Our History
Silk® Soymilk was introduced in 1996. Silky-smooth and delicious, Silk quickly began taking over refrigerators and breakfast tables. Maybe it's the flavor. Maybe it's the creamy-rich smoothness. Maybe it’s the unbeatable nutrition. Either way, Silk is now the best-selling soy milk in the country.
Silk Milestones
Along the way, we’ve hit some major milestones that we’re proud of. Here are a few of our highlights.
| Year |
Event |
| 1977 |
Steve Demos, a young entrepreneur, borrows $500 to start WhiteWave Foods as a sole proprietorship. We sell tofu out of our small store in downtown Boulder, where we will eventually introduce Silk Soymilk.
|
| 1978 |
The first version of our soy milk is sold in three delicious varieties – Plain, Honey-sweetened and Carob-maple. Not yet called Silk, soy milk is sold out of bulk dispensers in our store.
|
| 1979 |
An early variety of soy ice cream, called Polar Bear, is introduced. Although successful, the Polar Bear Soy ice cream brand eventually goes away.
|
| 1981 |
Our tasty tofu products sell quickly in King Soopers grocery stores throughout the mountain west. |
| 1983-84 |
We enthusiastically sell delicious soy products around the country in Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
|
| 1985-96 |
We grow in size and sales as soy products become more popular. |
| 1996 |
Silk – the first fresh, refrigerated, organic soy milk – hits the grocery aisles and becomes an instant hit.
Responding to the popularity of Original Silk Soymilk, we introduce 3 delicious new flavors: Vanilla, Plain and Chocolate Soymilk.
|
| 1996-99 |
Silk becomes our primary product due to its huge popularity.
|
| 1999 |
FDA announces the heart-health benefits of soy, as if you needed another reason to love Silk Soymilk.
|
| 2000 |
Fruity Silk Live!™ Soy Yogurt is introduced.
Due to popular demand, Silk becomes available in Canada.
|
| 2002 |
Silk Aseptic (shelf-stable container) is introduced, which conveniently doesn’t need refrigeration until opened.
|
| 2003 |
Silk on-the-go Single Serve packaging is introduced.
Silk teams up with Starbucks® as the soy milk brand of choice in 4,000 Starbucks locations.
|
| 2003 |
Silk is awarded its first Green Power Leadership Award for offsetting 100% of electricity used in creating Silk and named one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Top 25 Partners.
We begin sponsoring Farm Aid.
|
| 2004 |
Five tasty new Silk Soymilk options are introduced:
Enhanced, Unsweetened, Very Vanilla and Plain & Vanilla twin-packs.
Delicious Silk Live! Soy Smoothies are introduced in four irresistible flavors:
Mango, Strawberry, Raspberry and Peach.
Silk becomes a presenting sponsor for Farm Aid. We also receive the Green Power Partner of the Year award and are again named an EPA Top 25 partner.
|
| 2005 |
Healthy and tasty Silk Light is introduced in Light Plain, Light Vanilla and Light Chocolate.
Silk is chosen by the Smithsonian Institution to build a soy exhibit at the Folklife Festival on the National Mall and demonstrate how soymilk is made to over 1 million intrigued visitors.
We are again a presenting sponsor for Farm Aid.
Silk receives the Green Power Partner of the Year award and is once more named an EPA Top 25 partner.
|
| 2006 |
Silk is featured in Chef Akasha Richmond’s book Hollywood Dish that contains over 50 recipes using soy milk.
Silk continues to offset 100% of its energy usage with renewable wind energy.
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