Our History

Thirteen year old Henry Leggo began selling his mother’s freshly bottled tomato sauce to hungry miners on the goldfields.

I&J is founded by George Irvin and Charles Johnson - two fisherman who operated trawlers out of Cape Town in the early 1900s.

John West was a Scottish inventor and businessman who immigrated to Oregon where he pioneered the canning of fish by building his own automated can-filling machine.

Established in 1920, Seakist tuna is a favourite in Australian pantries.

Ally is most fondly remembered for its '80s advertising campaign, “Quick as a wink, Ally Pink”.

With the launch of Edgell Asparagus out of a small cannery in Bathurst in 1926, Gordon Edgell & Sons became the first company to can vegetables in Australia.

In the early 1900s Clarence Birdseye designed a quick freeze machine and became one of the founders of the modern frozen foods industry.

Inspired by the Chinese spring roll, Frank McEncroe first introduced the Chiko Roll at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Show.

In the heartland of rich river country at Echuca, Harvest began making hearty Australian meals.

Simplot acquired Birds Eye, Edgell, Leggo's, Chiko, Harvest, Herbert Adams, Plumrose, Four'N Twenty, Big Sister, Nanna’s and Wedgewood pastries.

Irvin & Johnson Australia Ltd merged with Simplot to create the second largest retail seafood brand in Australia. In 2019 we bought out the remaining 40% from I&J in our joint venture. We now own the I&J brand in Australia and New Zealand.

With our desire to focus on healthier food options we sold our Australian pudding brand Big Sister.

We sold our bakery businesses including Four'N Twenty, Nanna’s, Wedgewood pastries and Herbert Adams.

We put our healthier food strategy into action by acquiring the Australian arm of the John West, Ally and Seakist brands from Unilever.

We sold the Plumrose canned meats brand to the Zwanenberg Group in 2008.

We acquired the Mr Chips potato brand based in New Zealand. In 2013 we divested Mr Chips as part of our Vision 2020 strategy.

Acquired Top Cut Foods, an internationally accredited Australian manufacturer of quality meat products. Following a strategic review in 2018, we sold Top Cut Foods in a management buy-out.

Entered into a licensing agreement with Nestlé for the Lean Cuisine and Maggi frozen meals brands. We exited the frozen meals category in 2019, ending our Lean Cuisine licence arrangements with Nestlé.

Acquired Papa Giuseppi’s pizza. In 2011 we sold Papa Giuseppi's pizza to Germany’s Dr Oetker.

Launched the Quorn brand in Australia and developed a new category - frozen health. We ended our licence arrangements for the Quorn brand in 2016.

Launched the new Five Tastes brand focusing on Asian cuisine.

Dish’d, an online food store and then subsequent retail store was opened in 2014, an innovative venture providing premium frozen meals. Dish’d ceased operation in 2017 but the learnings continue to fuel our innovative spirit to this very day.

We bought Chicken Tonight, Raguletto and Five Brothers from Symington’s, strengthening our pasta sauce portfolio. 

In 2020, Simplot celebrates 25 years of operation in Australia. We're so proud of our market-leading brands and all the ways in which we contribute to feeding our world.