The Wide World Of Foods And Drinks With Mr. And Mrs. In The Name

Bostonians Irwin "Red" Benjamin and Hyman C. Berkowitz formed the company Ben-Burk, which supplied syrups and bottling supplies during prohibition. When prohibition became repealed in 1933, they bought a distillery and crafted gins, whiskeys, and other spirits under the name Old Mr. Boston. Two years later, the company released its first edition of the "Old Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender's Guide." Edited by Leo Cotton, the book was a collaboration with "four old-time Boston Bartenders whose background and experience make them authorities on the correct ingredients to be used and the proper manner of serving cocktails (via Mr. Boston)."

Cotton continued to edit the Bartender's Guide that ran the gamut (and the gimlet) from "Alabama Fizz" to "Zaza Cocktail" through its 49th edition. He retired in 1970. By that time, Glenmore owned the company, liquors, and guide. It removed "Old" from the brand name. In 1987, the company ditched the "Mr." as well — sending the hat-wearing Bostonian gentleman logo into retirement, too.

Under the current stewardship of the Sazerac Company, Mr. Boston continues to stamp his good name on bottles of alcohol and the red cocktail bible he made so famous. The title is now available in a digital form with a more modern logo to match the current age.

In the early 1980s, Alberto-Culver's owner Leonard Lavin "realized there were just so many shampoos or hairdressings you can have." He sought new pathways into customers' homes besides selling bottles of VO5 (via Chicago Tribune). Lavin's daughter, Carol Lavin Bernick, helped this expansion and developed Static Guard — another product born out of necessity. Soon they developed Mrs. Dash, as Bernick was frustrated with the lack of salt-free seasoning options available in stores.

In an essay for "Kellogg on Branding," Bernick explained the multi-layer genius of the name: "The word dash had both suggestions of speed and convenience" and also "mean[t] 'a dash of flavor' or a 'dash of salt.' The Mrs. in the name (as opposed to using Dr. Dash or just Dash), personalized the brand and gave it a bit of an irreverent, fun tone."

While Alberto-Culver had been courted by the likes of McCormick about acquiring Mrs. Dash, Bernick told Reuters, "She's very dear to my heart." But in 2010 he sold the product to Unilever, who put her to work for B&G Foods a year later. In 2020, B&G removed the "Mrs." from the product line's name. In a press release, the company stated: "The updated name captures the salt-free seasoning line's ability to quickly and easily add salt-free flavor to any dish (via PR Newswire)." Mrs. Dash may be gone, but at least her URL, MrsDash.com, lives on the internet.

Debra Sivyer grew up in a home filled with hard times and simple means. Since she refused to eat her mother's meager meals, she took solace in making and eating cookies. A year after marrying Mr. Randall Fields in 1976, the housewife became inspired to think big with her sweet hobby and opened a shop in Palo Alto, California.

The couple settled on naming the company Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chippery. In her biography, "One Smart Cookie," she explained why she chose to name the shop after herself, stating it implied that the treats came from "somebody with an actual name" and "somebody a customer could actually ask to see." Fans later told her that "Mrs. Fields" conjured up the same kind of old lady kitchen magic that the names Margaret Rudkin (of Pepperidge Farms), Mary See (of her candies), and Mrs. Smith (of frozen pies fame) did.

By the end of the '80s, Mrs. Fields had over 400 locations in malls, airports, and hotels. Debra Fields kept her cookies' quality to a high standard even after franchising her business. At one point, she logged 350,000 air miles to visit her stores to ensure their quality. She sold the company to private investors in 1998. Fields retired in 2000 to concentrate on philanthropy. Fields told the Los Angeles Times, "I don't want to be remembered for how many cookie stores I had. I'd love to be associated with finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. "

Hershey's first went nutty with their chocolate bars when they introduced almonds into their products in 1908. It would take 17 years before they would unleash their next nutty concoction. Chemist Samuel Hinkle successfully tinkered with Spanish peanuts fried in fat and combined it with their milk chocolate. In an oral history interview, Hinkle revealed the simple origin of the new product's name: "Someone said, 'That's a good bar.' [Mr. Hershey's] hearing being a little bad, he thought they said, Mr. Goodbar. So he named it Mr. Goodbar (via Hershey Archives)."

Hershey Corporation's President William F.R. Murrie believed in Mr. Goodbar. However, owner Milton Hershey didn't agree, so he had the new candy released under a shadow company called Chocolate Sales Corporation — a company that dissolved in 1937. During the 1920s, Americans' guilty pleasures were about candy with witty names like Mr. Goodbar. During the next decade's depression, the company marketed the bar as a "Tasty Lunch." In 1939, the bar joined Hershey's miniatures line.

Mr. Goodbar's good name was tainted when it was used to fictionalize a singles bar where a woman spent her last night alive in Judith Rossner's 1975 novel, "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." Still, Mr. Goodbar's name is mostly used in a positive light – waxed poetically by Frank Zappa, LL Cool J, and "Weird Al" Yankovich. The bar has been referenced in "Seinfeld," "Stranger Things," "The Simpsons," "Moonlighting," "Hocus Pocus," and "Blazing Saddles."

When the frozen pizza wars heated up in the 1970s and early '80s, Jeno's Inc. expanded its single-serve pies lines set at low prices. The name Mr. P's — presumably named after their founder Jeno Paulucci — was first used in 1971. However, it would take eight years for his branded pizzas to hit shelves. Jeno's Inc. positioned Mr. P's to "consistently be featured at low prices, but offers the only combination variety in its category (via Roanoke Times and World-News)."

