With so many products competing for shelf space at the grocery store, some food brands struggle to survive – in fact, many of them are lucky to last a year. But when the public takes a brand into its heart, the possibilities are endless. Here, we look at the US food giants that have managed to stay afloat (and adored by shoppers) for record lengths of time.

Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the brands that have been filling bellies for generations – counting down to the oldest of them all.

Herman Lay was a natural salesman – and at the young age of 10, he started his first business selling soft drinks opposite the ballpark in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. However, Lay's first serious venture was in 1932, when he became a snack food distributor in Nashville, Tennessee. He believed in selling high-quality products at affordable prices and making them available to everyone.

Soon, Herman had enough money to buy up another company – and he eventually turned Lay’s into a household name in the Southern States. Meanwhile, a second crisp purveyor, Charles Elmer Doolin, came onto the scene. After buying a corn chip recipe from a café in San Antonio, Texas, Doolin started selling Fritos in 1932.

Three decades later, the largest names in snack production joined forces to form Frito-Lay. These days, the company's products include Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos, Cracker Jack, Funyuns, Ruffles and, of course, Lay’s. The company gets its potatoes from farms across 25 states, and they’re trucked to one of 30 manufacturing plants – where, on average, five potatoes go into every bag.

Cereal brand Kellogg's began life in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the 1890s. It was started by brothers John and Will Kellogg, who were both highly religious and believed that eating a healthy diet was the key to leading a pure life. The story goes that the duo were attempting to make wheat-based granola when they stumbled upon a method of flaking a day-old wheat-berry dough. Soon enough, corn flakes were born.

When the business officially started in 1906, it was called Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. The Kellogg brothers had fallen out by this time, and Will launched the company on his own. Interestingly, it was one of the first food companies to have a dietician, Mary Barber, on board. During the Great Depression, Kellogg's helped out American citizens by reducing shifts so it could hire more people.

Over the course of a century, Kellogg's went on to launch varieties including Toasted Rice Flakes (corn flakes made with rice), Toasted Wheat Biscuit (giant Shredded Wheat), Toasted Bran Flakes, Pep (wheat flakes), Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Special K, OKs (O-shaped cereal), Froot Loops and Mini-Wheats. They had varying degrees of success, but none of them ever captured the hearts of consumers quite like Corn Flakes. Kellogg's revenue topped $12 billion (£9.5bn) in 2023.

You may be surprised to learn that Del Monte’s first product wasn’t fruit cocktail, or even tinned pineapple. It was coffee, supplied to the prestigious Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California. That business began in 1886 – but Del Monte didn't start canning fruit until 1892. The first food it manufactured in this way was canned peaches. 

In 1907, Del Monte built what was to be the largest fruit and vegetable cannery in the world (at that time) in San Francisco. Called Del Monte Plant No. 1, it employed 2,500 people and produced more than 200,000 cans of food every day. The factory is no longer functional, but you can still visit the old building at Del Monte Square. Today, it houses shops and restaurants.

In 1971, Del Monte became the first major US food producer to voluntarily put nutritional values on its food products. Before that, it was difficult for consumers to assess pre-packaged foods, and most meals were prepared from basic ingredients at home. Today, Del Monte operates as a subsidiary of NutriAsia, and it's still one of the leading producers of premium canned foods.

Pillsbury had humble origins, starting as a simple flour mill on the banks of the Mississippi River, Minneapolis. Charles A. Pillsbury bought into the mill in 1869 and decked it out with the latest technology. Within 20 years, it was one of the largest, most successful mills in the world. Pillsbury even created a profit-sharing plan for the company’s employees. 

It wasn’t until 1965 that Americans got to meet the company's famous mascot, Pillsbury’s iconic Doughboy. Copywriter Rudy Perz from the Leo Burnett ad agency thought up Poppin’ Fresh (the Doughboy's full name) to market the company's ready-made dough. The idea came to him when he popped open a can and imagined the lovable character jumping out. 

These days, Pillsbury is known not just for its flour, but also for being a cooking and lifestyle brand. It sells dough for biscuits, rolls, cookies, brownies, bread, pie crusts and pizza. Need a recipe? It's got cookbooks, too. Want to enter a competition? Check out the Pillsbury Bake-Off, the contest famous for popularising the Tunnel of Fudge cake.

Considering the name of this food brand, it's surprising that Joseph Campbell was only with the company for 25 years. He was working as a fruit and vegetable seller when he joined forces with a commercial canner called Abraham Anderson. Together, they founded the Anderson & Campbell company in Camden, New Jersey, in 1869. Campbell served as president until his retirement in 1894.

Campbell retired before the company produced its first jar of soup. Campbell's Beefsteak Tomato soup hit the market in 1895 – and the invention of the can came just two years later. Its packaging proudly informed shoppers: 'When heated, the contents of this can are ready to use.' Red-and-white cans debuted a year later, after a company executive was inspired by the colours of Cornell University's football jerseys.

These days, Campbell's owns a myriad of brands, including Prego, Goldfish, Lance, Pacific Foods and Kettle. The combined revenue of all its products came to $9.4 billion (£7.4bn) in 2023. However, thanks to its 150-year history – and perhaps with a little bit of help from Andy Warhol – the company will forever be known for its range of canned soups.

