George A. Hormel: How the Hormel Founder Built His Company

In 1891, George A. Hormel left a partnership in an Austin, Minnesota, butcher shop to pursue a different kind of business. His partner, Albrecht Friedrich, preferred retail butchering. Hormel wanted a pork-packing operation. He established Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in a converted creamery, beginning the independent enterprise that would eventually become Hormel Foods.

The timing was difficult. The Panic of 1893 soon threatened the young business, while much larger Chicago meatpackers dominated the industry. Hormel responded by expanding retail outlets and concentrating on products such as sausage that made fuller use of each animal. The company survived. Decades later, the same business would face a very different test: how to manage its growing scale and pass control from its founder to his son.

A Quick Look at the Life of George A. Hormel

Learning the Trade After a Family Setback

George Hormel was born in Buffalo, New York, on December 4, 1860, into a family of German immigrant background. The family later moved to Toledo, Ohio, where his father, John George Hormel, was involved in a tanning business. As a boy, George worked with animal hides and wool and became acquainted with the practical demands of processing materials from livestock.

The economic downturn associated with the Panic of 1873 damaged the family business, and Hormel left school while still young to earn money. His training would come largely from working in the trades.

A formative opportunity came in Chicago, where he worked for his maternal uncle, Jacob “Jay” Decker, in the meat business. There he learned butchering, packing methods, and the importance of sanitation. Jobs in Kansas City and the hide trade followed. Eventually, he became a traveling hide buyer based in Des Moines, Iowa, covering territory that included southern Minnesota.

That route brought him to Austin, the town where he would move from employee to business owner.

A $500 Investment and a Different Ambition

On a trip to Austin in 1887, Hormel encountered a butcher shop that had been rebuilt after a fire. He borrowed $500 from his employer to purchase a share in the operation and joined Albrecht Friedrich, whose father had previously owned the shop. Their business, Friedrich and Hormel, opened in October 1887.

Even before the shop opened, Hormel had a larger ambition. In an August 1887 letter to his mother, he described his interest in pork packing rather than remaining an ordinary butcher. He wrote, “I am sure of success at Austin.”

The partners ultimately wanted different things. Friedrich favored the retail butcher business, while Hormel wanted to extend operations into packing. They separated in 1891. Hormel established Geo. A. Hormel & Co. that year, using a converted creamery for slaughtering and smoking meat.

George’s family life also became rooted in Austin. He married Lillian Belle Gleason, a local teacher, on February 24, 1892. Their son, Jay Catherwood Hormel, was born later that year. Lillian would play a direct role in the company’s early work.

Surviving the 1893 Downturn with Pork and Sausage

The independent packinghouse entered an industry shaped by major firms such as Armour and Swift. The Chicago packers possessed extensive scale and refrigerated transportation systems that the new Austin operation could not match. Hormel worked instead with nearby livestock supply, product quality, and the efficient use of the animals being processed. Recalling that competition in his memoir, he wrote, “Quality was our only defense against the competition we had to meet from the big packers.”

Sausage was central to the early approach. Processing pork into sausage gave commercial value to portions of a carcass that otherwise might have produced less revenue. In the 1890s, the company also developed a sugar-cured pig-back bacon, a cured pork-loin product similar to Canadian bacon.

The Panic of 1893 brought another test. Hormel expanded retail outlets to sell the company’s products and continued to emphasize sausage and waste reduction. Looking back on the firm’s survival, he singled out one product: “I think it was the sausage.”

As the business expanded, George could no longer personally oversee every part of buying, processing, grading, sales, records, and cleanup. Around 1900, he shifted increasingly from daily plant work to administration. Growth had begun to change not only the size of the operation but also what its founder had to do.

From an Austin Plant to a Wider Market

Geo. A. Hormel & Co. incorporated in 1901, the year it also opened a Minneapolis sales branch. Investment in facilities, equipment, refrigerated transport, and distribution allowed the operation to serve markets farther from Austin. By 1905, the company was exporting products to Europe.

Annual hog processing rose from 42,538 in 1902 to 134,822 in 1905. By the First World War, the plant was processing more than 300,000 hogs a year.

The growing business was never the work of George alone. His father assisted with accounts and finances, and brothers and other relatives worked in company operations. Lillian helped with payroll, billing, and office paperwork and served on the company’s board between 1907 and 1914. The family’s roles extended beyond the name on the business.

His relationship with employees could be personal. According to the company’s retrospective history, when three workers—including his brother Ben—joined the Minnesota National Guard during the Spanish–American War in 1898, George promised them jobs and benefits upon their return.