Paulucci spoke to the U.S. Congress in 1981 to make a case for loosening restrictions on artificial cheese agent casein, stating, "We think we have got the finest quality frozen pizza. In fact, we will put our pizza against anybody's (via Google Books)." Sadly, not all consumers agreed. In a taste test held by the Detroit Free Press, judges rated their pizza dead last, with one saying it had a "dreadful chemical bouillon taste, absolutely the worst."

While Jeno's Inc. battled Pillsbury in court, the latter bought the former in 1985. Paulucci was satisfied he left his "name in good hands (via Tribune Wire Services)." Some saw the merger as the possible end to Mr. P's. But the company remains one of the U.S.'s top 20 selling frozen pizzas – thanks to Frozen Specialties Inc., which acquired the brand in 1991.

The Coca-Cola Company has never been content with just having a top-selling cola. In the early 1970s, they decided to make a run at Dr. Pepper's market with a similar drink. Their first attempt was called Peppo. But Dr. Pepper sued them in 1972 to prevent consumer confusion. Coca-Cola, with help from its advertising agency the Marschalk Company, then introduced a similar product called Mr. PiBB. It was even test-marketed specifically in Dr. Pepper's birthplace: Waco, Texas.

While Coca-Cola deemed Mr. PiBB worthy enough of a national rollout, the competition increased sales of Dr. Pepper. Things backfired further when Coca-Cola launched the "Find the PiBB Girl" beauty contest in 1980, using a composite of white actors and singers as their ideal poster girl. Its appearance of racism drew the ire of a white Chicago priest and principal of an all-Black boys school, who derailed the contest.

Mr. Pibb ditched his capital double Bs in 1996 and lost his prefix title in a rebrand in 2001 – becoming Pibb Xtra. But Mr. PiBB's name endured throughout the 21st century — being dropped in jokes by Mitch Hedberg, featured in an SNL rap skit called "Lazy Sunday," and homaged on "American Dad!"

Widower Amanda Smith was known to be a stubborn woman. She believed her fruit pies should be made with nothing but the best ingredients. Her son Robert believed in her pies' greatness so much that he started selling them at a Pottstown, Pennsylvania YMCA lunch counter in the late 1910s. Soon, everyone wanted a piece of her homemade pies. They opened their first store in 1923. Two years later, Mrs. Smith retired from baking. Robert incorporated the business as Mrs. Delicious Homemade Pies Inc. Amanda Smith passed away in 1947, at the age of 87.

Smith stayed true to his mother's values, writing in The Mercury, "I consider money nearly as important as character. Character grows and has value; a business must have character so that it can grow." And, grow it did! In 1950, Mrs. Smith's pies joined the frozen food section of grocery stores, expanding its market nationwide. Robert's son, Robert C. Smith, later became president of Mrs. Smith's Pie Company until it sold to Kellogg's in 1976. Currently, Schwan's owns the company.

"60 Minutes" journalist Andy Rooney criticized Kellogg's for capitalizing on Mrs. Smith's good name, saying: "I'll bet she wouldn't like it any better than I do to find her name on a pie containing, among other things, 'partially hydrogenated soybean oil, skim milk, lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, artificial flavor and color and vitamin A palmitate.'"

Herb Taylor was tired of being a composer in Hollywood. Luckily, he switched careers when his wife's homemade barbecue sauces became more than just a hit at their ranch parties (see: a rare photo of the couple at Stockton Daily Evening Record). The couple started bottling and selling sauces to friends and then expanded to sell its items in storefronts. By 1960, they brought a consistent Bloody Mary mix to market, too. Mr. & Mrs. "T"s Bloody Mary mix took flight thanks to a placement at LAX Airport on American Airlines' drink cart. In time, the company won over reluctant bartenders nationwide.

While the Taylor Family sold controlling interest in their company to Jim Beam in 1964, their son, Lee, guarded his family's secret recipes of barbecue sauces and drink mixes. Eventually, its line expanded to offer daiquiri mixes, margarita mixes, and other alcohol-friendly pours. Mr. & Mrs. T's signature product remained their Bloody Mary mix. Lee Taylor told the Los Angeles Times that his family "took it out of the hangover category and turned it into a legitimate drink." He added: "It started off as a hobby It was a fun thing for my folks and we all enjoyed it, but I don't think anybody ever thought it would grow to something like this." Today, the brand is owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper, home to other great mixers such as 7UP, Canada Dry, and Schweppes.

Following the end of the Korean War, Sanna Dairies, a dairy company in Wisconsin, had a surplus of powdered coffee creamer left over from supporting the military overseas. Instead of letting the product go to waste, the company repurposed it into what would become one of the most popular hot cocoa mixes in food history. Originally named after the cow Swiss Brown, Swiss Miss was primarily served on planes and in restaurants. However, it hit supermarket shelves in the early 1960s.

The product was renamed Swiss Miss and introduced with a braided, dirndl-wearing cartoon mascot to help conjure up associations of an old-world flavor. Additionally, in 1961, 14-inch mail-in dolls were available to purchase — including a "Swiss Lad." Some 21 years later, Swiss Lad briefly received his own hot chocolate mix. Thanks to David William Allen and Cascade Pictures, Swiss Miss became animated in stop-motion in 1972 in a string of popular television ads voiced by Sheilah Wells (via Pop Icon).

The Swiss Miss was sidelined from advertising and packaging in the 1980s. However, she did make a wide-smiling comeback in 2017-2018, and has been worthy of a mention on "The Office," "The Simpsons," and "The Blacklist." While she doesn't have a first name, ConAgra, Swiss Miss' current owners, refer to her as "Heidi" and used that name to sell jars of cookies, too.