MJB Coffee is an American brand of coffee that is owned by

Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is an Italian coffee company that owns brands such as ''Segafredo'' and ''MJB''. With turnover of around US$1.2 billion per year, it claims to be the biggest private company in the coffee industry. The group Today, ...

History

After the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

became a center of coffee importing and roasting in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

, spawning such future industry giants as

Folgers Coffee Folgers Coffee is a brand of ground, instant, and single-use pod coffee produced and sold in the United States, with additional distribution in Asia, Canada and Mexico. It forms part of the food and beverage division of The J.M. Smucker Compa ...

and

Hills Brothers Coffee Hills Bros. Coffee is a maker of packaged coffee, founded in San Francisco. History The company has its origins with the sons of shipbuilder Austin Hills (1823-1905), who was born in Rockland, Maine, and ran a business in California building c ...

. In 1881 Max J. Brandenstein (1860-1925), son of tobacco wholesaler

Joseph Brandenstein Joseph Brandenstein (1826–1910) was a German-born American businessman and philanthropist. Biography Brandenstein was born to a Jewish family in 1826 in Hümme, Germany. In 1850, he immigrated to California and settled in Placerville, Califor ...

, began roasting coffee in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

Area. In 1899 he established a tea, spice and coffee import business in his name that took over his brand with the assistance of brothers Mannie, Charlie, and Eddie. The firm's name was later changed to the MJB Co. to minimize sibling rivalry and disguise their German-Jewish origins. In her 1978 memoir ''Coffee, Martinis and San Francisco'', Ruth Bransten McDougall, the granddaughter of the founder, wrote on page 94 that her father Mannie Brandenstein changed his name to Bransten to protect the business against anti-German sentiments during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, as well as to please his wife, whose family originated from France. In 1910 Mannie Brandenstein debuted what was to become a well-known advertising campaign: "MJB Coffee Why?", beginning with a promotional fans giveaway at the Johnson-Jeffries boxing match in

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. In time, signs bearing the slogan appeared all over San Francisco.

"In 1898, Edward Norton, of New York, was granted a
United States patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...
on a vacuum process for canning foods, subsequently applied to coffee. Others followed. Hills Brothers, of San Francisco, were the first to pack coffee in a vacuum, under the Norton patents, in 1900. M.J. Brandenstein & Company, of San Francisco, began to pack coffee in vacuum cans in 1914."

For the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 MJB created a temporary "ultramodern"

coffee house A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non- ...

featuring a giant cup and saucer on the roof with the illuminated word "WHY." In the 1940s, MJB got endorsement from several of the industry’s glitterati, including the ''

Cherokee Strip The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a 60-mile-wide (97 km) parcel of land south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border between 96 and 100°W. The Cherokee Outlet wa ...

'' film stars promoting the brand. Moreover, a 1970s TV campaign of MJB taglined "tastes good when it should" featured actress

Teri Garr Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944) is an American former actress, dancer, and comedian. She frequently appeared in comedic roles throughout her career, which spans four decades and includes over 140 credits in film and television. Her accola ...

. The campaign's success led to her being discovered by director

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, who cast her in his film ''

Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...

''. Ruth Bransten McDougall, Mannie’s daughter wrote a book named ''Under Mannie’s Hat'' that is a collection of memoirs of their family and brand history. MJB was acquired by Nestle in 1985. The San Francisco headquarters were closed in 1997. In 1999 Sara Lee Corp. acquired MJB, Hills Brothers, and

Chase & Sanborn Chase & Sanborn Coffee is an American brand of coffee created by the coffee roasting and tea and coffee importing company of the same name, established in 1864 in Boston, Massachusetts by Caleb Chase (1831-1908) and James Solomon Sanborn (183 ...

from Nestle. In 2005 MJB, Hills Brothers, Chase & Sanborn, and

Chock full o'Nuts Chock full o'Nuts is an American brand of coffee that originated from a chain of New York City coffee shops. Its unusual name derives from the 18 nut shops that founder William Black (c. 1902 – 1983) established under that banner in the city ...

were purchased by

Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is an Italian coffee company that owns brands such as ''Segafredo'' and ''MJB''. With turnover of around US$1.2 billion per year, it claims to be the biggest private company in the coffee industry. The group Today, ...

from Sara Lee for $82.5 million.

References

External links

Official websiteMassimo Zanetti Beverage USA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mjb (Coffee) 1881 establishments in California Coffee brands Drink companies based in California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area History of San Francisco Massimo Zanetti brands Nestlé brands Sara Lee Corporation brands