Paul Newman turned homemade salad dressing into a $600 million charitable legacy

In 1980, Paul Newman and his friend A.E. Hotchner were not setting out to build a food company. They were making salad dressing at home and handing bottles to friends as Christmas presents. The dressing proved popular enough that people began asking where they could get more. Two years later, the experiment became Newman’s Own, with Newman deciding that the profits should be given away rather than kept by the business. What began with a familiar kitchen product gradually developed into a wider philanthropic enterprise. According to Newman’s Own Foundation, more than four decades later, the company says more than $600 million has been donated to charitable causes, while its founder’s name remains closely tied to the idea behind the business.Newman’s Own turned an unexpected profit into a charitable missionNewman and Hotchner made salad dressing for friends around 1980, initially treating it as a holiday gift rather than the beginning of a commercial venture. Friends wanted to buy the dressing, and the pair eventually decided to put it on the market. Newman’s Own officially launched in 1982, and the first year produced more than $300,000 in profit.Newman then made a decision that wou...