Chock full o'Nuts is an American brand of

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

that originated from a chain of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

coffee shops. Its unusual name derives from the 18 nut shops that founder

William Black William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

(c. 1902 – 1983) established under that banner in the city beginning in 1926. When the Great Depression struck, he converted them to

lunch counters A lunch counter (also known as a luncheonette) is, in the US, a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the opposite side of the ...

, serving a cup of coffee and a sandwich for five cents. In time, the brand grew popular, being introduced to the consumer market through grocery stores starting in 1953. Today, it is owned by coffee giant Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group.

History

The chain was founded by William Black(né Schwartz), who sold nuts in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

to theater-goers. In 1926, he opened a store on Broadway and 43rd Street, eventually adding 17 more. When the Depression settled in, New Yorkers could no longer afford the luxury of shelled nuts, so Black converted his shops into

lunch counter A lunch counter (also known as a luncheonette) is, in the US, a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the opposite side of the ...

s, selling coffee and sandwiches. Their signature "nutted cheese" sandwich, made of

cream cheese Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are often added in industrial production. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defi ...

and chopped nuts on dark

raisin bread Raisin bread (also known as fruit toast in New Zealand) is a type of bread made with raisins and flavored with cinnamon. It is "usually a white flour or egg dough bread". Aside from white flour, raisin bread is also made with other flours, such ...

, cost a nickel with a cup of coffee when the company was founded. When coffee prices went up in the 1950s, Black, like other restaurateurs, held to a five cent cup of coffee by watering it down. But he soon broke ranks and raised the price, announcing that he refused to compromise on quality. In 1953, the coffee brand was introduced to

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...

s. Several years later baseball star

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color lin ...

became the company's vice president and director of personnel, after retiring from the game. (The chain was already known for regularly hiring Black employees in its lunch counters as both cooks and waitstaff.) In 1961, Chock full o'Nuts introduced a brand of

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called so ...

. Within that decade the chain had approximately 80 restaurants in the New York City area. Hygiene was a selling point, with the sandwiches advertised as "untouched by human hands". Cooks used

tongs Tongs are a type of tool used to grip and lift objects instead of holding them directly with hands. There are many forms of tongs adapted to their specific use. The first pair of tongs belongs to the Egyptians. Tongs likely started off as b ...

to assemble them. In 1974, Chock full o'Nuts purchased Rheingold Brewery. In the 1970s, the lunch counters gradually closed. After Black died, the company sold its remaining 17 restaurants to the restaurant company Riese Bros. In 1988, investor Martin D. Gruss and the companies he controlled purchased a ten percent stake in the Chock full o'Nuts Corporation, saying he might seek control of the company. In 1993, Chock Express stores were introduced. The

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrecht ...

purchased Chock full o'Nuts for $238 million in 1999. In May 2006, it was purchased from Sara Lee by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, along with the MJB, Hills Bros., and Chase & Sanborn coffee brands. On September 10, 2010, the company announced it was returning to the lunch counter business by opening its first store in almost 30 years, on West 23rd Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. The company said it planned to add stores and kiosks in New York City serving the "nutted cheese" sandwich and other traditional Chock full O'Nuts menu items (plus new choices). The youngest franchise owner in the years after the comeback was Corey Torjesen of Staten Island, New York, who opened a Chock full O'Nuts franchise, at the age of 19, with money he had earned from a newspaper route. The 23rd Street store closed in 2012. As of 2019, six stores branded as Chock full o'Nuts Cafés were in operation, including two locations in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, and one in each of Elizabeth and

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, ...

; Middletown, New York; and Miami, Florida. To assure those with allergies to nuts, the company began adding the slogan "NO NUTS! 100% Coffee" to its packaging in the 2000s. (The coffee blend itself has never contained nuts.) The company also sells their single serve K-Cup variation called "A Better Cup by Design".

Marketing

Jingle

The Chock full o'Nuts advertising jingle was based on the song, "That Heavenly Feeling", written by Bernie Wayne and Bill Silbert. Sung by company founder William Black's wife, cabaret singer Page Morton Black, it received extensive airplay on both radio and television in the 1950s and 1960s. The original lyrics went: The company was compelled to alter the lyrics from "Rockefeller's money" to "a millionaire's money" after being sued by New York governor

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

, who owned coffee interests in Latin America. Mid-2000s versions of the jingle replace "millionaire" with "billionaire".

''The Bucket List'' film prop

Chock full o'Nuts coffee cans serve as a plot element in the 2007 film '' The Bucket List'', starring

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...

and

Sean Hayes Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is best known for playing Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, and one American Co ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.chockfullonuts.com
The American Package Museum: Chock full o'Nuts Coffee
Coffee brands Cuisine of New York City Culture of New York City Defunct restaurants in New York City Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Jackie Robinson Lunch counters Massimo Zanetti brands Sara Lee Corporation brands