When Chef Boy-ar-dee Came To Milton

"Chef Boyardee"

Hector Boiardi purchased the old silk mill in Milton, to manufacture his sauce and canned foods.  He chose the location for the rich farmland surrounding the area, and that first year, contracted with farmers for 1,000 acres of tomatoes.  He built the Biordi Mansion in 1941, earned an Army-Navy "E" award for the plants productions during the war, then after the war, made the difficult decision to sell the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee plant in Milton to American Home Foods.  If he did not sell, he would have had to lay off half the employees that had been working around the clock during the war effort.  

Hector came back to Milton in 1975 to be the Grand Master for the Milton Harvest Festival Parade, which in early years always featured a community spaghetti dinner.

"The Chef" was born  Ettore  "Hector" Boiardi on  October 22, 1897 in Piacenza, Italy, son of  Giuseppe and Maria Maffi Boiardi. 

As early as at the age of 11, he was employed as an apprentice chef, peeling potatoes and taking out the trash, at   "La Croce Bianca", a restaurant in his hometown.  

Ettire Boiardi's Naturalization Papers

Hector and his brother Paolo immigrated to America in 1914, when Hector was 16 years old.  They arrived at Ellis Island , and  quickly found work as kitchen helpers at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.  Hector would eventually become the head chef there.

             Less than a year later, Hector was in charge of catering the  wedding of President Woodrow Wilson, at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. Following World War I, Boiardi continued to work for President Wilson, supervising the catering at the White House. He was in charge of the homecoming meal for 2,000 World War I soldiers.

Bioardi Restaurant in Cleveland Ohio

In  1926, Hector opened a  restaurant at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, OH.   It   became one of the most popular eateries in the city.  At the time, Italian food was still quite new to Americans.  So many patrons asked for the recipe that Hector came up with the idea of filling cleaned milk bottles with the sauce, to send home with them.

Maurice and Eva Weiner, owners of a chain of grocery stores, became regular patrons of the restaurant.  They met with Hector & Paul and devised a plan to make their spaghetti and meatball recipe in bulk, and  preserve it in a way that had shelf-life.  Hector and his brother Paolo began to process first sauces, then other foods, at a canning plant for distribution across the United States.   

In 1938, Hector Boiardi, searching for a new location, found rich farm land where tomatoes grew rich and plentiful, in Central Pa. He signed contracts for 1,000 acres of tomatoes that year.   

May, 1938

Full time production began at "Milton's newest Industry, the Chef Boiardi Company", on August 5rd 1938. 200 were employed in the new factory.  Regional farmers were to make their first shipments of tomatoes to the plant on August 5th.

 Hector and Mario converted the Old Silk Mill  into a new canning factory.  Fresh tomatoes grew outside in the nearby fields, and mushrooms were grown inside the old mill. Hector checked the mushroom crop himself, and only when they were perfect did he  allow them to be harvested.

By the end of the 1930s, Boiardi had established the brand “Chef Boiardi” for selling his packaged signature pasta products. Realizing  that his non-Italian customers,  and his salesmen, struggled with the pronunciation of his last name, so he changed the  brand name to "Chef Boyardee.”  

The Susquehanna Silk Mill in Milton was built in 1919.  In 1938, it was purchased by Hector Boiardi for the first production of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee foods.  If you stand on ferry street today and look at the Con Agra Building, the original silk mill building is in the middle, surrounded by newconstruction.  

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-susquehanna-silk-mill-milton-sunbury.html

Aerial Photo showing the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Plant in Milton

There's a story that says the owners of the A&P grocery stores once came into the Plaza restaurant, where Paul Biordi was still working. They were in a hurry, so Paul opened a can and served them Chef Boyardee spaghetti. According to the story, from then on, A&P stocked Chef Boyadee products on their store shelves.

In 1941, a mansion was erected on 800 Upper Market Street in Milton, for Hector and his wife Helen.25 years later, the Biordi's sold their Milton home to Harvey and Rozella Follmer. 

Sauce being packaged to ship, inside the Boyardee Plant at Milton Pa

Paul, Hector, And Mario Boiardi, with company secretary Carl Columbi

At Boyardee Headquarters in Milton, 1938     

 During World War Two,  Boiardi’s company for supplied  army rations. The Boyardee plant in Milton operated 24-hours a day, seven days a week to keep up with production demands for military rations. When they weren’t busy with production,  employees could be seen marching through the streets during patriotic parades that inspired wartime support. Banners that read “Keep ’em flying! Keep ’em rolling! Keep ’em well-fed!” conveyed the pride the employees took in their critical role.

"What's Cooking" Pamphlets were also compiled by Chef Boyardee employees and sent overseas.

 At its peak, the company employed approximately 5,000 workers and produced 250,000 cans per day. After victory was declared, Boiardi was awarded  a Gold Star from the US War Department on his contribution  to the Allied troops with food on the front.  

Hector Boiardi, and his employees and management, were presented with the Army-Navy "E" award in ceremonies on June 17 1943

Holding the pennant, from left to right:

Hector Boiardi, Carl Colombi, and Raymond Moser

Today this pennant is on display in Chef's Place, in the Moose Building in Milton Pa.

