You know his raviolis. Once he arrived, he landed a job at the famous Plaza Hotel. Ettore Boiardi (October 22, 1897 - June 21, 1985), also known by the Anglicized name Hector Boyardee, was an Italian-American chef, famous for his eponymous brand of food products, named Chef Boyardee . Born 119 years ago this month (October 22nd, 1897) in the northern Italian city of Piacenza (part of Italy's famous "food valley"), legend has it that cooking was so ingrained in Boiardi that he used a wire whisk as a rattle. When stirring sauce, you should always stir with the spoons rounded side down, rather than stir sideways like pretty much everyone does. Not only that, patrons were asking to take home his sauce to use at their own family dinners. In other cases, they were created by advertising agencies to give a friendly face to a faceless company. Weird History Food said, Chefs significant contributions to Milton, Pennsylvania were never forgotten. In some cases, the name simply sounds good. Maybe real. Who Was General Tso (And Why Does He Have His Own Chicken)? Chef Hector plays a major role on the home front by making food for the troops. Weird History Food then added, Hector took over a food processing plant and began producing and canning the sauce on a larger scale. Joined by Paul and his other brother Mario from Italy, Hector launched the Chef Boiardi Food Company in 1928. keep up the great work! Required fields are marked *. It quickly became a family business, when his brothers moved to Ohio to help him with his canning business. Real. A real persona and a real legend. Soon after, he was training under esteemed chefs in Paris and London. He eventually took jobs in Paris and London, learning various restaurant skills to complement his Italian upbringing. He became a food prodigy by age 11 in his native Italy, but later emigrated to New York City in 1915, where. After working in New York's Plaza Hotel, he opened his own restaurant. In several cases it's not clear whether the namesake ever actually lived, and in many cases the person the brand is named after never existed at all. (Clearly, the spelling change was to help consumers know how to pronounce his name.) After struggling with cash flow, compounded by internal family struggles over the ownership and direction of the company in managing rapid internal growth, he sold his brand to American Home Foods, later International Home Foods. With all that in mind, it's natural to be skeptical of the origins and credentials of any food company mascot. Your email address will not be published. However, demand for his sauce became too great and soon Boiardi realized that perhaps it was this "take-home" industry that was his future. Whether you loved his lasagna or his spaghetti dinners, the man's history is fascinating. In the 1970s, friends suggested that Amos make cookies his full-time business. A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world-renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. Chef Boyardee was a very real, very successful chef. [6] American Home Foods turned its food division into International Home Foods in 1996. After the war ended, Boiardi had to choose between selling the company or laying off everyone he had hired. He worked in a variety of top restaurants in New York as a chef, eventually working until he reached Chef. He later learned more restaurant skills as an immigrant in Paris and London. German immigrant brothers Oscar, Gottfried, and Max Mayer ran a butcher shop in Chicago in the early 20th century, which was one of the first companies to get on board with the USDAs new meat inspection grades. [2] He decided to anglicize the name of his product to "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. Today, Chef Boyardee sells a variety of classic pasta dishes in both cans and those little microwavable cupsSpaghetti & Meatballs, Beefaroni, Lasagna, and, of course, both meat and cheese ravioli. Ettore Boiardi (October 22, 1897 June 21, 1985), also known by the Anglicized name Hector Boyardee, was an Italian-American chef, famous for his eponymous brand of food products, named Chef Boyardee. Born Ettore (Hector) Boiardi, Chef Boyardee was a real man and a real chef (unlike Mrs. Butterworth or Betty Crocker). The brand's signature tomato sauce has always been sweet and sort of thin, . [5] Touting the low cost of spaghetti products as a good choice to serve to the entire family, Boiardi introduced his product to the public in 1929. The name, Boiardi. To woo potential clients, hed send them packages of his home-made cookies. Ettore and his wife Helen opened up Il Giardino d'Italia in 