Believe it or not, 25-year-old Henry Heinz got his start making horseradish sauce. In 1869, Heinz was living with his parents, growing the pungent plant in the garden and following his mother’s recipe to make the condiment. The final product was different from other sauces on the market because it came in a clear bottle displaying its high-quality ingredients; other companies used brown bottles to disguise theirs.

Next came pickles, vinegar, tomato ketchup (then called catsup), sweet pickle, and many more condiments – including Heinz Baked Beans, which were first sold in the US in 1895. By 1896, the brand had already sold over 60 different products. Arriving on shelves a little later, Beefsteak Sauce (now Heinz 57) was a ground-breaking product of the early 20th century.

It turns out that Heinz’s '57 varieties' don't refer to its product count. One day, Henry Heinz spotted a sign advertising '21 styles of shoe' and simply liked the look of it. These days, the company reportedly sells over 5,700 sauces and pantry items, including many mash-ups of its classic condiments. In 2015, Heinz merged with Kraft to form the Kraft Heinz company – the third-biggest food and drinks business in the US. The company includes other old brands such as Oscar Meyer (founded in 1883), Philadelphia Cream Cheese (founded in 1872) and Baker's Chocolate (founded in 1780).

America’s most-loved hot sauce, Tabasco, has been around since 1868, and it's still produced in the same way – and in the same place – it always has been. That's Avery Island, a salt dome surrounded by marshland in Louisiana. It all began when Tabasco's founder, Edmund McIlhenny, grew a crop of capsicum frutescens peppers to start producing the spicy condiment.

Once harvested, the chillies were pulped, aged in oak barrels, combined with salt and vinegar, then packaged into Tabasco’s famous little cologne bottles – complete with lids that only let you sprinkle, rather than pour. When Tabasco was first produced, the bottles were sealed with green wax and sent to grocers along the Gold Coast for one dollar each.

These days, the sauce is sold in more than 195 countries – and, as well as being farmed on Avery Island, the capsicum frutescens peppers are grown in South America and shipped back to keep up with demand. The factory pumps out some 700,000 bottles of the sauce each day, and there are nine varieties available for heat lovers everywhere.

Quaker Oats first became the cornerstone of the breakfast table in 1877, after the US Patent Office approved a trademark for the cereal's famous mascot: 'a figure of a man in Quaker garb'. The brand's creators supposedly chose the name to give off a sense of quality and value. However, the company didn't start turning heads until it was purchased by Henry Parsons Crowell in 1881.

Quaker Oats' history is filled with innovations. In 1891, Quaker became the first company to put a recipe on a cereal box. In 1915, the brand introduced its eye-catching round containers. Seven years later, Quaker Quick Oats hit the market – and Quaker Instant Oatmeal appeared in 1966. Actor Wilfred Brimley later became almost as well known for his Quaker commercials (which told viewers 'It's the right thing to do') as he was for his many film and TV roles.

In 2001, PepsiCo purchased Quaker Oats for $14 billion (£11bn). Rumour has it that the company was happy to spend this much money because it meant it'd also earn the rights to make the hugely popular sports drink Gatorade – a brand that was owned by Quaker at the time. Still, PepsiCo can't complain; Quaker Oats brought in revenue of $3.8 billion (£3bn) in 2023, more than 140 years after it was founded.

Keebler Cookies came from humble beginnings; the company started out in 1853 with one bakery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The man in charge was Godfrey Keebler, and he gradually joined forces with other regional bakeries around the United States. This loose band of bakers became the United Biscuit Company of America in 1927 – and, eventually, the Keebler Company, in 1966.

The famous elves that brought Keebler to further national attention through a series of TV commercials first appeared in 1968. The creation of the Leo Burnett Co., the elves came to the Hollow Tree Bakery for 'uncommonly good' cookies, and they've been doing so ever since. However, even though the cookies are still going strong, the company has had mixed fortunes in the 21st century.

In 2001, Kellogg's bought Keebler for $4.4 billion (around £3.5bn). The company was in charge until 2019, when it sold part of the Keebler catalogue to Ferrero for $1.3 billion (£1bn). These days, Ferrero is responsible for Keebler's cookies, crusts and cones, while Kellogg's is still responsible for the crackers and chips. Still, there's no sign of those elves disappearing just yet.

The King Arthur Baking Company opened its doors while the US was still figuring out what it was going to be. In 1790, there were only 13 states in the country, and George Washington had only been president for one year. But that didn't stop Henry Wood from setting up shop importing flour into Long Wharf in Boston. Henry Wood & Company – as it was known then – was the first flour company in America.

In the 1820s, Henry Wood & Company switched from importing flour from England to milling US-only wheat. Two things made this possible – the first being the expansion of the United States and the rapid growth in wheat farming. The second was the arrival of the Erie Canal midway through the decade. It was another 70 years before the brand became known as King Arthur, a name chosen for its pure and honest connotations.

The 21st century brought a twist that's somewhat unusual for a centuries-old company. Instead of being sold to a competitor or a larger conglomerate, King Arthur sold itself to its employees. That's right: it's 100% owned by the people who work there. The business renamed itself the King Arthur Baking Company in 2020 to better reflect its varied portfolio.

Now read about the beloved American food brands that no longer exist

Last updated by Luke Paton.