Is Kraft a subsidiary of Kraft Heinz?

Kraft is a wholly owned brand of Kraft Heinz Company, not a separately incorporated subsidiary. Kraft Foods Group merged with H.J. Heinz in 2015 to form Kraft Heinz. The brand's intellectual property and revenue are held by the parent company.

Is Kraft publicly traded?

No, the Kraft brand is not publicly traded on its own. Its parent, Kraft Heinz Company, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KHC. Buying KHC shares is the only way to invest in the brand.

When was Kraft founded?

James L. Kraft began selling cheese in Chicago in 1903, forming J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company with his brothers in 1909. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner launched in 1937, and Kraft Singles debuted in 1950.

James L. Kraft, a Canadian-born entrepreneur, founded the company. He started with a horse-drawn wagon delivering cheese to Chicago grocers and patented processed cheese in 1916, the innovation on which the company's growth was built.

What is Kraft's market position?

Kraft is the leading boxed macaroni and cheese brand in the United States and the leader in processed cheese slices. It is a mass-market, budget-tier brand sold in virtually every American grocery channel. The brand generates multi-billion-dollar annual sales for Kraft Heinz.

Are Kraft and Mondelez the same company?

No. Kraft Foods split in 2012 into Kraft Foods Group, which kept North American grocery brands including the Kraft name, and Mondelez International, which took global snacks such as Oreo and Cadbury. Kraft Foods Group merged with Heinz in 2015 to become Kraft Heinz. Some international rights to the Kraft name on cheese and snacks remain with Mondelez.

Food & Beverage

Who Owns Kraft?

Kraft is wholly owned by Kraft Heinz Company (NYSE: KHC), a publicly traded American food corporation headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The brand traces its origins to James L. Kraft, who began selling cheese in Chicago in 1903. Kraft products, led by Kraft Mac and Cheese and Kraft Singles, are sold primarily in North America and generate billions of dollars in annual sales.

Parent Company

Kraft Heinz Company

Founded

1903

Status

Publicly Traded

Headquarters

Chicago, Illinois, USA

budgetmass marketUnited StatesOfficial Website

Who Owns Kraft?

Parent Company: Kraft Heinz Company
Ownership Type: Wholly owned
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock Ticker: NYSE: KHC

Brand	Parent Company	Ownership Type
Kraft	Kraft Heinz Company	Wholly owned

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Kraft on Amazon

History of Kraft

Founded: 1903
Founders: James L. Kraft

James L. Kraft, a Canadian-born entrepreneur, started a wholesale cheese business in Chicago in 1903 with $65 in capital and a horse named Paddy. He formed J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company with his brothers in 1909 and received a US patent for processed cheese in 1916, a method that kept cheese from spoiling without refrigeration. The US Army bought roughly six million pounds of the product during World War I, which seeded national distribution.

Kraft grew into one of America's largest food companies, acquiring Phenix Cheese Company in 1928, which brought the Philadelphia cream cheese brand into the fold. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner launched in 1937 during the Great Depression as an inexpensive way to combine nonperishable pasta and powdered cheese; a box cost 19 cents and advertised a meal for four. Kraft Singles arrived in 1950, pioneering individually wrapped processed cheese slices.

The corporate history is complicated. Philip Morris acquired Kraft in 1988 and combined it with General Foods, which it had bought in 1985. Kraft was partially spun off in 2001, fully separated in 2007, and then split itself in 2012 into a North American grocery company, Kraft Foods Group, and a global snacks company, Mondelez International. Kraft Foods Group merged with Heinz in 2015 under 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway.

The Kraft name lost billions of dollars of carrying value in the 2019 impairment, which Kraft Heinz attributed to years of underinvestment in the brand. Since then the company has repositioned its flagship product, renaming Kraft Macaroni and Cheese as Kraft Mac and Cheese in 2022 and launching new formats and flavor extensions. The mac and cheese line remains one of the largest packaged food brands in the United States.

About Kraft Heinz Company

Is Kraft Heinz publicly traded?
Yes, Kraft Heinz is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KHC. The company moved its listing from NASDAQ to the NYSE on September 14, 2026. It has been publicly traded since the 2015 merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz. Major shareholders have included Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, though Berkshire filed in January 2026 to divest its full 27% stake.

Who owns Kraft Heinz?
Kraft Heinz is owned by its public shareholders. Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's conglomerate, has been the largest shareholder at roughly 27% of shares, though it filed in January 2026 to sell its entire position of about 325 million shares. 3G Capital, the Brazilian-American investment firm that engineered the 2015 merger, also maintains a significant ownership stake.