1924, quickly attracting attention for the quality of their traditional cooking at a time when Italian cuisine was much less common than it is today. He soon found his way into the kitchen of New York's famous Plaza Hotel, with help from older brother Paul, who worked there as a matre d'. Just remember one thing, lets part friends. He looked at me and said, What the hell are you talking about? He put his hand into my trolley cart, pulled out a can and said, this is my father. We both cried.. Baker Charles Lubin owned a small chain of Chicago bakeries in the early 20th century. When he began selling jars and cans of his tomato sauce, he chose to do so under a name that. But what about the chef behind the raviolis. I usually avoid commenting on all the grammar mistakes, but this one is really bad: in the first paragraph, He later immigrating to America at the age of 16 should be He later immigrated to America at the age of 16. The brands signature tomato sauce has always been sweet and sort of thin, but youll notice a lot of people online claiming that the saucy products they remember loving in the 90s and 00s are soupier and less flavorful than they remember. Again, what a dude! | But not all brands involving a person's name have origins that are so cut and dry. And during those years, Boiardi also directed the catering for Woodrow Wilsons second wedding, to Edith Galt in 1915. The drink was named by Aldertons boss, Wade Morrison. Get all the top food rankings, new product reviews, and other grocery content delivered to your inbox every other week. Boiardi originally grew his trademark mustache to try to make himself look older as he was generally the youngest cook in the often top notch restaurants where he was a cook at, starting around 16 when he moved to America. Ettore Boiardi was an Italian immigrant who worked as a chef in New York and West Virginia hotels (where he supposedly catered Woodrow Wilsons second wedding) before opening his own restaurant in Cleveland. So basically, Chef Boyardee cans are just normal cans. Eventually, the revenue from these takeout orders surpassed what the restaurant itself was bringing in and Boiardi needed a processing plant to keep up with demands. | READ MORE. Chef Boyardee JUMBO Spaghetti & Meatballs Per 1 cup (255 g): 280 calories, 13 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat), 700 mg sodium, 29 g carbs (3 g fiber, 8 g sugar), 11 g protein Who knew that spaghetti and meatballs could come with 8 grams of sugar? He died on June 21, 1985, and today the company is owned by ConAgra, the conglomerate behind faves like Slims Jim, Reddi-wip, Vlasic pickles, PAM, Orville Redenbachers popcorn, and, like, a bajillion and three more food brands. Born in 1897 in Northern Italy, Boiardi was 11 when he landed a job apprenticing for a chef at a hotel in his hometown of Piacenza, per the Chef Boyardee website. Let us know! In 1938, the company moved to Pennsylvania where it is still today. By the age of 22, Hector Boiardi was one of America's most famous chefs - essentially Bobby Flay meets James Beard if they had barely finished going through puberty when they became big names. Businessman. At the persuasion of a couple of restaurant regulars, including a couple who owned a local grocery store chain, Boiardi built a small canning and processing plant in Cleveland. To capitalize on their hometown popularity, they started branding their products with Oscars name when they expanded their business. Ettore Boiardi was an Italian-American immigrant born in 1897. From there, he worked his way up the ranks and became the head chef. Fictional. Boiardi sold his company for six million dollars in 1946 primarily due to the fact that he was having trouble managing the incredible rapid growth of the company (at this time annually grossing 20 million dollars worth of sales a year, which makes that 6 million dollar sale price a crazy good deal). So he changed his last name's spelling to make it easier to pronounce, slapped it on a can, and boom, Chef Boyardee was born. A company is a legal body created by a group of people to conduct and manage a multinational corporation, whether it be commercial or economic.. Juan Valdez is a fictional character.In the New York metropolitan area premises of a promotional agency, he established in 1959. Meet The Real Chef Behind The Chef Boyardee Brand. Cookie Settings. The rechristened companys first factory was located in Milton, Pennsylvania, writes NPR. Boiardi was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. Doesn't pancake syrup called Mrs. Butterworth's just sound delicious? Chef Hector Boyardee was born in 