The "E" Plaque awarded to Chef Boy-Ar-Dee

Chef Boy-ar-dee plant awarded  Army- Navy E

Forming a perfect patriotic backdrop by means of the flags and bunting, the plant of chef boy Rd. Quality foods, Inc, was the scene of an impressive ceremony Thursday afternoon as high Army and Navy officials were present to hand over the highly coveted Army- Navy “ E “award to officials and employees of the company. A large crowd in addition to the men and women employed in the plant, was present to witness the ceremonies which were handled by Milton J. Cross, noted radio announcer, who was there to do the broadcasting for the national broadcasting company.

 The Army-Navy “E” award, which has been given to less than 3% of all the plants engaged in war work, was presented jointly by Colonel John N. Gage, representing the army and by Lieutenant Russell F. H. Crawford, for the Navy, and was accepted by Hector Boiardi president of the company. Individual pins were presented to six employees chosen by the entire working force, as part of the ceremonies, the remaining employees receiving their pins after the ceremonies. The pin presentations were made by private Edward J. Gorski, who was wounded by 14 pieces of shrapnel at Algeria.

 Music for the occasion was furnished by the Milton high school band and community singers, with the whole assemblage joining in singing America and the Star Spangled Banner

The Army-Navy “E” ceremonies highlighted Milton's patriotic efforts, and serves to indicate the importance of the Chef Boyardee company, not only the war effort, but for the success of the gigantic undertaking that has given to this upriver town one of the finest and most modern plants of its kind in the entire eastern area." - The Lewisburg Journal, 1946

Army-Navy "E" Pin

The Biordi Brothers, in 1946

Hector serving a meal, 1946

This photo appears to be the same gathering as the one above

Attendees of a Ceremony At The Plant

Boiardi Purchases Milton Manufacturing Bar Mill

In June of 1946, Hector Boiardi, president of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, was one of a group of Milton men who purchased the bar mill to keep if from being scrapped, following the dissolution of the Milton Manufacturing Company. The plant was being renovated for the production of channel steel, which was used in the fireproofing of buildings.

It had been purchased at public auction  for $192, "Mr Bioardi announced the industry will be known as Hector Bioardi Manufacturer of Steel Products, and that the companies business will be conducted in the former office building of Milton Manufacturing Company."

The bar mill was one of the principal divisions of Milton Manufacturing, having employed more than 700 people in it's various divisions, during the war.

After the war  with grocery stores now carrying  multitudes of high quality Italian ingredients, Boiardi was faced with the difficult decision of what to do for all of the employees worked throughout the war effort.  To avoid laying off his workers, he would either have to find a way to massively expand his reach or sell his business to a much larger company 

On February 3rd 1946,  Hector sold his company to American Home Food for $6 Million dollars.  

Inside AHF, 1947

The  legendary chef continued to be the face of the product,  as both spokesman and consultant.  He  in many print advertisements and television commercials, with his last appearance in a television commercial airing in 1979.  

         Boiardi continued developing new Italian food products for the American market until his death on  June 21, 1985, at age 87, at which time the Chef Boyardee line was grossing $500 million per year. 

He  died of natural causes at age 87 in his home at Parma, Ohio. Boiardi survived by his wife Helen, who died in 1995, and a son Mario. Also, he had two grandchildren and three grandchildren, and he is buried at All Souls Cemetery in Chardon Township, Ohio.   

On July 23rd 2013, a statue of Hector Biordi was unveiled at the Con-Agra Office Building in Milton Pa. Con-Agra purchased the Boyardee brand, and American Home Food Facility, in 2000.

Chef Boiardi depicted on the mural at the corner of Arch and Broadway in Milton

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READ MORE

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THE FOOD THAT MADE AMERICA

https://amzn.to/3KhGvkg
S3 E12 Pasta Party

42m | 2022 | TV-PG V | CC

When brothers Hector and Mario Boiardi open an Italian restaurant in Cleveland in 1924, neither man realizes that their quest to introduce Italian food to Americans will result in one of the nation's most iconic brands. But their success attracts the attention of a food giant, and the brothers soon find themselves in competition for space on grocery store shelves with James Kraft, and his newest offering, Mac & Cheese.

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The Chopped Event at Chef's Place In Milton, 2018

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-chopped-event-at-chefs-place-in.html 

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Businessman. A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world-renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. Known affectionately as 'Chef Boyardee,' he founded his food franchise of products with his wife, Helen. He became a food prodigy by age 11 in his native Italy, but later emigrated to New York City in 1915, where his brother got him a job working as a waiter and then chef in the Plaza Hotel's kitchen. He later accepted another job at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1920s, where he began to sell his canned spaghetti sauce and other products. The products became so much in demand that there is a story that he catered President Woodrow Wilson's second wedding. In the 1940s, his products were in such high demand that he opened up his first restaurant called the Il Giardino d'Italia. During World War II, his canned products, which he called 'Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee,' were also used as food supplies for American soldiers serving overseas. After the Second World War, he sold his company to the American Home Foods Company for an estimated $6 million dollars, so he could spend more time with his wife. Over the next few decades, his food products became even more popular, and his company grew into a vast fortune.