Chef Boyardee

Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products owned by Hometown Food Company. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928.

History

After leaving his position as head chef at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Ettore Boiardi opened a restaurant called Il Giardino d'Italia ("The Garden of Italy") in 1924 at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. 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. In 1928, Boiardi met Maurice and Eva Weiner, who were patrons of his restaurant and owners of a local self-service grocery store chain. The Weiners helped the Boiardi brothers develop a process for canning the food at scale in Cleveland. They also procured distribution across the United States through their grocery's wholesale partners. He decided to anglicize the name of his product to "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. The first product to be sold was a "ready-to-heat spaghetti kit" in 1928. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of grated cheese. By 1938, the company had outgrown its Ohio facility, and production was moved to Milton, Pennsylvania, where they could grow their own mushrooms and there was a ready supply of tomatoes.

The U.S. military commissioned the company during World War II for the production of army rations, requiring the factory to run 24 hours a day. At its peak, the company employed approximately 5,000 workers and produced 250,000 cans per day. After the war, production was scaled down and many of the wartime hires became expendable. Rather than lay them off, he sold the company to American Home Foods in 1946 for nearly $6 million. Boiardi remained as a spokesman and consultant for the brand until 1978. American Home Foods turned its food division into International Home Foods in 1996. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by ConAgra Foods, which continued to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.

In 2025, Chef Boyardee was sold to Brynwood Partners under its portfolio company Hometown Food Company.

Advertising

Chef Boyardee is one of the few brands to request to be removed from an episode of ''Seinfeld''. In the 1996 episode "The Rye", Kramer is allowed to operate a Hansom cab for a week, and feeds the horse excess cans of Beefaroni, which causes frequent and foul smelling flatulence. As a result of the request, the name was changed to "Beef-a-reeno".

In 2005, Chef Boyardee was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX, which depicts advertising mascots having dinner together.

In 2018, Barbara Lippert of ''Advertising Age'' compared the 1966 Young & Rubicam ad for Beefaroni to '' The 400 Blows'' and running of the bulls. The ad features a large group of children running through Venice singing, "Hooray...for Beefaroni!" Lippert believed the ad influenced other famous commercials such as Prince Spaghetti (known for "Anthony! Anthony!") and " Hilltop" for Coca-Cola.

See also

* SpaghettiOs

References

External links

Official siteHector Boiardi (Encyclopedia of Cleveland History)Gallery of classic graphic design featuring Chef Boyardee1960s TV ad for Beefaroni
{{ConAgra

Conagra Brands brands
Food advertising characters
Male characters in advertising
Mascots introduced in 1928
Products introduced in 1928
Defunct companies based in Cleveland
Companies based in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Pasta
Canned food
Italian-American cuisine

fr:Chef Boyardee