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, not surprisingly with a very Italian name: Ettore Boiardi. Debbi Fields and her then-husband Randall opened their first bakery in 1977. After immigrating to America at the age of 16, he got a job at New Yorks Plaza Hotel, according to NPRs All Things Considered. That image is instead said to be based on the matre d' of the restaurant where Harwell and his business partners sometimes met. [4] The idea for Chef Boiardi came about when restaurant customers began asking Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce, which he began to distribute in milk bottles. I love the part about the guy keeping his familys wealth secret until he was sure. From Duncan Hines to Chef Boyardee, here are 33 grocery store items named after real people. Although the product sold well, the company name was a sticking point. The Welsh sailor made his name defending British interests and raiding Spanish ships and towns throughout the Caribbean. His brother Paul worked there as maitre dhotel. One of the more famous he worked at as a youth was New Yorks famous Plaza and Ritz-Carlton hotel. Boiardi was an immigrant who went on to live the American Dream when he created a whole Italian food empire. Boiardi continued developing new Italian food products for the American market until his death in 1985. Chef Boyardee was a real man, but he spelled his last name a little different from what you see on the cans of his pasta in sauce. Paul Boiardi had moved to America when Hector was a small boy and had quickly found a job waiting tables in New York's Parisian Room at the famous Plaza Hotel. With his brothers Mario and Paul, Chef Hector starts the Chef Boyardee Company. So, he changed the product's name to the phonetic Chef "Boy-Ar-Dee." They came in agreement to sell the company and factory to American Home Foods for nearly $6 million. I didnt say much and handed the phone back to my friends dad who was shocked I wasnt impressed. Lines wrapped around the block and customers begged to know the secrets of his signature dish - cooked-to-order spaghetti with homemade sauce and cheese. Chef Hector retires from his consultant position. He also held a degree in business and co-owned a steel mill with his father. Cookie Policy Soon, he moved up to the ranks of matre d', becoming one of the most well-known hosts in the city. At this time, Italian restaurants were just becoming immensely popular on the east and west coasts (thanks in large part to the influx of immigrants to these areas of the country) but it hadn't quite hit middle America yet. Clevelander Chef Boyardee (born Ettore Boiardi and known as Hector Boyardee after moving to the United States) found his rhythm right here in Ohio, a state he was not native to but that he effortlessly adopted the culture of. The Milton factory started operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 1942, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. This not only helped cut down on the cost of ingredients, but also helped insure that the ingredients were top quality and provided a steady supply. Chef Boiardi was awarded a Gold Star Order of Excellence from the United States War Department for supplying millions of rations for American and Allied troops during WWII. He is the great uncle of American author Anna Boiardi, who wrote Delicious Memories: Recipes and Stories from the Chef Boyardee Family. But Chef Boyardee was not, as commonly believed, a fictional creation whose name was formed from the given names (Boyd, Art, and Dennis) of the men who created him. A Real, Italian-American Icon In a world of fake food mascots, Ettore Boiardi was the real deal. The Weiners helped the Boiardi brothers develop a process for canning the food at scale. Before launching the Chef Boyardee line of products, Chef Boiardi, in 1915 at the age of 17 years old, supervised the catering for President Woodrow Wilsons wedding reception. According to the company, Uncle Ben was a real rice grower known for high-quality product in founder Gordon Harwells native Texas, and the brand was named for him as an homage. But he remains one the most recognized faces of TV, thanks to his legacy of advertisement. Boiardi's product was soon being stocked in markets nationwide the company had to open a factory in 1928 to meet the demands of national distribution. It was confusing to some people and that was beginning to affect sales, staff, and customers so that is when the brothers decided it was best to anglicize their name to make it easier for others to recognize. As he developed a strong customer base, he found himself in the enviable position of having customers clamber after his food so much, they wanted to take it home with them so they could have it any time. Hector Boiardi ran a popular Italian restaurant in Cleveland in the 1920s, and his recipes were so popular that people convinced him to mass-market them. Kat Eschner At this point in history, fine dining was synonymous with French food, according to NPR. With his brother's help, he got a job in the kitchen at the Plaza. Real. 