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Ettore Boiardi | |
|---|---|
 Boiardi in a 1953 television commercial | |
| Born | (1897-10-22)October 22, 1897 |
| Died | June 21, 1985(1985-06-21) (aged 87) Parma, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | All Souls Cemetery, Chardon, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Chef |
| Known for | Chef Boyardee foods, head chef ofPlaza Hotel |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 1 |
Ettore Boiardi (October 22, 1897 – June 21, 1985), also known asHector Boyardee, was anItalian-Americanchef and entrepreneur, famous for his eponymousbrand of food products, namedChef Boyardee.
Ettore Boiardi was born inBorgonovo Val Tidone, nearPiacenza, Italy, in 1897, to Giuseppe Boiardi and Maria Maffi. At the age of 11, he was working as an apprentice chef at local restaurantLa Croce Bianca (Italian for White Cross), although his duties were confined to non-cooking odd jobs such as potato peeling and dealing with the trash. He later learned more restaurant skills as an immigrant in Paris and London.[2]
On May 9, 1914, at age 16, he arrived atEllis Island aboardLa Lorraine, a French ship.[2]
After his arrival in New York, Boiardi worked in a succession of upscale Manhattan restaurants, including those at the Claridge and Ritz-Carlton hotels.[3] He then followed his brother Paolo to the kitchen of thePlaza Hotel inNew York City, working his way up to headchef.[4] He supervised the preparation of the homecoming meal served byWoodrow Wilson at theWhite House for 2,000 returningWorld War I soldiers.[citation needed]
In 1917, Boiardi moved toCleveland and worked at first at The Union Club, then became the head chef at the Hotel Winton,[5] where he introduced a menu featuring Italian cuisine, includingspaghetti dinners. His tenure at the hotel lasted until 1924, at which point he departed to establish his own restaurant,Il Giardino d'Italia (The Garden of Italy), at the intersection of East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue.[1][4] The patrons ofIl Giardino d'Italia frequently asked for samples and recipes of hisspaghetti sauce, so he began selling it packaged inmilk bottles.[6]
In 1928, Boiardi met Maurice and Eva Weiner, who were patrons of his restaurant and owners of a local self-service grocery store chain. The Weiners helped the Boiardi brothers develop a process for canning the food at scale. They also procured distribution across the United States through their grocery's wholesale partners. Boiardi's spaghetti sauce was soon being stocked in markets nationwide. In 1928, the company opened a factory to meet the demands of national distribution.[7]
After spaghetti sauce, their next product was a complete spaghetti meal, including a canister of grated Parmesan cheese, a box of dry spaghetti, and a jar of sauce, held together incellophane wrap.[2] Already then, the company was the largest importer of ItalianParmesan cheese, while also buying tons ofolive oil, according to grandniece Anna Boiardi.[8] Touting the low cost of spaghetti products as a good choice to serve to the entire family, Boiardi introduced his product to the public in 1928.[8]
In 1938, production was moved toMilton, Pennsylvania, where they could grow enough tomatoes to serve the factory's needs,[8] which reached 20,000 tons of tomatoes per season at peak production; they also began growing their own mushrooms on location in the plant.[8] Boiardi sold his products under the brand name "Chef Boy-Ar-Dee" because non-Italians could not manage the pronunciation,[9][10] including his own salesforce.
For producing rations supplyingAllied troops duringWorld War II, he was awarded a Gold Star order of excellence[clarification needed] from theUnited States War Department.[11]
After struggling with cash flow, compounded by internal family struggles over the ownership and direction of the company in managing rapid internal growth, he sold controlling interest in his firm in 1946 to American Home Foods[9], later International Home Foods.[citation needed] He continued to operate restaurants in Cleveland, including one named Chef Hector's.[12]
Boiardi appeared in many print advertisements and television commercials for his brand in the 1940s to the 1970s.[13][14] His last appearance in a television commercial promoting the brand aired in 1979. Boiardi continued developing new Italian food products for the American market until his death in 1985.[citation needed]
Boiardi died of natural causes on June 21, 1985, at age 87 in a nursing home inParma, Ohio, survived by his wife Helen J. (née Wroblewski;d. 1995) and son Mario (d. 2007).[12][15] He had five grandchildren. He is buried at All Souls Cemetery inChardon Township, Ohio.[1]
He is the great-uncle of American author Anna Boiardi, who wroteDelicious Memories: Recipes and Stories from the Chef Boyardee Family.[16]
In 2025,Brynwood Partners acquired Chef Boyardee. The firm continues to use his likeness on Chef Boyardee-brand products, which are still made in Milton, Pennsylvania.[11]
Hector Boiardi, founder of Chef Boy-ar-dee Foods, one of the first packaged Italian food businesses in the nation, died Friday night after a short illness. He was 87 years old." "His company was first called Chef Boiardi, but Mr. Boiardi found that customers and salesmen had difficulty pronouncing his name, so he changed the brand name to the phonetic spelling, 'Boy-ar-dee.'" "He came to the United States in 1917 and worked at hotels in New York and Greenbrier, W.Va., where he directed the catering at the reception for President Woodrow Wilson's second marriage
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