Fyffes of bananas from overseas plantations. In May 1969, the company was renamed Fyffes Group Ltd, recognising the diversity and importance of the then (x-number) subsidiary companies. It became an Irish company following takeover by the Irish group FII plc in 1986. FII plc had been created when Torney Brothers & McCann, (the origins of that company were Charles McCann's apple exporting business founded in 1890) merged with United Fruit Importers Limited to form Fruit Importers of Ireland Limited in 1968. The combined company was initially known as FII Fyffes plc, but became simply Fyffes plc in 1989. In 2002 Fyffes
Standard Fruit Company Standard Fruit Company Standard Fruit Company (now Dole Food Company) was established in the United States in 1924 by the Vaccaro brothers. Its forerunner was started in 1899, when Sicilian immigrants Joseph, Luca and Felix Vaccaro, together with Salvador D'Antoni, began importing bananas to New Orleans from La Ceiba, Honduras. By 1915 the business had grown so large that it bought most of the ice factories in New Orleans in order to refrigerate its banana ships, leading to its president Joseph Vaccaro becoming known as the "Ice King". Along with the United Fruit Company, Standard Fruit played a significant role