Hellmann's mayonnaise, originally, was a homemade mayonnaise recipe, sold in wooden containers at a New York City delicatessen owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. They came to New York City in 1903. In 1905 they opened their delicatessen.
Mrs. Hellmann made two types of homemade mayonnaise which customers loved. When they were put into jars, to distinguish the two types of mayonnaise, a blue ribbon was placed around one jar. This is the significance of the blue ribbon on Hellmann's mayonnaise jars.
My grandfather was a commercial food merchant that sold to Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. He recognized the potential for this delicious product and knew it would have mass appeal, so he advised them to package it and sell it commercially, which they did.
My grandfather was in business with Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. He arranged to mass market their mayonnaise. The Hellmann's and he profited well from their collaboration.
Later in the century, the Hellmann's sold this mayonnaise to Best Foods Company. Currently, it's sold abroad by UniLever Foods.
Reason it's sold East of the Rockies as Hellmann's and West of the Rockies as Best Foods, is because Hellmann's mayonnaise was the most popular mass marketed mayonnaise then, as it is now. If Best Foods changed the name their would be a product identity issue in the east, which would confuse their loyal customers and perhaps cause them to lose their following. People ask for "the Hellmann's" instead of the mayonnaise. Just as they ask for "a Kleenex," instead of a tissue.
Product identity was not an issue West of the Rockies, because Hellmann's mayonnaise had not yet been marketed there.
This should clarify why Hellmann's mayonnaise is sold under two names.
I know this story first hand, because my mother personally knew Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann as her father's customers and business partners. She often told me that she rode in my grandfather's horse and buggy as he made his rounds to his customers. I found the Hellmann's story the most interesting.
June 26, 2005 at 7:53 PM
Anonymous said...
I have recently moved to the midwest from California, and I am equally as disturbed. As far as the mayo thing goes, if they were originally two companies, then somebody must have had to lose their recipe during the buyout, as it is CLEARLY the same mayo. As far as the "Arnold" vs. "Oroweat" (I thought it was Orowheat, too), it the midwest it is apparently "Brownberry's."
January 16, 2006 at 8:40 PM
Aside from actually having seasons and having the sun set on the wrong side of the water, the East Coast requires a whole new food product vocabulary. It seems that some companies decide to sell the same product on both coasts, but under different names.
To wit: What I knew as Best Foods mayonaisse is sold West of the Mississippi as Hellmann's. Same mayonaise, same label design, even the same jingle: "Bring out the Hellmann's and bring out the best!"
[Image][Image]
Now, I admit that I'm biased towards the version I grew up with, but the jingle "Bring out the Best Foods and bring out the best!" is actually a clever pun. Okay, not all that clever, but it is a pun. (Get it? You're bringing out the best mayonaise...and you're bringing out the Best (Foods)! Ha ha ha, how witty.) The East Coast version, by contrast, is merely another marketing jingle. (Buy Mennen! Co-stanza!) Somebody posted a restponse to another blogger's post on this subject, arguing roughly the same thing.
Why would they have two different names on the two different coasts? Wouldn't this unnecessarily increase their packaging and marketing costs--not to mention confuse their bi-coastal customers? Well, as one mayonnaise recipe page explains, in this case it's because Hellmann's and Best Foods started off as different companies. Rather than throw away one half of their brand loyalty, they decided to keep the original name on each coast. One could even argue that the names are better suited to each coast: "Hellmann's" seems to describe an old English recipe brought over by sailors to 17th century Boston, while "Best Foods" eminates the Western spirit of newness, optimism and cutting-edge technology.
Anyhow, I already knew about this whole Hellmann's and Best Foods conundrum before coming over here, thanks to my East Coast college friends. (I've spent many a long evening arguing the superiority of the Best Foods jingle. Yes, I was--and am--a total dork.) They also told me about the similar Dreyer's/Edy's Ice Cream line of comestible demarcation. (Learn more at the Dreyer's distribution website...although sadly they don't explain why they have the two names; I suspect it's similar to the mayonnaise brand loyalty thing. Dryer's also seems to have an affiliation with Häagen Dazs, which has its own interesting naming history: as this facinating article (PDF) points out, it was invented by a guy in Brooklyn, who gave it a Scandanavian-sounding name to give it some European chic. Sure enough, pretty much everybody thought/thinks it comes from Germany or Sweden or something. I also found an intersting article comparing the Häagen Dazs story to the new EPA chief's use of the Latin-sounding word "Enlibra.")
What recently threw me for a loop is learning that Oroweat (which, incindentally, I always thought was spelled "Orowheat") is known on the East Coast as "Arnold" bread. They're both made by a company called--I'm not making this up--Bimbo Bakeries USA. Well, not exactly. Bimbo Bakeries is a division of the Mexican company Grupo Bimbo (whose name apparently derives from the Italian "bambino" for child.... That's right, the Mexicans name their company to sound Italian. Apparently they also read about Häagen Dazs), which recently bought out part of the Canadian company George Weston Ltd's bread business. So it's all one big NAFTA three-way. Anyhow, it seems that the East Coast version (Arnold's) is actually made by GW Bakeries, which may or may not have a relationship with The Interbake Company, which makes Girl Scout Cookies. (And you thought that those poor girl scouts baked them at troop meetings!) Anyhow, I now feel entirely overwhelmed by the Big Business of packaged food.
...Oh, and while we're at it, they have some pretty funny grocery store names here in the Southeast: Harris Teeter, Piggly Wiggly, Bi Lo.... It's going to take a while to adjust.
"You say Hellmann's, I say Best Foods..."
2 Comments -
Hellmann's mayonnaise, originally, was a homemade mayonnaise recipe, sold in wooden containers at a New York City delicatessen owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. They came to New York City in 1903. In 1905 they opened their delicatessen.
Mrs. Hellmann made two types of homemade mayonnaise which customers loved. When they were put into jars, to distinguish the two types of mayonnaise, a blue ribbon was placed around one jar. This is the significance of the blue ribbon on Hellmann's mayonnaise jars.
My grandfather was a commercial food merchant that sold to Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. He recognized the potential for this delicious product and knew it would have mass appeal, so he advised them to package it and sell it commercially, which they did.
My grandfather was in business with Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann. He arranged to mass market their mayonnaise. The Hellmann's and he profited well from their collaboration.
Later in the century, the Hellmann's sold this mayonnaise to Best Foods Company. Currently, it's sold abroad by UniLever Foods.
Reason it's sold East of the Rockies as Hellmann's and West of the Rockies as Best Foods, is because Hellmann's mayonnaise was the most popular mass marketed mayonnaise then, as it is now. If Best Foods changed the name their would be a product identity issue in the east, which would confuse their loyal customers and perhaps cause them to lose their following. People ask for "the Hellmann's" instead of the mayonnaise. Just as they ask for "a Kleenex," instead of a tissue.
Product identity was not an issue West of the Rockies, because Hellmann's mayonnaise had not yet been marketed there.
This should clarify why Hellmann's mayonnaise is sold under two names.
I know this story first hand, because my mother personally knew Mr. and Mrs. Hellmann as her father's customers and business partners. She often told me that she rode in my grandfather's horse and buggy as he made his rounds to his customers. I found the Hellmann's story the most interesting.
June 26, 2005 at 7:53 PM
I have recently moved to the midwest from California, and I am equally as disturbed.
As far as the mayo thing goes, if they were originally two companies, then somebody must have had to lose their recipe during the buyout, as it is CLEARLY the same mayo.
As far as the "Arnold" vs. "Oroweat" (I thought it was Orowheat, too), it the midwest it is apparently "Brownberry's."
January 16, 2006 at 8:40 PM