Foods.

Canadian born and of German origin James L. Kraft started a wholesale door-to-door cheese business in Chicago in 1903; its first year of operations was "dismal", losing $3,000 and a horse. Still, the business took hold and Kraft was joined by his four brothers to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company in 1909. As early as 1911, circulars and advertisements were in use by the company. In 1912, the company established its New York headquarters to prepare for its international expansion. By 1914, 31 varieties of cheeses were being sold around the United States, due to heavy product development, expansion by marketing, and opening a wholly-owned cheese factory in Illinois.
In 1915, the company had invented pasteurized processed cheese that didn't need refrigeration, thus giving a longer shelf life than conventional cheese. The process was patented in 1916 and about six million pounds of the product were sold to the U.S. Army for military rations during World War I. In 1919, the company began national advertising and had made its first acquisition: a Canadian cheese company.
In 1924, the company changed its name to Kraft Cheese Company and went public. Kraft had established its London and Hamburg sales offices (its first forays outside North America) in 1927. In 1928, it acquired Phenix Cheese Company makers of Philadelphia cream cheese and changed its name to Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company; it had captured 40 percent of the cheese market in the United States by 1930. Kraft also began operating in Australia following a merger with Fred Walker & Co.
The same year (1930), National Dairy Products Corporation - makers of Breyers ice cream and Breakstone's cottage cheese and sour cream - acquired Kraft-Phenix.Druing Kraft's product lines were diversified from cheese to salad dressings, caramels, macaroni and cheese dinners and margarines. In 1933, the company began marketing by radio sponsorship. In 1935, Sealtest ice cream was launched.