Better Made Potato Chips
- Year Introduced: 1930 in Detroit
- Original Owners: Cross Moceri and Peter Cipriano
- Current CEO: Catherine Gusmano (Detroit)
- Sales Market: Distributed nationally
- Origin Story: Cross Moceri originally worked as a salesman for a Detroit-based potato chip company called Best Maid, which later became New Era. Moceri left and partnered with Peter Cipriano to create Better Made, which became New Era’s chief competitor.
- Fun Fact: Better Made would go on to acquire New Era in 1970. Today, it’s the last remaining potato chip company of more than 20 that were in Detroit originally.
Vernors Ginger Ale
- Year Introduced: 1866 in Detroit
- Original Owner/Creator: James Vernor
- Current Owner: Keurig Dr Pepper (Burlington, Massachusetts/Frisco, Texas)
- Sales Market: Distributed in 33 states
- Origin Story: James Vernor mixed a tonic of vanilla and spices with ginger. As legend has it, he left his mixture in an oak barrel in 1862, shortly before shipping off to serve in the Civil War. When he came back, he tried it and it tasted good. However, family members have claimed that he didn’t create the formula until after the war.
- Fun Fact: Vernors is among the longest-running soft drink brands in the U.S. — if not the longest-running.
Kellogg’s Cereal
- Year Introduced: 1906 in Battle Creek
- Original Owners/Creators: John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg
- Current Owner: Kellanova (Chicago)
- Sales Market: Distributed in over 180 countries
- Origin Story: In 1898, brothers John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg created “flakes” from wheat berries by mistake while trying to create an easily digestible form of bread. From there, they tried the same technique on milled corn.
- Fun Fact: John Harvey Kellogg was vegetarian and excluded alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and condiments from his diet.
Kar’s Nuts
- Year Introduced: 1933 in Detroit
- Original Owner/Creator: Sue Kar
- Current Owner: CapVest (London)
- Sales Market: Distributed nationally
- Origin Story: Sue Kar sold roasted nuts outside of Tiger Stadium. She then turned that operation into a larger business that distributed the nuts throughout Detroit.
- Fun Fact: An early logo features a woman driving a peanut-shaped car with the slogan “Nuts To You From Kar’s!”
Vlasic Pickles
- Year Introduced: 1959 in Imlay City
- Original Owner: Frank Vlasic
- Current Owner: Conagra Brands (Chicago)
- Sales Market: Distributed nationally and in Canada
- Origin Story: Croatian immigrant Frank Vlasic turned over his Detroit-based creamery business to his son, Joe, who then expanded it to selling Polish pickles. The original Vlasic pickle plant was in Imlay City.
- Fun Fact: Jovny, the stork mascot, first appeared in 1974.
Faygo Pop
- Year Introduced: 1921 in Detroit
- Original Owners/Creators: Ben and Perry Feigenson
- Current Owner: National Beverage Corp. (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
- Sales Market: 33 states, Canada, and a few other countries
- Origin Story: The Russian-born Feigenson brothers were bakers who started a business in 1907 that made beer and soda water. They mixed cake frosting flavoring into soda and called it “Faygo.”
- Fun Fact: The term “pop” widely used by Michiganders is believed to have originated with Faygo, named for the “pop” sound it made when the bottle cap came off.
Stroh’s Beer
- Year Introduced: 1850 in Detroit
- Original Owner: Bernhard Stroh
- Current Owner: Pabst Brewing Co. (Los Angeles)
- Sales Market: Distributed in the Midwest, mainly Michigan
- Origin Story: Bernhard Stroh migrated to the U.S. from Germany to brew his family’s beer recipe in Corktown.
- Fun Fact: Stroh first sold the beer door-to-door in Detroit out of a wheelbarrow.
Jiffy Baking Mix
- Year Introduced: 1930 in Chelsea
- Original Creator/Owner: Mabel White Holmes and Howard Samuel Holmes
- Current Owner: Chelsea Milling Co. (Chelsea)
- Sales Market: Distributed globally
- Origin Story: During the Great Depression, Mabel White Holmes invented a premade baking mix that aimed to make it easier to prepare biscuits “in a jiffy.”
- Fun Fact: White Holmes served as president of Jiffy until 1940 and continued to hold an interest in the family business until her death in 1977. The business remains in the family — father and son CEO Howdy and President Howard II are the grandson and great-grandson of Mabel and Howard, respectively.
Sanders Candy
- Year Introduced: 1875 in Detroit
- Original Owner/Creator: Fred Sanders Schmidt
- Current Owner: CapVest (London)
- Sales Market: Distributed nationally
- Origin Story: Chicagoan Fred Sanders Schmidt relocated to Michigan after his original soda fountain and candy store was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
- Fun Fact: The brand’s iconic Bumpy Cake used to be called simply “Devil’s Food Buttercream Cake,” but the name was changed because customers kept asking for “the cake with the bumps.”
Gerber Baby Food
- Year Introduced: 1927 in Fremont
- Original Owner/Creator: Dorothy Gerber
- Current Owner: Nestlé (Vevey, Switzerland)
- Sales Market: Distributed in 80 countries worldwide
- Origin Story: Dorothy Gerber strained solid foods to feed to her baby. Gerber’s husband suggested they have the food produced at his canning business in Fremont.
- Fun Fact: The Gerber Baby was Ann Turner Cook. When she was a baby, one of her neighbors, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, submitted a charcoal sketch of her in a 1928 Gerber contest.
Stroh’s Ice Cream
- Year Introduced: 1919 in Detroit
- Original Owner/Creator: Stroh Brewery Co. of Detroit
- Current Owner: Dairy Farmers of America (Kansas City, Kansas)
- Sales Market: Mainly distributed in the Midwest
- Origin Story: The Stroh Brewery Co. couldn’t sell alcohol during Prohibition, so it began selling ice cream (and malt syrups).
- Fun Fact: Stroh’s is often credited with inventing Superman ice cream — a mix of lemon, red pop, and blue moon flavors — but its exact origin is a mystery.
This story originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Aug. 6.
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