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If ever a man was fit for that title, it was Boiardi. ", SLEEPYTIME TEA AND THE LITTLE-KNOWN RELIGION BEHIND IT, THE NOT-SO-AMERICAN HISTORY OF CHEEZ WHIZ. Chef Boyardee was born Hector Boiardi in 1897 in Piacenza, which. In Milton, the company exploded. For producing rations supplying Allied troops during World War II, he was awarded a Gold Star order of excellence[clarification needed] from the United States War Department.[8]. The businessmen who developed an early ready-made pancake mix reportedly saw one such character in a black-face minstrel show in the late 1800s and appropriated the image to brand their new product. By the time the war ended, the company employed five thousand people and production far exceeded what they were doing in the 1930s. I was at a friends house and his father was an actual good friend of the Chef. Another example of this trend (while not a brand name) is Cream of Wheat's African-American mascot Rastus, who graced boxes of the stuff, wearing his chef's whites, from the 1890s until the 1920s. [1], Boiardi followed his brother Paolo to the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, working his way up to head chef. So, using milk bottles, he packaged up the sauce and sent them off. The lawsuit alleged false advertisement on the part of Chef Boyardee. [17], In 2005, Chef Boyardee was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX, which depicts advertising mascots having dinner together. My friends dad put me on the phone to speak with him and I still remember his accent. What a dude. Today, Chef Boyardee sells a variety of classic pasta dishes in both cans and those little microwavable cupsSpaghetti & Meatballs, Beefaroni, Lasagna, and, of course, both meat and cheese ravioli. After immigrating to America at the age of 16, he got a job at New Yorks Plaza Hotel, And during those years, Boiardi also directed the catering for Woodrow Wilsons. He named the business after his mother, claiming that no one would want to buy from a place called Dons Pies.. JUSTICE LEAGUE and all related characters and elements & DC Comics. Thank You! Even though its now a household name, the people of still have very sentimental memories of Chef Boyardee. Who is Chef Boyardee? He was invented by the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency in 1959, to appear in advertisements for the . ", "Natural History of the Kitchen: Chef Boyardee", "Canned & Microwave Spaghetti | Chef Boyardee", "Mastercard Priceless | Experiences make life more meaningful", "Chef Boyardee Maker Hit With False Advertising Class Action", Hector Boiardi (Encyclopedia of Cleveland History), Gallery of classic graphic design featuring Chef Boyardee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chef_Boyardee&oldid=1134715590, Companies based in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Articles lacking reliable references from September 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Spaghetti & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Mini Spaghetti Rings & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Cheese Ravioli In Meat Sauce (microwavable cup), Mini Beef Ravioli & Meatballs (can, microwaveable Cup), Mini Micro Beef Ravioli (microwaveable cup), Pasta With Chicken And Vegetables (microwave cup), Spaghetti In Tomato Sauce (microwave cup), Pasta In Butter Sauce (can, microwaveable cup), Rice With Chicken & Vegetables (microwavable cup), Mini ABC's & 123's With Meatballs (can, microwavable cup), Mini ABC's & 123's Without Meatballs (can), Justice League Pasta Shapes with Meatballs, Roller Coaster Pasta Shapes with Mini Meatballs, Sir Chomps-a-lot Bite-Sized Cheese Ravioli, The Smurfs Mini Pasta Shapes with Meatballs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pasta Shapes with Mini Meatballs, This page was last edited on 20 January 2023, at 05:35. Born in 1897 near Piacenza, Italy, Boiardi took to cooking from an early age, supposedly finding work as an apprentice chef at a hotel at the ripe age of 11.When he was 16, Ettore left home, arriving at Ellis Island just months before the outbreak of World War I. Yes, Chef