Growing Output, Strained Labor Relations

George Hormel’s management combined close attention to the plant with demanding supervision. The personal working relationships possible in a small operation became harder to sustain as employment and production expanded. Workers did not always accept the company’s approach to wages and conditions.

Organizing efforts appeared by 1915. Two years later, about 100 butchers stopped work, seeking better wages and more stable employment. Hormel made some concessions. He later argued that employers needed to respond to demands for higher pay and shorter hours if they wished to preserve greater independence from outside intervention.

World War I brought new demands. According to the company’s military history, George was summoned to Washington in 1917 to learn about the Food Administration’s meatpacking measures. Jay served in the Army during the war. Once back at the business, he assumed increasing responsibility as the firm expanded.

The 1921 Embezzlement and Its Aftermath

In July 1921, Hormel officials discovered a major theft of company funds. Assistant comptroller R. J. “Cy” Thomson had embezzled approximately $1,187,000. A 1927 Minnesota Supreme Court opinion recorded that amount, along with Thomson’s admissions and imprisonment. The court case concerned related disputes over securities he had pledged to banks.

The discovery exposed weaknesses in oversight at an increasingly complex enterprise. George changed management arrangements, dismissed or replaced executives, and gave Jay greater responsibility. In his later recollections, the founder also criticized his own supervision. Jay’s growing responsibilities became an important part of the eventual handover.

By 1924, the company was processing one million hogs a year—a measure of how far the Austin operation had grown since the converted creamery of 1891.

Passing Leadership to Jay Hormel

George and Jay brought different emphases to the business. The founder had concentrated on plant operations, product quality, and efficient production. His son increasingly emphasized packaged consumer foods, product development, and advertising. George later recalled being troubled by the size of Jay’s advertising expenditures.

The product line was already changing before the formal handover. With Jay’s involvement and the technical expertise of German meat processor Paul Jörn, the company developed a sealed canned ham in 1926. It introduced Hormel Flavor Sealed Ham in February 1927. The new product reflected a team effort as the next generation assumed greater responsibility.

In 1927, George appointed Jay acting president and stepped away from daily management. George and Lillian moved to Beverly Hills, California. The transition was gradual: the company still described George as chief executive for a period, and in 1929 Jay was elected president while George became chairman.

George remained interested in Hormel’s operations after the move. A 1946 report described him reviewing detailed weekly business reports in California and occasionally inspecting the Austin plant during visits.

What Changed Under Jay: Labor and Packaged Foods

Under Jay’s presidency, disputes over working conditions and employee representation continued. In 1933, Austin packinghouse workers staged a sit-down strike over grievances that included proposed payroll deductions for an insurance and retirement plan, supervisory practices, and pay. Workers occupied the plant; negotiations led to a settlement and stronger collective bargaining.

By the time of the strike, George was living in California and no longer managed the plant day to day. Later, Jay-era labor arrangements developed toward annual wage guarantees and profit-sharing, with company history dating major measures to 1938. George initially had reservations about his son’s plan but eventually supported it.

Under Jay’s leadership, the company moved further into prepared foods. It introduced Dinty Moore stew and Hormel chili in the mid-1930s, followed by SPAM in 1937. These products became part of the company’s identity under the next generation of management.

During World War II, the company supplied canned meat for government use under Jay’s operational leadership. George remained involved principally through his chairman and oversight role.

Austin Connections and the Family’s Later Institutions

George’s ties to Austin extended beyond the packinghouse. He served terms on the city council and contributed to church and community institutions. In 1927, when George and Lillian relocated to California, they donated their Austin house to the local YWCA. That former residence is now preserved as the Hormel Historic Home.

The family’s charitable and scientific institutions began taking shape in George’s later years. The Hormel Foundation was incorporated in 1941, with George and Jay identified as founders. The foundation’s own history credits Jay with initiating its creation.

In 1942, the foundation and the University of Minnesota established the Hormel Institute through a university–foundation agreement. The university credits Jay with initiating the institute. The two institutions reflected the family’s growing activity beyond meatpacking.

George A. Hormel’s Death and Lasting Role

Lillian died in 1946, roughly two months before her husband. George A. Hormel died on June 5, 1946, at age 85, following a stroke. He was returned to Austin, Minnesota, for burial.

George Hormel had entered the meat trade through hands-on work and built an Austin packinghouse into a substantial company with a widening distribution network. As the business grew, the personal oversight that marked its early years became harder to sustain. Labor disputes, a financial scandal, and the handover to Jay all became part of its history.

