CJ Schwan's

What does CJ Schwan's own?
CJ Schwan's owns nine frozen food brands sold in US grocery stores and food service channels. Its pizza brands include Red Baron, Freschetta, Tony's, Big Daddy's, and Villa Prima. Its dessert brands include Edwards and Mrs. Smith's. Its Asian-style food brands include bibigo and Pagoda. The company also operates a home delivery service that sells frozen foods directly to consumers.

Is CJ Schwan's publicly traded?
No, CJ Schwan's is a privately held company. It is a subsidiary of CJ CheilJedang, a South Korean food company that trades on the Korea Exchange under ticker 097950. CJ CheilJedang acquired an 80 percent stake in Schwan's in 2019 for approximately $1.8 billion. The Schwan family retained a minority stake.

Who founded CJ Schwan's?
The company was founded in 1952 by Marvin Schwan in Marshall, Minnesota. Schwan started the business as a home delivery ice cream service, using a single van to deliver ice cream to rural Minnesota families. The company expanded into frozen pizza, desserts, and other frozen foods over the following decades.

Where is CJ Schwan's headquartered?
CJ Schwan's is headquartered in Marshall, Minnesota, USA, where the company was founded in 1952. The company also maintains a corporate office in Hopkins, Minnesota. Its 17 manufacturing plants are located across 10 US states including California, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

How many brands does CJ Schwan's own?
CJ Schwan's owns nine consumer brands across three food categories: frozen pizza (Red Baron, Freschetta, Tony's, Big Daddy's, Villa Prima), frozen desserts (Edwards, Mrs. Smith's), and Asian-style foods (bibigo, Pagoda). The company also operates a home delivery service under the Schwan's name.

Who owns CJ Schwan's?
CJ Schwan's is 80 percent owned by CJ CheilJedang, the food division of South Korean conglomerate CJ Group. CJ CheilJedang acquired the stake in 2019 for approximately $1.8 billion. The Schwan family retains approximately 20 percent ownership. In March 2026, CJ CheilJedang indicated it was in discussions regarding the minority stake, though no transaction had been completed.

Who is the CEO of CJ Schwan's?
Dr. Gregory Yep has served as interim CEO of CJ Schwan's since March 2026. Yep also serves as global CEO of CJ Foods and chairman of the CJ Schwan's board. He succeeded Brian Schiegg, who held the role from mid-2024 until February 2026. The company has begun a search for a permanent CEO.

CJ Schwan's traces its origins to 1952, when Marvin Schwan launched a home delivery ice cream business in Marshall, Minnesota. Schwan, then 23 years old, used a 1946 Dodge panel van to deliver ice cream to rural families in southwestern Minnesota. The business model was simple: buy ice cream in bulk from a local creamery and sell it directly to households that lacked easy access to stores. The concept proved popular in rural communities, and Schwan quickly expanded his delivery routes.

By the late 1950s, Schwan's had expanded beyond ice cream into other frozen products. The company added frozen pizzas, frozen meals, and frozen desserts to its delivery offerings. The yellow Schwan's delivery truck became a recognizable sight in rural American neighborhoods, and the home delivery model allowed the company to build a direct relationship with consumers that traditional grocery stores could not match.

The 1970s and 1980s marked a period of significant expansion through both product development and acquisitions. Schwan's acquired the Red Baron pizza brand, which had been launched in 1976 by a farmer in Tony, Wisconsin. The company also acquired Tony's Pizza, another frozen pizza brand, and Mrs. Smith's, a frozen pie brand founded in the early 1900s. These acquisitions transformed Schwan's from a regional delivery company into a national frozen food manufacturer with a presence in grocery store freezer aisles.

In 1988, Schwan's acquired the Freschetta brand, which the company positioned as a premium frozen pizza offering. The addition of Freschetta gave Schwan's a multi-tier pizza portfolio spanning value (Tony's), mid-market (Red Baron), and premium (Freschetta) segments. The company also expanded its food service business, supplying frozen pizzas and other products to schools, restaurants, and institutional customers.

The company continued to grow through the 1990s and 2000s, adding the Edwards dessert brand and expanding its manufacturing footprint. By the 2010s, Schwan's had become one of the largest privately held frozen food companies in the United States, with annual revenue exceeding $3 billion and approximately 12,000 employees.

In 2019, CJ CheilJedang acquired an 80 percent stake in Schwan's for approximately $1.8 billion. The deal was part of CJ CheilJedang's broader strategy to expand its food business into North America. The Schwan family retained a minority stake, and the company continued to operate under its existing management team. Following the acquisition, the company was eventually rebranded as CJ Schwan's to reflect its integration into the CJ Group corporate structure.

In 2024, Brian Schiegg succeeded the retiring Dimitrios Smyrnios as CEO. Schiegg's tenure lasted until February 2026, when the company announced that Dr. Gregory Yep would serve as interim CEO. Yep, who also serves as global CEO of CJ Foods and chairman of the CJ Schwan's board, was appointed to reinforce alignment between Schwan's and its Korean parent company. The company has begun a search for a permanent CEO.

In 2025, CJ Schwan's announced plans to open a new Asian-style food production facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, scheduled to begin operations in 2027. The facility will support the expansion of the bibigo and Pagoda brands in the US market.

CJ Schwan's publishes sustainability information through its parent company CJ CheilJedang's corporate responsibility reports. The company's sustainability initiatives focus on food waste reduction, energy efficiency at manufacturing plants, and responsible sourcing of agricultural ingredients.

CJ CheilJedang has committed to science-based emissions reduction targets through the SBTi initiative, with goals covering Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions across its global operations, including CJ Schwan's US manufacturing facilities. The parent company has set a target of carbon neutrality by 2050.

CJ Schwan's operates 17 manufacturing plants in the United States, and the company has invested in energy efficiency upgrades at several facilities. The company has also implemented waste reduction programs at its plants, aiming to reduce food waste in production processes.

The company is not a Certified B Corporation. None of CJ Schwan's individual brands carry B Corp certification. The company does not publish standalone sustainability reports separate from CJ CheilJedang's corporate disclosures, which limits the ability to verify plant-level environmental performance independently.