11 Popular Brands Nestlé Actually Owns

The conglomerate we know as Nestlé today formed in 1905, when the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (founded in 1866 by a pair of American brothers) merged with the company founded in 1868 by Henri Nestlé, who started out by making nourishing cereal for children. After over a hundred years of growth, Nestlé is now an enormous food corporation, selling water, baby formula, chocolate, and countless other goods across many different brands.

Some of these brands are obvious. Nesquik, for instance, gets its name in part from its parent company. But other brands, for various reasons, aren't the kind you'd naturally associate with Nestlé. Whether you're buying frozen dinners for the week or stocking up on baby food for your newborn, you're going to be faced with Nestlé products on the supermarket shelves at some point. Here are 11 brands you probably didn't know were owned by Nestlé.

Oftentimes, a brand starts as its own company before being bought out by a larger company in exchange for loads of money. (This is how Dot's Homestyle Pretzels came to be one of the many brands owned by Hershey.) But before the DiGiorno line of frozen pizzas was owned by Nestlé, it was owned by the humble mom-and-pop small business. .. uh, Kraft. Yes, DiGiorno was introduced by Kraft in 1995, eventually being sold to Nestlé in 2010 as part of a deal that ensured Nestlé wouldn't compete with Kraft to buy Cadbury. (Alas, it didn't work; Cadbury is now owned by Mondelez.)

When do you suppose Hot Pockets were invented? They sure seem like the kind of thing that might have sprouted up in the heyday of the microwave back in the 1950s, not unlike pizza rolls — but nope, they were invented relatively recently in 1983. The creation of brothers Paul and David Merage, Hot Pockets became a beloved go-to for afternoon snacks and lazy lunches, eventually being sold to Nestlé in 2002. If nothing else, they're good enough to overcome being named Hot Pockets.

Famously, "Häagen-Dazs" doesn't actually mean anything. Reuben Mattus, the Polish-American immigrant who founded the company, came up with something that sounded vaguely Danish, both to honor Denmark for protecting Jews during World War II and to add a bit of European flair to his ice cream brand. Founded in 1960, Haagen-Dazs was eventually sold to a whole bunch of different companies, including Pillsbury, General Mills, and Nestlé. Today, it's owned by Froneri, a joint venture between Nestlé and a French private equity company named PAI Partners.

Well, you gotta start 'em young, right? Gerber baby food is probably the first Nestlé product a child will ever eat (unless they drink the company's baby formula, anyway), but it started out as its own company back in 1927. In Fremont, Michigan, a vegetable canner named Daniel Gerber began mashing up vegetables for his infant daughter, Sally, and recognized an opportunity. After years of growth, a couple of mergers with pharmaceutical companies, and an ill-fated attempt to appeal to adults with Gerber Singles, the company was sold to Nestlé in 2007.

By this point, Stouffer's is pretty much synonymous with frozen food; the meals are quick, dependable, and tasty enough to tide you over on a night where you don't feel like cooking. But Stouffer's actually started life as a chain of restaurants, providing comfort food at restaurants and lunch counters across the country. Of course, Stouffer's would get in on the frozen food boom of the 1950s, and by the time it was bought by Nestlé in 1973, it was well-known for its Salisbury steak, meatloaf, and mac and cheese.

Ooh la la! Just looking at the elegant curves and glassy green plastic of a Perrier bottle is enough to make you feel chic and continental, even before you pour a glass of sparkling mineral water. It may not be "naturally sparkling," as Perrier once claimed to be, but it is drawn from a naturally carbonated spring in France that has supposedly been used as a spa since the days of ancient Rome. Having gained popularity in France and Britain in the 19th century, it became an iconic brand before being bought by Nestlé in 1992.

Maggi was acquired by Nestlé earlier than most, being bought in 1947 — which is only natural, seeing as they're both Swiss companies. In fact, Maggi was founded only 20 years or so after Henri Nestlé founded his first company; Julius Maggi took over his father's business and sought to industrialize food production to provide better, more nutritious food for the working class. Initially producing food products made from legumes, Maggi expanded into seasonings, soups, and instant noodles. Today, they're a pantry staple in many kitchens, whether we're talking bouillon cubes or instant soups.

Remember when we talked about Stouffer's earlier? Well, this was actually one of its lines of frozen food even before it merged with Nestlé. In 1981, Stouffer's started providing a somewhat healthier alternative to its hearty comfort food dishes, meeting the FDA criteria to be considered "lean" while also offering fewer calories. And hey, Lean Cuisine still sells Salisbury steak too — just a somewhat healthier version.

For those of you who haven't heard of Dreyer's: yes you have. It's one of those weird cases where a company's name changes depending on where you are, Hardee's/Carl's Jr. style. In the western United States, the ice cream brand is called Dreyer's, while in the Eastern United States, it's called Edy's. (Both are named after the company's founders, Joseph Edy and William Dreyer.) Founded in 1928, the company is now owned by Froneri, the same Nestlé-managed partnership that owns Häagen-Dazs.

If you've ever been to the United Kingdom, you've probably come across some of Rowntree's candies such as their Fruit Gums, which have whimsical fruit shapes, or their circular, sugar-studded Fruit Pastilles. Originally founded in the 1860s by a Quaker (as were its two main competitors, Cadbury and Fry, weirdly enough), Rowntree's became hugely successful, even introducing the world to the Kit Kat bar. It was eventually bought by Nestlé in 1988 and is now a division of Nestlé UK.

Like Perrier, S.Pellegrino is a brand of mineral water owned by Nestlé; unlike Perrier, it doesn't come from a naturally carbonated spring. With that said, though, it does still come from a place that served as a spa for hundreds of years, even (supposedly) earning a rave review from Leonardo da Vinci. The chic, sparkling water brand has been owned by Nestlé since 1997.