Boyardee was an actual person, and for more information about him, look below for a detailed answer on his past. The name was created for the Washburn Crosby Company (which would later merge with other businesses to form General Mills) by Marjorie Husted as a way to personalize the companys products and customer relations. Few people are aware that Chef Boyardee, the iconic mustached man on the can of ravioli, was a real person with an amazing story. Chef Boyardee Juan Valdez Colonel Sanders Duncan Hines. Answer: While Juan Valdez might sound like the name of a Colombian coffee grower, however his name is completely fictitious. Afterward, Bioardi ended up moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened up his very own restaurant. Behind the label is a whole impressive history, beginning with the origins of Ettore Boiardi, who became Hector Boyardee . By the late 1930s, Hector was headed east to set up his kitchen in Milton, Pennsylvania . And Uncle Ben's rice is still very cagey on whether Uncle Ben actually ever existed. In 1924 he opened a restaurant there by the name of Il Giardino d . When he began selling jars and cans of his tomato sauce, he chose to do so under a name that Americans could pronounce more easily: "Chef Boy-Ar-Dee" (later changed to Chef Boyardee). He later came to the states through Ellis Island and became a well-known celebrity chef, working at various fancy hotels (and even catering Woodrow Wilsons wedding) before opening his own Italian restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1924. The plaintiff who filed the class-action lawsuit was demanding more than $5 million in damages. The Milton factory started operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 1942, according to the company website. Anthony!") He supervised the preparation of the homecoming meal served by Woodrow Wilson at the White House for 2,000 returning World War I soldiers. Is Pizza Getting Too Gourmet for Its Own Good? Thanks. Colonel Sanders was real. Far from some dated Italian caricature, "Hector" was actually a model immigrant who made his name cooking for discerning diners in New York and Cleveland not to mention a sitting president long before his likeness ever graced a can of Beefaroni. After a stint in prison for continuing to harass and pillage the Spanish after a peace treaty was signed, he was knighted and appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. His name was Hector Boiardi, and he was born in Italy in 1897. In 1917, NPR writes, he moved to Cleveland, where in 1924 he opened a restaurant with his wife Helen Boiardi. Lippert believed the ad influenced other famous commercials such as Prince Spaghetti (known for "Anthony! If you are a Chef Boyardee person who loved the stuff as a kid and happen to give it another go, let us know if it lives up to your memories. However, there was one tiny detail to figure out. Ettore (Hector) Boiardi came from Piacenza, Italy to New York with his brothers, where he became the head chef of the famous Plaza Hotel at the age of 17. And he's just one of the 33 grocery store brands named after real people. So he changed his last name's spelling to make it easier to pronounce, slapped it on a can, and boom, Chef Boyardee was born. In 1914, Hector Boiardi made the trip to America on the French ship La Lorraine, landing at Ellis Island. He opened the first Famous Amos store in Los Angeles in 1975 and then began supplying cookies to grocery stores around the country. He worked as a cook at his first restaurant at the tender age of 10 years old in Italy. Who Was Chef Boyardee? Weve all had at least one meal from Chef Boyardee. However, a version of . He stayed on as a consultant there until 1978. This was too much for Boiardi and his brothers to handle. Did you know that Chef Boyardee was a real person? Did Trader Joe's Just Release a Cheaper Momofuku Instant Noodle Dupe? Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli is made with fresh pasta, hearty, Italian-flavored tomato sauce, and real beef, giving it the classic flavor everyone loves. He did have to sell the company soon after the war, though, in order to make sure that all the extra hands hired for the war efforts could keep their jobs. His entrepreneurial skill became polished and well known when he opened his first restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia, whose name translates as "The Garden of Italy", at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, in 1924. The wedding, which took place after a brief courtship, was held at Galts Washington, D.C. home. As a Change.org petition advocating for a Boiardi statue