In 1898, Edward Norton, of New York, was granted a United States patent on a vacuum process for canning foods, subsequently applied to coffee. Others followed. Hills Brothers, of San Francisco, were the first to pack coffee in a vacuum, under the Norton patents, in 1900.[5]
In 1900, Hills Bros. were the first to pack roast coffee in vacuum sealed cans.[6] They incorporated under the Hills Bros. name in 1906.[7] In 1926 Hills Bros. moved its operations to 2 Harrison Street in San Francisco,[2] aRomanesque revival building on theEmbarcadero designed byGeorge W. Kelham that is now a city landmark.[8] The roasting operations once made the surrounding area smell like coffee, according to aKey System "March of Progress" style public service film from 1945.[9] In January 2012, the building had become home toWharton | San Francisco, asatellite campus of theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[10] A Wharton sign can be currently seen on the Embarcadero side of the building.Google LLC and theMozilla Corporation also have offices on several floors of the building.[11]
A symbol of an Arab drinking coffee called "the taster", introduced in 1898,[12] was designed by an artist named Briggs in 1906[2] but was replaced by a new, European-American, "taster" to represent the original founders in 1990.[13][14] In 1976, Hills Brothers hired American singerSergio Franchi as their TV spokesperson to introduce several lines of specialty flavors.[15] Noted character actorJohn Zaremba was the primary commercial spokesperson for Hills Brothers in the 1970s and early 1980s, portraying a fictional coffee bean buyer.[16]
In 1930 Hills Bros. expanded into Chicago.[2] On 2 November 1938, Hills Brothers Coffee Company filed a petition to rezone 37 ½ acres for industrial purposes to build a plant inElmhurst, Illinois, north of the North Western tracks to where Schiller Street extended beyond Geneva Avenue. Opposition caused Hills to drop its request.[17]
In 1985Nestlé bought Hills Bros. andMJB coffee companies.[2][19] Hills Bros. opened a new roasting plant inSuffolk, Virginia in 1988.[20] The San Francisco headquarters were closed in 1997, moving operations toNestlé's U.S. headquarters inGlendale, California.[19] Nestlé sold Hills Bros. toSara Lee in 1999.[2][21]Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA purchased the brand in 2006. Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA is headquartered at the Suffolk plant. Austin E. Hills was, formerly, chairman of the board of directors.[22]
^Ukers, William Harrison (1922). "Chapter 30: Development of the Green and Roasted Coffee Business in the United States".All About Coffee. New York: Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Co. p. 506 – viaProject Gutenberg.
^Friedlander, Jonathan (September–October 2010)."America's Arabian 'Cuppa Joe'".Saudi Aramco World.2010 (5):34–39. Archived fromthe original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved5 May 2021.
^"Archived copy".archive.aramcoworld.com. Archived fromthe original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Westbury Music Fair program: Sergio Franchi. August 10–15, 1976. "Who's Who at the Music Fair." NY: Melvin A. Hoffman, 1976.
