History:

United Fruit Company (UFC, aka UFCO) was founded on March 30, 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). The company evolved from the merger of the Boston Fruit Company (founded by Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew W. Preston) and the Tropical Trading and Transport Company (founded by Minor C. Keith). Preston's business was building railways in Costa Rica and from there he had entered the fruit business. In June 1970 United Fruit Company joined with AMK Corporation and became United Brands Company. In August 1984 Carl H. Lindner Jr. took control of the company and renamed it to Chiquita Brands International. The company headquarter was transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1985. 1991 Chiquita Brands International took over Frutas Domenicas and entered the pineapple production business.

To enlarge their already wide spread areas of business, United Fruit Company became a main developer of radio technology. Later United Fruit Company cooperated with several other companies in order to found the Radio Corporation of America. Furthermore, United Fruit Company started a revolution of commercial shipping by pushing the development of reefer carrier ships. By the end of the 1930’s UFC directed the world’s largest fleet of commercial ships.