His name endured through Hormel Foods, but the company did not stand still. George built its early packing business; under Jay, packaged foods and new labor arrangements took the enterprise in other directions. Their different roles show how much the family-run company changed as it grew.

Timeline

Key events in George A. Hormel’s life and the development of the company he founded:

December 4, 1860

George Albert Hormel is born in Buffalo, New York.

1873 and afterward

A downturn damages the family’s tanning business, and George leaves ordinary schooling to work.

1887

Hormel borrows $500 to buy a share of an Austin butcher shop; the Friedrich and Hormel partnership opens in October.

1891

Hormel leaves the retail partnership and establishes Geo. A. Hormel & Co. as an independent packing business in Austin.

1892

George marries Lillian Belle Gleason on February 24; their son, Jay, is born that year.

1893

The company survives the economic downturn while emphasizing retail outlets, sausage, and efficient use of pork.

1901

Geo. A. Hormel & Co. incorporates and opens a Minneapolis sales branch.

1905

The company processes 134,822 hogs and has begun selling products in Europe.

1915–1917

Workers organize, and a group of butchers stops work in 1917 over wages and employment conditions.

July 1921

Theft of approximately $1,187,000 by assistant comptroller R. J. Thomson is discovered; management changes follow.

1924

Hormel’s company reaches one million hogs processed in a year.

1926–1927

The company develops sealed canned ham in 1926 and introduces Hormel Flavor Sealed Ham in February 1927.

1927–1929

Jay becomes acting president in 1927; George and Lillian relocate to California and donate their Austin home to the YWCA. Jay is elected president in 1929, and George becomes chairman.

1933

Hormel employees stage a sit-down strike under Jay’s operational leadership and secure a negotiated settlement.

1937

SPAM is introduced during Jay’s presidency.

1941–1942

The Hormel Foundation is incorporated in 1941; the foundation and University of Minnesota establish the Hormel Institute in 1942, with Jay taking the initiating role.

June 5, 1946

George A. Hormel dies following a stroke; he is buried in Austin, Minnesota.

FAQs

Was Hormel founded in 1887 or 1891?

Geo. A. Hormel & Co. was founded in 1891. The earlier date, 1887, refers to George A. Hormel’s partnership with Albrecht Friedrich in an Austin butcher shop. The independent packing company followed the end of that partnership.

Did George A. Hormel invent SPAM?

No. George A. Hormel founded the company in 1891, but SPAM was introduced in 1937 during the presidency of his son, Jay C. Hormel. The product’s launch belongs to the Jay-era company, not to George as a personal inventor.

Who was responsible for the 1921 Hormel embezzlement?

Assistant comptroller R. J. “Cy” Thomson stole company funds. A 1927 Minnesota Supreme Court opinion records approximately $1,187,000 discovered in July 1921. George A. Hormel was the company founder, not the person identified as having committed the theft.

When did Jay Hormel take over the business?

Jay became acting president in 1927 when George stepped back from daily management. Jay was formally elected president in 1929, while George became board chairman and continued to follow company affairs.

Did George A. Hormel found the Hormel Institute?

Not on his own. George and Jay were associated with the Hormel Foundation, incorporated in 1941, with Jay credited for initiating it. The Hormel Institute was established in 1942 through the foundation and the University of Minnesota, which credits Jay with initiating the institute.

Further Reading

• LIFE (March 11, 1946), featuring Frances Levison’s “Hormel: The Spam Man” — contemporary illustrated reporting on the father-and-son business era.
• Mower County Historical Society research holdings — an Austin-area starting point for historical collections connected to the company and its community.

Sources

• German Historical Institute / Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Anita Talsma Gaul, “George A. Hormel”
• Minnesota Historical Society / MNopedia: “Hormel, George A. (1860–1946)”, “Labor and Labor Organizing in Minnesota”
• City of Austin, Minnesota: “George A. Hormel” historical profile
• Hormel Foods: “Our History”, “History with U.S. Military”
• Minnesota Supreme Court: Geo. A. Hormel Co. v. First Nat. Bank (1927)
• Temple University Press / North Broad Press: Hardy Green, On Strike at Hormel, “The Weight of the Past”
• Hormel Historic Home: Former Hormel residence and its history
• The Hormel Foundation: “History”, “About the Foundation”
• University of Minnesota / The Hormel Institute: “HI History”
• Smithsonian Magazine: “How Spam Became a Staple of Asian Cuisine”
• Encyclopedia.com / International Directory of Company Histories: “George A. Hormel and Company”