08:57 AM CDT on Saturday, July 1, 2006

By Dawn Cobb / Business Editor

Morrison Milling was sold Friday to a San Antonio-based flour milling company — one year after talks of the possible sale of one of Denton’s oldest companies surfaced.

An official with C.H. Guenther & Son Inc. confirmed the acquisition of Morrison Milling for an undisclosed amount.

DRC/file photo/Al Key

The Morrison Milling plant near downtown Denton was sold Friday to C.H. Guenther & Son Inc.

“We certainly understand tradition and heritage and everything that comes with that. Morrison has been here for a long time and has been a part of the community. We plan to continue Morrison Milling with its own identity,” said Steve Phillips, vice president for human resources for Guenther. “The sign will continue to be there,” he added referring to what is one of the city’s notable landmarks — 186-foot grain elevators marking the Denton skyline, with the words “Morrison’s Corn-Kits.”

Phillips said many of the 161 employees at the Denton location off Bell Avenue and 15 to 17 employed at the Waco location would be retained, though some restructuring of jobs was expected with the sale.

Harry Crumpacker, who served as chief executive officer at Morrison Milling, retired effective Friday, Phillips said. Crumpacker could not be reached for comment.

In addition, upper-management staff, including Cliff Shoemake and Kenny Newton, agreed to stay on for some time during the transition, Phillips said. Guenther employee Thad Sitterson is in the process of moving to Denton to serve as director of operations, Phillips said.

“There will be some limited restructuring but largely, it will remain intact,” he said. “We’re not waiting to come in here and turn the business upside down.”

Guenther & Son Inc. is a family-owned company that has operated for more than 150 years. The company runs manufacturing facilities in San Antonio, Duncanville, Knoxville, Tenn., and Prosperity, N.C. The company also co-owns three manufacturing facilities in Europe, including two in the United Kingdom and one in Belgium.

Morrison Milling, known for its Corn Kits, frozen Jimmy Dean sausage and biscuits and more than 300 other flour- and corn-based dry mix and frozen products, operates the Denton plant and a Waco plant purchased in 1994 as a baking facility to produce its frozen-food lines.

Guenther officials plan to keep the name and brand identity for Morrison products “wherever appropriate,” according to a news release issued by the new owner.

Reaction was tempered by talks of a possible sale that first surfaced in June 2005. Talks stalled several months later when Morrison terminated merger negotiations. At the time, Shoemake, president of Morrison Milling, said the companies couldn’t agree on terms of the sale. Guenther, parent company of Pioneer Flour Mills, had approached Morrison about a possible merger, officials said.

“We knew that [the sale] was a possibility,” said Linda Ratliff, director of economic development for the city of Denton. “Businesses change, and at least they’re not shutting it down. We’re glad that they’re still going to be here in Denton.”

Both milling companies are among the oldest in the state and the United States. Local farmers founded the Alliance Milling Company, a cooperative flour mill, which would become Morrison. Guenther is America’s oldest family-owned flour mill, founded in Texas in 1851 by German immigrant Carl Hilmar Guenther.

Guenther’s acquisition of Morrison is part of its plan to continue growth in the competitive market, Phillips said.

“We’re trying to grow our business,” he said. “Part of our core values are people, quality and growth and it’s all tied up in growth. Growing helps us stay competitive.”

The sale of one family-owned mill to another is indicative of industry as a whole, said Betsy Faga, president of the North American Millers’ Association.

“I think all industries are experiencing that, whether it be milling or any other industry,” she said, adding that acquisitions were more common in the milling industry three to four years ago, but have slowed down.

“The same business is going on, it’s just different owners,” she said. “It’s going to be purchased by another family-owned mill that will have more of a family feel to it.”

Staff Writer Todd Jorgenson contributed to this report.

DAWN COBB can be reached at 940-566-6879. Her e-mail address is dcobb@dentonrc.com

A group of farmers formed the Farmers Alliance Milling Co. in 1886 as one of the first farmers’ cooperatives in Texas. Shortly after being founded, the mill was reorganized under the supervision of Denton schoolteacher J.N. Rayzor, becoming the Alliance Milling Co. in 1888. Alliance’s Peacemaker flour — its first product — became widely recognized.

The mill changed hands in 1900, when two grain men, J.R. Christal and H.A. Wolfsohn, bought Rayzor’s interest. The new owners upgraded and improved the mill, installing new machinery and increasing production from 500 to 800 sacks of flour per day.

Ed Morrison Jr. was 15 when his father, E.W. Morrison Sr., bought the Alliance mill in 1936. Production increased from 800 sacks to an estimated 1,250 per day.

In 1954, E.W. Morrison Sr. successfully drew the Santa Fe Railroad into Denton. In 1959, the company created the “Lil’ Lulu” cornmeal mix. In 1965, the company added biscuit and pancake mixes in individual packets. Corn-Kits were added in 1967. In 1986, the company was producing 13 different kit mixes.

In 1994, Morrison Milling bought the Waco frozen-food distribution plant, supplying baked biscuits and sandwiches to institutions and the vending machine industry.

Harry Crumpacker joined the company’s board of directors shortly after Ed Morrison Jr.’s death. In 1996, Crumpacker was asked to run the company.

SOURCE: Morrison Milling and Denton Record-Chronicle archives