Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...

products sold internationally by

Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in

Milton, Pennsylvania Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the West Branch Susquehanna River, north of Harrisburg, located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. It is approximately 10 miles upriver from the mouth ...

, U.S., 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 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. Four years later, in 1928, Boiardi opened a factory and moved production to

, where he could grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms. 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 pre-grated cheese. The U.S. military commissioned the company during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 ended, Boiardi had to choose between selling the company or laying off everyone he had hired. He sold the company to American Home Foods in 1946 for nearly $6 million, and remained as a spokesman and consultant for the brand until 1978. American Home Foods turned its food division into

International Home Foods International Home Foods (IHF) was an American manufacturer, distributor and marketer of food products, based in Parsippany, New Jersey. It was acquired in 2000 by ConAgra Foods and merged into ConAgra's Grocery Products division. IHF's best kno ...

in 1996. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pastas bearing Boiardi's likeness.

Products

Chef Boyardee products are available in cans or single-use microwavable cups. Throwback recipes *

Spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...

& balls * Meat Lovers Pasta * Mini Ravioli Beef

Ravioli Ravioli (; singular: ''raviolo'', ) are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, tho ...

* Beef Ravioli * Beefaroni *

Lasagna Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...

Spaghetti * Spaghetti & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup) * Jumbo Spaghetti & Meatballs (can) * Mini Spaghetti & Meatballs (can) * Mini Spaghetti Rings & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup) Beefaroni * Beefaroni (can, microwavable cup) * Big Beefaroni (can) Ravioli * Beef Ravioli (can, microwavable cup) * Mini Ravioli (can) * Chicken Ravioli (can) * Cheese Ravioli In

Tomato Sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

(can) * Cheese Ravioli In Meat Sauce (microwavable cup) * Overstuffed Beef Ravioli (can) * Overstuffed

Italian Sausage In North America, Italian sausage (''salsiccia'' in Italian) most often refers to a style of pork sausage. The sausage is often noted for being seasoned with fennel as the primary seasoning. In Italy, however, a wide variety of sausages are made ...

Ravioli (can) * Mini Beef Ravioli & Meatballs (can, microwaveable Cup) * Mini Micro Beef Ravioli (microwaveable cup) Lasagna * Lasagna (can, microwavable cup) Fun Flavors * Pasta With Chicken And Vegetables (microwave cup) * Cheesy Rice (microwave cup) * Spaghetti In Tomato Sauce (microwave cup) * Pasta In Butter Sauce (can, microwaveable cup) *

Paw Patrol ''PAW Patrol'' is a Canadian computer-animated children's television series, children's television series created by Keith Chapman. It is produced by Spin Master, Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the ...

(can, microwavable cup) * Mac & Cheese (can, microwavable cup) * Rice With Chicken & Vegetables (microwavable cup) * Cheesy Burger Macaroni (can) * Mini ABC's & 123's With Meatballs (can, microwavable cup) * Mini ABC's & 123's Without Meatballs (can) * Chicken

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: * Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda F ...

(can) * Mini Pasta Shells & Meatballs (can, microwavable cup) Pizza & Sauces * Cheese Pizza Maker * Pepperoni Pizza Maker * Pizza Sauce With Cheese * Spaghetti sauce With Meat

Discontinued products

As of 2021, the following products are no longer in production.

Advertising

In 2018, Barbara Lippert of ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in m ...

'' compared the 1966

Young & Rubicam VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Young & Rubica ...

ad for Beefaroni to ''

The 400 Blows ''The 400 Blows'' (french: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French coming-of-age drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut. The film, shot in DyaliScope, stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of ...

'' and

running of the bulls A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...

. The ad features a large group of children running through

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

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 Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

. Chef Boyardee is one of the only brands to request to be removed from an episode of '' Seinfeld''. In the episode " The Rye", Kramer is allowed to operate a

Hansom cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety ca ...

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".

Legal issues

In 2015, a

class-action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

was brought against the Chef Boyardee company. The lawsuit alleged false advertisement on the part of Chef Boyardee. Their product labels stated that they contained no preservatives, yet they contained

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in ...

. The plaintiff who filed the class-action lawsuit was demanding more than $5 million in damages. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.

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