in Cleveland notes, the company also churned out cans to feed America's troops during World War II, earning Boiardi a gold star from the U.S. government. In 1928, the Chef Boyardee Company was born. biggest importers of olive oil and Parmesan cheese from Italy. Chef Boyardee: Chef Boyardee The famous canned pasta is named after its founder, Hector. Betty. And in 1928, the Chef Boiardi Food Company was born, launched by Hector, Helen,and Hectors brothers Paul and Mario. There, he started selling bottles of his pasta sauce, and soon expanded the operation with a factory in Pennsylvania. Hector Boiardi, born in 1897, was born in Italy, where he began working at a hotel in his hometown when he was 11 (child labor meant something a little different in the early 1900s.) [4] After sauce, their next product was closer to a complete pasta meal, including a canister of grated Parmesan cheese, a box of spaghetti, and a jar of pasta sauce, held together in cellophane plastic wrap. TV Acres. Advertising Notice THE #FAMOUSGRAVE OF #CHEFBOYARDEE IN CHARDON #OHIO Born in 1897 in the northern Italian region of Piacenza, Boiardi supposedly used a wire whisk for a rattle and by age 11 was working as an. Cooking up recipes from his hometown, he so impressed customers that he was hired away to be the head chef at Barbetta on 46th Street (where it is still located to this day). This will help you not spill any sauce as well as create little whirlpools in the sauce as the curve side down glides through the sauce; this provides optimal mixing. As for the products that Hector Boiardi left as his legacy, Anna Boiardi admits that they may not be the same as when her great-uncle made them but it is an alternative for those who just don't have the time to cook. Ettore's journey from immigrant to figurehead of a burgeoning canned pasta empire is enough to store even a cynic's wavering faith in the American dream. Chef Boyardee Was A Real Person What's more: Hector Boiardi was a respected chef who even helped cater Woodrow Wilson's second wedding Kat Eschner March 20, 2017 You know what he looks like,. Real. They also procured distribution across the United States through their grocery's wholesale partners. At the age of 11, he was working as an apprentice chef at local restaurant "La Croce Bianca", although his duties were confined to non-cooking odd jobs such as potato peeling and dealing with the trash. Pharmacist Charles Alderton developed the formula for Dr Pepper while working at W.B. Chef Boyardee products are available in cans or single-use microwavable cups. Whats more: Hector Boiardi was a respected chef who even helped cater Woodrow Wilsons second wedding. And that picture on the product labels, of course. Hector Boiardi was born in Piacenza, in northern Italy. Fields began franchising in 1990 and then sold the business while staying on as the companys spokesperson. The classic ready-made pastas are iconic and well known. The company he sold to was American Home Products (today called International Home Foods). [2] The patrons of Il Giardino d'Italia frequently asked for samples and recipes of his spaghetti sauce, so he filled cleaned milk bottles.[3]. At the time the statue went up, Chef Boyardee had provided jobs for more than 10,000 workers in the Milton area.. He also garnered a summer job cooking at the historic and ritzy Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (for 30 years, it was also the site of an underground bunker for Congress in the case of nuclear war). [18], In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was brought against the Chef Boyardee company. Hector Boiardi remained on as a consultant and the face of canned pasta until 1978. The Chef Boyardee line was later sold, in 2000, to ConAgra Foods. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928. But the real Chef Boyardee? Aunt Jemima was later brought to life when the businesss new owner hired Nancy Green, a former slave, to portray the character in ads and at events. Based on that strength, Consolidated Foods adopted the name Sara Lee for the whole corporation. The 17 Real People Behind Your Favorite Food Brand Names Slideshow. I wish they would bring back the older version of macaroni and cheese with the long noodles and white cheese sauce. That would be one Ettore "Hector" Boiardi, a very real Italian-American chef. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hoorayfor Beefaroni!" they serve chef at the olive garden so dont tell me its not real italian food. Its first product: spaghetti dinner, including a canister of grated parmesan, a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce.