the company's sales representative. Morinaga later went to work for a wholesale company, rising to become manager of a branch office in Yokohama. Yet, after extending too much credit to customers, the office went into debt. In order to repay his employer, Morinaga decided to try his luck in California. Taichiro Morinaga moved to San Francisco in 1887 and opened a hardware store, trading in high - quality, high - priced goods - -in a working class neighborhood. The business, which suffered equally from the pervasive anti - Oriental sentiment of the era, soon failed and forced Morinaga to look elsewhere for a livelihood. Yet Morinaga's stay in the United States led him to an important discovery: candy. Japan had remained closed to outside influences for more than 250 years, finally opening its borders to foreigners only in the late 19th century. If the country's elite class had access to sweets -- typically based on boiled beans - -the majority of the population I-]