Know the Real-Life Story Behind Chef Boyardee, America’s Favorite Brand of Canned Italian Food

Spaghetti with tomato and basil on white background. picturepixx/Shutterstock

Millions of Americans, young and old, recognize the smiling visage displayed on his canned Italian dishes, but Ettore Boiardi, aka Hector Boyardee, was more than a commercial food entrepreneur. He was also a renowned chef and an Italian American patriot of World War II, and he can arguably be credited for popularizing Italian cuisine in America.

Until Boiardi’s arrival, most Americans had never experienced Italian food, but the young chef quickly won over palates everywhere he went. His impact was not bad for someone with little money or formal education, who immigrated to the United States at age 16 with nothing more than ambition and a love of food.

Vintage ravioli ad from the January 1947 edition of Ladies’ Home Journal. Public Domain

A Food Prodigy

Eleven-year-old Boiardi began in 1908 peeling potatoes and taking out the trash at La Croce Bianca, a local restaurant in his hometown of Piacenza, Italy. In his early teen years, he started honing his craft while working with renowned chefs in Paris and London. On May 9, 1914, at age 16, he immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island to join his brother Mario in the kitchen of New York’s prestigious Plaza Hotel. Boiardi’s other brother Paolo was maître d’hôtel there.

A year later, Boiardi’s career as a cook began when he became the head chef at the Plaza. Reportedly self-conscious about his age, he grew a mustache to appear older and retained it his whole life. After working at the Plaza and splitting time at the historic Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, Boiardi accepted a position as the head chef at Cleveland’s Hotel Winton.

His reputation and culinary talents quickly spread, and in 1924 he capitalized on these by opening his own restaurant, Il Giardino d’Italia, or “The Garden of Italy.” Il Giardino d’Italia took Cleveland by storm, and soon lines of customers were waiting around the block to dine at East 9th Street and Woodland. Customers were so impressed by his tantalizing Italian dishes that soon many of them were begging him for recipes and asking to take home his popular spaghetti sauce.

A colorized portrait of Boyardee from “Ettore Boiardi: Chef Boyardee Manufacturer,” 2015, by Sheila Griffin Llanas. ABDO Publishing Co.

The Godfather of Carryout

The kindhearted chef was eager to satisfy his customers’ requests for spaghetti sauce samples, filling used milk bottles with his sauce and giving them away. Soon, though, the demand was so great that he began charging customers for the homemade sauce, but he also included uncooked pasta, grated Parmesan cheese and instructions on how to cook, heat, and assemble the meal as part of a make-at-home spaghetti kit.

Eventually, Boiardi was making more money preparing his takeout meal packages than he was from his restaurant. This presented the savvy chef food for thought on how to further use his cooking and entrepreneurial talents.

Two of Boiardi’s loyal customers at his Cleveland restaurant were Max and Eva Weiner. The Weiners owned a chain of grocery stores, and they helped Boiardi develop a process for canning his sauce and procured widespread distribution through their wholesale partners. To meet rising demand, in 1928 Boiardi and his brothers opened a processing plant in Cleveland, the Chef Boiardi Food Company. In an effort to help customers more easily pronounce his name, it was also around this time that Chef Boiardi changed the spelling of his surname to Boyardee.

When the largest grocery retailer at the time, A&P, agreed to carry their product, the sauce became a national hit. Soon, the company was processing 20,000 tons of tomatoes a season. It also became the largest mushroom producer in the nation and the largest importer of Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

The company’s first product was a pre-packaged spaghetti dinner that included a large jar of sauce. The package was advertised to cost just 15 cents a serving. Later, the company expanded the sauce into three flavors: the original marinara, meatless mushroom, and a spicy Neapolitan.

With the construction of a mushroom plant in Milton, Pa., Chef Boyardee Company became the largest mushroom producer in the nation during the 1950s. Courtesy of Conagra Brands

Tomatoes, Troop Rations, a Gold Star

The Boiardi brothers knew how important quality tomatoes were to their sauces, and after outgrowing their space in Cleveland, in 1936 the decision was made to move the company’s processing to Milton, Pennsylvania. Not only was the soil and climate better for growing flavorful tomatoes, but the company enlisted the aid of local farmers in the Keystone State to meet its rising demand and exacting standards. The move was a win-win in that it provided farmers an income and employed local citizens at the production facility midway through the Great Depression.

By the time America began sending troops into World War II, the Chef Boyardee brand was nationally known and enjoyed by millions. Subsequently, the military quickly contracted with the brand to provide canned rations for the U.S. Army. Overnight, the Milton production facility was operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in order to meet its commercial and military obligations. At its peak, the Milton plant had a full plate, employing approximately 5,000 employees and producing 250,000 cans a day.

During this time, the Chef Boyardee Company was also actively involved in patriotic marches and civic activities with banners displaying slogans like “Keep ’em flying! Keep ’em rolling! Keep ’em well-fed!” Chef Boiardi was honored after the war’s conclusion with the highest honor awarded to a civilian in support of the country’s military—the Gold Star.

A bushel of tomatoes, grown in the fertile grounds near the Susquehanna River, arrives at the Milton facility awaiting Boyardee’s inspection. Courtesy of Conagra Brands

Post-War Changes

Following World War II’s end and no longer needing to feed an army, Boiardi was faced with the prospect of mass layoffs. The affable chef had a recipe for that predicament, too. In 1946, he sold the company that he and his brothers founded 18 years earlier to American Home Products, a huge food conglomerate, for $6 million, enabling his loyal employees to keep their jobs.

Boiardi remained as a consultant and spokesperson with American Home Products until 1978. Today, his beaming smile is still seen on Chef Boyardee labels of Italian foods ranging from spaghetti and meatballs to ravioli, lasagna, and pizza.

Ettore Boiardi is a prime example of an immigrant who came to America for freedom and opportunity, and who left the country better off because of his talent, his passion, and his belief in America’s greatness.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.