By Amira McKee

McCormick's journey to a $65 billion food colossus started in a Baltimore cellar in 1889.

The supermarket fixture known for its red-capped spices traces its roots to founder Willoughby McCormick, who at 25 years old started selling root beer, flavoring extracts, and fruit syrups door-to-door.

Seven years later, McCormick made its first big move into the spice industry, acquiring the Philadelphia-based F.G. Emmett Spice Co. and relocating its machinery to Baltimore.

That deal preceded a decadeslong expansion drive that led to McCormick's biggest move yet: On Tuesday, the company signed a deal to combine with Unilever's food business to create a condiment giant with businesses stretching across the globe.

McCormick has grown into an industry leader with about $8 billion in annual sales and a market valuation of about $13.6 billion. Combining its operations with Unilever's sprawling food business -- which generates about $12 billion in annual sales -- represents its most ambitious deal so far.

Its acquisition playbook helped McCormick grow throughout the 20th century. They weren't always the flashiest businesses, but they built the Baltimore company into a grocery store mainstay.

McCormick appeared in more supermarket spice aisles by 1926, as the company began offering its stock to wholesale grocers. At that point the company was already selling internationally, supplying customers across Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean via an export office in New York.

In 1947, McCormick bought San Francisco's A. Schilling & Co., a coffee, spice and extract company, building the business's coast-to-coast distribution in the U.S. It acquired Canada's largest spice firm in 1959, and nabbed a California-based vegetable dehydrating plant in 1961.

McCormick experimented with new products, too -- with varying results. One effort, a carbonated powdered drink for children sold in foil packs, was scrapped after leaks in the packets caused them to burst, according to a 2014 Baltimore Magazine profile on the company.

In 1973, McCormick went public. More acquisitions followed, as the company branched into packaging, frozen foods and flavor ingredients, all while continuing to add to its spice portfolio.

The company expanded across Asia and Europe, and in 2000 acquired Ducros, Europe's leading spice supplier. More deals followed, including the purchase of New Orleans-style food and spices maker Zatarain's in 2003 and all-purpose seasoning brand Lawry's in 2008.

McCormick executives said they are confident the combination with Unilever's food unit will fuel more growth. The deal will put condiment brands such as Hellmann's mayo, Old Bay seasoning, Knorr, and Lawry's under the same umbrella. McCormick's senior leaders will continue to run the combined company.

"We are leveraging our playbooks to make sure we have the right integration approach," McCormick CEO Brendan Foley said on a Tuesday investor call. "We have long thought about the combination, and will bring to it lessons learned from our own M&A journey."

Write to Amira McKee at amira.mckee@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2026 13:56 ET (17:56 GMT)

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