639 articles
Au Bon Pain
Au Bon Pain is a Boston-based fast-casual bakery-café chain founded by Louis Kane and Ron Shaich, whose parent became Panera Bread in 1999; now owned by Ampex Brands with 250+ cafés in hospitals, universities, and airports.
Auchan
Auchan: French international retail group founded 1961 by Gérard Mulliez in Roubaix, owned by the Mulliez family; hypermarkets, supermarkets, Alcampo; about 9% French market share, restructuring since 2024.
Aunt Jemima
Aunt Jemima was an American pancake-mix and syrup brand created in 1889 by the Pearl Milling Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, sold by Quaker Oats and PepsiCo, and rebranded Pearl Milling Company in 2021 after criticism of its minstrel-derived mammy imagery.
Baby Ruth
Baby Ruth: American candy bar of peanuts, caramel, and nougat, created by Curtiss Candy Company, Chicago, circa 1920-1921 from the Kandy Kake bar; officially named for Ruth Cleveland but widely linked to Babe Ruth, who lost a 1931 trademark case; now Ferrero-owned.
Babybel
Babybel is a Bel Group brand of individual portion snack cheese in red wax, created 1931; Mini Babybel, an edam-style four-ingredient cheese, launched mid-1970s and sells over 2 billion portions yearly in 50 countries.
Babycham
Babycham: British sparkling perry (pear cider), 6% ABV, created 1953 by Francis Showering in Shepton Mallet; first alcohol brand advertised on British TV; mascot is a fawn; bought back by the Showering family in 2021.
Bacardi
Bacardi: spirits company founded 1862 in Santiago de Cuba by Facundo Bacardí Massó, maker of BACARDÍ rum and owner of Bacardi Limited brands like PATRÓN, GREY GOOSE, and DEWAR'S.
Balkrishna
Acharya Balkrishna (आचार्य बालकृष्ण), born 1972, is an India-based Ayurveda scholar and businessman who co-founded Patanjali Ayurved with Swami Ramdev, leads it as managing director, chairs Patanjali Foods, and heads Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust and University of Patanjali.
Balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico), Italian vinegar from grape must. Two protected types: Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI (60-day minimum) and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena/Reggio Emilia PDO, aged 12–25 years.
Belgian chocolate
Belgian chocolate: chocolate whose complete mixing, refining, and conching are done in Belgium under the Choprabisco Belgian Chocolate Code. Known for pralines (Neuhaus, Leonidas) and for supplying 20% of world industrial chocolate via Barry Callebaut, Cargill, and Puratos.
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's, founded 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Burlington, Vermont, is an ice cream brand with an embedded social mission. Sold to Unilever in 2000 for $326 million with an independent board; now owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company amid governance disputes.
Ben Cohen (businessman)
Ben Cohen (born 1951, Brooklyn, New York) is an American businessman who co-founded Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Jerry Greenfield in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, ran it as CEO until 1994, and now campaigns for its independence.
Bengal famine of 1943
The Bengal famine of 1943 (পঞ্চাশের মন্বন্তর) was a famine in British India's Bengal province during World War II, killing an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people.
Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker is a fictional brand persona and baking brand of General Mills, created in 1921 by Washburn Crosby to answer consumer baking letters; known for cake mixes, the 1950 Picture Cook Book, radio and TV personas, and BettyCrocker.com.
Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat, Inc. is an American plant-based protein company founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown in El Segundo, California, known for the Beyond Burger and rebranded as Beyond in 2026.
Billy Carter
Billy Carter (William Alton Carter, 1937-1988), Jimmy Carter's younger brother, Plains, Georgia gas station owner and peanut businessman; Billy Beer promoter; Libyan-agent "Billygate" figure cleared of influencing policy.
Bimbo Bakeries USA
Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) is the U.S. subsidiary of Mexico's Grupo Bimbo and the largest U.S. baking company, owning Sara Lee, Entenmann's, Thomas', Oroweat, and Arnold. It received an FDA sesame-labeling warning letter in 2024 and is moving headquarters from Horsham, PA to Dallas.
Bisleri
Bisleri is India's leading packaged drinking water brand, owned by Bisleri International (Parle/Chauhan family) since 1969, Italian in origin, RO-purified and remineralized under IS 14543, with about 36% organized market share and the Bottles for Change recycling program.
BJ's Wholesale Club
BJ's Wholesale Club is an American membership warehouse club chain headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, operating 263 clubs and 199 gas stations across 21 eastern states since 1984.
Blinkit
Blinkit (formerly Grofers) is India's largest quick-commerce platform, delivering groceries and essentials in about 10 minutes via dark stores. Founded 2013 in Gurugram, rebranded December 2021, acquired by Zomato in 2022; parent is now Eternal Ltd.
Blue Bell Creameries
Blue Bell Creameries: Brenham, Texas-based private ice cream maker founded 1907 as Brenham Creamery Company, renamed 1930; sold in 24 states via direct store delivery; Kruse family-owned with Sid Bass minority stake; 2015 listeria outbreak led to $19.35 million penalties.
Bodega (store)
Bodega: a small family-run neighborhood convenience store, strongly associated with New York City, named from Spanish for wine cellar; Puerto Rican origins in the 1950s, later Dominican and Yemeni owners, community anchor and higher prices than supermarkets.
Branston (brand)
Branston (brand) covers two unrelated British food brands: Branston Pickle, a sweet brown vegetable relish first made by Crosse & Blackwell in 1922, now owned by Mizkan Euro, and Branston Ltd, the Lincolnshire potato supplier founded in 1968.
Breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal: processed-grain breakfast food, hot (oatmeal) or ready-to-eat cold cereal; Battle Creek origins (Kellogg, Post), 12 manufacturing process categories, fortified, US market about $11 billion led by General Mills and WK Kellogg (Ferrero, 2025).
Breyers
Breyers is an American ice cream brand founded in Philadelphia in 1866 by William A. Breyer, known for Natural Vanilla and black-and-white tubs and now owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company.
Brining
Brining is the process of soaking food in a strong saltwater solution so the tissue absorbs salt, which preserves and seasons the food; sugar may be added.
Britannia Industries
Britannia Industries Limited, founded 1892 in Kolkata, is a Wadia Group Indian FMCG food company selling biscuits, bread, cakes, rusk, and dairy in over 80 countries, with over one-third of the Indian biscuit market.
Brominated vegetable oil
Brominated vegetable oil (BVO, INS 443) is bromine-modified vegetable oil once used at up to 15 ppm to stabilize citrus flavoring in beverages; the FDA revoked its food additive authorization in 2024 over thyroid safety findings.
Bubble gum
Bubble gum is chewing gum formulated with high-molecular-weight polymer gum base so it can be blown into bubbles. First commercialized as Dubble Bubble in 1928 by Walter Diemer at Fleer; typically pink, about 20% gum base.
Butterfinger
Butterfinger is an American candy bar with a crisp peanut-butter brittle core and chocolate-flavored coating, created in 1923 by Otto Scherning of Curtiss Candy, owned by Nestlé from 1989 and by Ferrero since its 2018 $2.8 billion acquisition.