When was Kraft Heinz founded?
Kraft Heinz was founded on July 2, 2015, through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The merger was orchestrated by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. The constituent companies have much longer histories: Heinz was founded in 1869 and Kraft Foods traces its origins to 1903.

What is Kraft Heinz's revenue?
Kraft Heinz reported net sales of $24.9 billion for fiscal year 2025, the year ended December 27, 2025. This was a 3.5% decrease from the prior year. The company generated $3.7 billion in free cash flow and returned $2.3 billion to stockholders. In Q2 2026, net sales were $6.3 billion, down 1.4% year over year.

Who is the CEO of Kraft Heinz?
Steve Cahillane is the CEO of Kraft Heinz. He announced a strategic shift away from cost-cutting toward brand investment, committing $700 million across marketing, sales, R&D, and product superiority in 2026. Cahillane said the company's challenges are "fixable and within our control" and that the opportunity is "larger than expected."

What brands does Kraft Heinz own?
Kraft Heinz owns numerous iconic food brands including Heinz ketchup, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Velveeta, Maxwell House coffee, Lunchables, Ore-Ida frozen potatoes, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Classico pasta sauce, and Grey Poupon mustard.

Why did Kraft Heinz take impairment charges?
Kraft Heinz recorded $9.3 billion in non-cash impairment charges in fiscal 2025, reflecting the reduced value of brands and goodwill. This followed a $15.4 billion impairment in 2019. The charges reflect years of underinvestment in brand building under 3G Capital's cost-cutting model and changing consumer preferences away from processed foods.

Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock: NYSE: KHC
Revenue: $24.9 billion (FY2025, year ended December 27, 2025)
Employees: Approximately 37,000

Visit Kraft Heinz Company website

View full company profile for Kraft Heinz Company

Where Is Kraft Made / Based?

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Manufacturing / Operations: United States, Canada

Kraft Categories & Tags

Mac And Cheese Cheese Packaged Food Food Kraft Heinz American Brand

Kraft Sustainability & Ethics

Kraft does not carry independent sustainability certifications at the brand level. Packaging and sourcing commitments are made by Kraft Heinz corporately, including a goal of fully recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging and greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Kraft Mac and Cheese packaging has moved toward thinner film and reduced-plastic designs in recent years, and the brand has published fiber-content and ingredient-simplification changes to its core recipe, including the removal of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives from the original blue box in 2016.

Nutritional quality is the brand's main ethical exposure. Public health groups regularly cite boxed macaroni and processed cheese as emblematic of ultra-processed American food, and Kraft products feature prominently in school-nutrition debates. Kraft Heinz's school lunch reformulations have been an attempt to answer that criticism.

Kraft Recalls & Controversies

In September 2023, Kraft Heinz voluntarily recalled about 83,800 cases of Kraft Singles American processed cheese slices because a strip of wrapping film could remain on the slice after the wrapper was opened, creating a choking hazard. Six consumer complaints were reported with no serious injuries, and the company repaired the wrapping machine responsible.

The 2019 write-down of $15.4 billion in the Kraft and Oscar Mayer brand values was itself a controversy: it triggered shareholder lawsuits alleging that Kraft Heinz had concealed the extent of brand deterioration, and the company paid a $210 million settlement to resolve that litigation in 2023.

In 2024 and 2025, Kraft Mac and Cheese was named in litigation and advocacy campaigns over phthalates and synthetic chemicals in packaged cheese powders. Kraft Heinz has stated that it does not add phthalates to its products and that trace levels can enter the supply chain through packaging and processing equipment.

Kraft Ownership: Pros & Cons

Advantages

+Best-selling boxed macaroni and cheese brand in the United States
+Over a century of consumer recognition and household penetration
+Priced at the budget tier, defending volume when shoppers trade down
+Backed by Kraft Heinz's renewed $700 million marketing and R&D program
+Deep distribution across every major North American grocery channel

Considerations

-The brand's value was written down by billions in the 2019 impairment
-Volume declines in mac and cheese, singles, and mayo through 2024 and 2025
-Ultra-processed food scrutiny pressures its core products
-Private-label mac and cheese offers comparable product at lower prices
-The paused corporate separation leaves the grocery portfolio's structure unsettled

Frequently Asked Questions About Kraft

Sources & Further Reading

Competitors to Kraft

These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.

Brand	Parent Company	Country	Founded	Market Position	Primary Market	Gender Target
VelveetaSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1918	Mass market	United states	All Genders
HeinzSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1869	Mass market	Global	All Genders
Jell-OSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1897	Mass market	United states	All Genders
Kool-AidSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1927	Mass market	United states	All-ages
LunchablesSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1988	Mass market	United states	All-ages
PhiladelphiaSister Brand	Kraft Heinz	USA	1872	Mass market	Global	All Genders