Applegate is owned by Hormel Foods (the United States, NYSE: HRL), which acquired the brand on 13 July 2015 for $775 million.[1][2] Applegate was founded in 1987 in the United States and was independent until 2015.
Evidence: Hormel Foods Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-12-05, SEC EDGAR, 5 December 2025. Verified from filings; last checked .
Applegate sells meat raised without antibiotics and free from artificial ingredients, founded in 1987 well before those claims were common. Hormel acquired it in 2015 for $775 million, its entry into the natural and organic segment. It operates as a separate business within Hormel and continues to source from independent farms rather than the parent company's own supply chain.
Sentences about Applegate from Hormel Foods's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Capital expenditures in fiscal 2025 were $311 million, including investments in capacity expansions for Hormel Fire Braised and Applegate products, data and technology, people and animal safety, and the Jiaxing, China, facility.
Net sales growth across the enterprise was driven primarily by the Jennie-O turkey portfolio, Foodservice customized solutions business, Planters snack nuts, Applegate natural and organic meats, and premium prepared proteins, and the SPAM family of products.
Net sales growth for the full year was driven primarily by the Jennie-O turkey portfolio, the SPAM family of products, Foodservice customized solutions business, Planters snack nuts, Applegate natural and organic meats, the bacon portfolio, and the Mexican foods portfolio.
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Hormel Foods ownership tree →
See the full Hormel Foods brand portfolio (8) →
Hormel Foods controls 8 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in food.
The 100 brands in processed & packaged meat on Brandtree belong to 42 owners. The largest is Atria, with 8; Hormel Foods has 3.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| 3-Stjernet | Atria | 🇫🇮 Finland |
| Dalsjöfors | Danish Crown | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
| Fantino & Mondello | Maple Leaf Foods | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Bar-S | Sigma Foods | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| Aidells | Tyson Foods | 🇺🇸 United States |
| KMOTR | AGROFERT | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic |
| Freybe | Premium Brands | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Abraham | Bell Food Group | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
Hormel Foods is a publicly listed company headquartered in Austin, Minnesota, United States, founded in 1891. Brandtree records 8 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: HRL.
Hormel Foods was founded in Austin, Minnesota in 1891 as a pork processor and is best known for Spam, which it invented in 1937. The Hormel Foundation holds a controlling block of shares, an arrangement set up to keep the company independent and headquartered in its home town.
Hormel Foods: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Applegate is not one of them.
Hormel acquired Applegate Farms for about $775 million. Applegate sells meat raised without antibiotics and free from artificial ingredients, claims it had built a business on well before they were common, and it continues to source from independent farms rather than from its parent's supply chain.
The parent company of Applegate is Hormel Foods, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Yes. Applegate originated in the United States in 1987 and its owner, Hormel Foods, is also headquartered in the United States.
Hormel Foods completed its acquisition of Applegate on 13 July 2015, after announcing the deal on 26 May 2015. The deal was valued at $775 million (enterprise value).
Applegate was an independent company from its founding in 1987 until Hormel Foods acquired it in 2015.
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, Applegate is still owned by Hormel Foods. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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