Danone celebrates its 90th birthday
Filed by Bill Bruce
Since the launch of its natural yogurt in 1919, Danone has revolutionised the fresh product world and always with the same motivation: to bring healthy food to the largest number of people possible. There are big plans for this its 90th year of innovation, starting with a website dedicated to this major event in the company history.
90 years ago, Isaac Carasso was the man behind the brand, having learned the beneficial effects of yogurt through L’institut Pasteur Elie Metchnikoff. Launched initially in Barcelona, Spain, he sold these yogurts through pharmacies.
Struggling to decide on a name, he used the nickname that he had given his son Daniel. And so Danone was born. In fact, it was this same Daniel Carasso who launched Danone yogurt in France in 1929. A man of vision, he had one ambition, to make yogurt a pleasurable food to eat.
The trend was set, and from then on, Danone continued to unveil new yogurts, some fruity, some with nuts, also mousses, cream desserts, fromage frais, and various dairy specialities, all with an underlying health benefits.
Over 90 years, the ambition to reach the largest number possible hasn’t waned. Danone continues its research into fermented and probiotic bacteria through its own specialist laboratories. The results have had a dramatic effect on the market and the food we eat on a global basis. Particularly notable are Activia (which aids digestion), Actimel (which reinforces the body’s natural defences) and Danacol (enriched in vegetable sterols to prevent damaging cholesterol). Whatever next?
Company history
During World War II, Daniel Carasso moved the company to New York, where Dannon Milk Products Inc was founded. Returning to Europe in 1951 to manage the family’s businesses in France and Spain, Daniel Carasso later sold the American business in 1959.
In 1967, Danone merged with leading French fresh cheese producer Gervais, becoming Gervais Danone. Another branch of what is now Groupe Danone is descended from the industrial glassmaker Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel (BSN), which was founded by the family of Antoine Riboud. After a failed takeover bid for its larger rival Saint-Gobain, Riboud transformed it into one of Europe’s leading food groups in the 1970s through a series of acquisitions and mergers, including the 1973 merger with Gervais Danone.
The acquisitions included those of Alsacian brewer Kronenbourg and Evian mineral water, who were the glassmaker’s largest customers. In 1979, the group abandoned glassmaking by disposing of Verreries Boussois. In 1987, Gervais Danone acquired European biscuit manufacturer Général Biscuit, owners of the LU brand, and in 1989, it bought out the European biscuit operations of Nabisco.
In 1994, BSN changed its name to Groupe Danone, adopting the name of the Group’s best known international brand. Franck Riboud succeeded his father, Antoine, as the company’s chairman and CEO in 1996 when Riboud senior retired. Under Riboud junior, the company continued to pursue its focus on the three product groups: dairy, beverages and cereals, divesting itself of several activities which had become non-core.
From baby food to bottled water and fruit drinks, Danone now caters for everyone, from babies and young mothers to active youngsters, women looking to stay slim and older consumers looking to stay healthy through the food they eat. The company offers nutritional advice through its Danone et vous website, and has an online nutrition magazine called Nutri PratiQ.
For more on 90 years of Group Danone, see the next issue of Dairy Innovation magazine, which you can subscribe to here.
Source: Groupe Danone
Logo of Groupe Danone
Daniel Carasso, for whom his father, Isaac Carasso, named the famous yoghurt-producer Danone in 1919 in Spain, died on Sunday aged 103. "Danon" is a diminutive form for "Daniel" in Catalan.

Daniel Carasso moved the company to France in 1929. Later, with the onset of World War II, Daniel Carasso, a Sephardic Jew in occupied France, emigrated to the United States to build a new company — Dannon. He returned to Europe after the end of the war and rejoined his first company in 1951. The companies later teamed up.

He then inspirited the merger with Gervais company in 1967 and with Antoine Riboud's BSN Group in 1972 — a major step in the internationalization of the group.

He was involved in company-related activities until the very end of his life, including the recent 90th anniversary of the Danone's brand name.

Today, Danone is a world-wide producer of fruity and nutty yogurts, mousses, cream desserts, fromage frais and various dairy specialities, all claimed to have healthy benefits.

"We all know how much our group, which carries his first name, owes to Daniel Carasso, who dedicated all his boundless energy and optimism to its success ever since 1929," chief executive officer Franck Riboud said in a statement released by Groupe Danone.