Marie Callender's, Banquet, and Duncan Hines may look like rivals, but the same parent company owns all 3

The frozen-food section may seem like it has a lot of variety, but many labels answer to the same parent company.

Here's what to know

Shoppers trying to compare options or spend more deliberately may not realize they're comparing products from the same company. As The Takeout reported, Conagra owns Marie Callender's frozen foods, Banquet, and Duncan Hines.

Conagra acquired Banquet in 1980 from RCA, a popular electronics company. Conagra acquired Marie Callender's in stages, taking the rights to market its frozen foods in 1994, the retail business in 2011, and the trademarks in 2014.

Duncan Hines returned to Conagra only after changing hands. Nebraska Consolidated Mills, the company that preceded Conagra, launched the brand in 1945, sold it to Procter & Gamble in 1957, and Conagra got it back through the 2018 Pinnacle Foods acquisition.

More background

What looks like a wide field of options still sends profits to a relatively small group of giant food companies, even products from different categories.

Nestlé owns Stouffer's, which started as a restaurant chain in Ohio before moving into frozen dinners, and it also owns Lean Cuisine, a line that began under Stouffer's before Nestlé took it over. Turns out a small set of corporate parents dominates the freezer aisle, and many shoppers are unaware of it.

That kind of monopoly can make it harder to see who benefits from a single purchase. Consumers may think they are spreading their dollars across different companies when the money is going back to the same large owner more than once.

What can be done?

Shoppers are advised to look past the brand name and check which company owns it for a more accurate evaluation. 

For anyone looking to support a non-corporate brand, Amy's is a family-owned organic frozen food company founded in 1987 by Andy and Rachel Berliner, who named it after their daughter, and it remains family-owned today.

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