OUR STORY

Before Dart Container, there was Dart Manufacturing Company – W.F. Dart’s small machine shop that made metal measuring tapes and dog tags. When son W.A. joined the family business in the 1950s, attention shifted to plastic products: key cases, shelving and toys, including the popular and profitable Marble Race game.

Together, father and son zeroed in on their game-changing breakthrough: A cup made from expandable polystyrene. No one else had an on-the-go cup that could keep hot drinks hot, cold drinks cold and hands comfortable all at the same time. It took three years of trial and error, but the Darts perfected a way to mass produce a simple white plastic foam cup. That spirit of innovation would soon push the company beyond its small-town roots.

That original 6 oz. cup – tiny by today’s supersized standards – was a massive sensation as the ’60s began. Demand soared as customers realized the foam cup’s advantages over the common paper variety. We responded by making more sizes (8, 10 and 12 ounces) and engineering a single lid that fit them all. By 1963, cups had become the family business, and we became Dart Container Corporation.

As the ’60s progressed, on-the-go restaurants took off. Riding that wave, we expanded first to Pennsylvania and then quickly to Georgia, Illinois, California and Texas. We built strong relationships with popular eateries such as Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ Donuts. And our company’s innovative minds pushed beyond foam cups, adding rigid plastic dinnerware and cutlery to a growing packaging portfolio.

As we continued to expand across the US and overseas over the next 20 years, so did the family influence. W.A. Dart’s sons, Ken and Bob, joined the business. We also began to focus on vertically integrating operations by making our own raw materials and shipping our own products.

In 1990, we took the industry lead in providing public access to polystyrene recycling by accepting used foam at drop-off sites at several of our production facilities in the US and Canada. The company also introduced CARE (Cups Are REcyclable), a subscription program that allowed large customers to collect and condense used foam products, which Dart then picked up for recycling.

As we moved into the new century, innovation continued pushing us forward and preserving our strong market position. We invented the Optima lid, the industry’s first reclosable lid, and added hinged containers, bowls and portion containers to our portfolio. By 2007, when we began production at our 20th plant in Tijuana, Mexico, we had 7,500 employees and 16 million square feet of plant space worldwide.

In 2012, we took a huge leap forward by acquiring another leading food and beverage packaging business – SOLO® Cup Company. Adding SOLO’s iconic red cup, along with its equipment and expertise, allowed us to expand our product mix further into paper cups and dinnerware. Seven years later, we opened a state-of-the-art innovation center in Mason to foster collaboration with our customers and teamwork and idea creation among our employees.

With the Dart family still on the Board of Directors and the company’s sites still focused on quality, innovation and customer connections, we’re boldly expanding into molded fiber production and revolutionizing paper plate design for ultra-strong staying power – all with sustainability in mind. We’re proud to have consumers relying on our products every day and seeing our name and influence when they raise their cup or container in the Dart salute to peek at the logo underneath. Cheers to a future of food, drink and fun!