Orville Redenbacher - Business Career

Business Career

He started his career selling fertilizer, but spent his spare time working with popcorn. In 1951, he and partner Charlie Bowman bought the George F. Chester and Son seed corn plant near Valparaiso, Indiana. Naming the company "Chester Hybrids," they tried tens of thousands of hybrid strains of popcorn before settling on a hybrid they named "RedBow." An advertising agency, however, advised them to use the name Orville Redenbacher to market the corn. They launched their popping corn in 1970, and Orville was suddenly everywhere. Redenbacher first appeared on national television in 1973—long before the commercials that featured him promoting popcorn. In an episode of the game show, To Tell the Truth, he stumped the panelists (Kitty Carlisle Hart, Bill Cullen, Joe Garagiola, and Peggy Cass), all of who were shown enjoying samples of Redenbacher's then-new novelty popping corn flavors, including chili and curry.

By the mid 1970s, Redenbacher and Bowman had captured a third of the unpopped popcorn market. In 1976, Redenbacher sold the company to Hunt-Wesson Foods, a division of Norton Simon, Inc. In 1983, Esmark purchased Norton Simon, and the next year (1984), Beatrice Foods acquired Esmark. In 1985, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired Beatrice with the goal of selling off businesses. In 1990, they sold the popcorn business and other old Hunt-Wesson businesses to agribusiness giant ConAgra.

Redenbacher then moved to Coronado, California. He appeared as the company's official spokesman, wearing a trademark outfit in public that included horn-rimmed glasses and a bow tie. Sometime Redenbacher appeared in commercials with his grandson. Some customers wrote letters asking if Redenbacher was a real person, and not an actor (see, e.g., Bartles & Jaymes). He responded to this by appearing on various talk shows, professing his identity.

After the initial sale to Hunt-Wesson, the city of Valparaiso, Indiana, started their first Popcorn Festival in 1979. Celebrating Redenbacher’s development of his popcorn in Valparaiso, the festival featured Orville and Gary appearing several times as grand marshal of the signature event, the Popcorn Parade. Purdue University granted him an honorary doctorate degree in the College of Agriculture in 1988.

Redenbacher hosted the SFM Holiday Network syndicated movie broadcast package along with his grandson.