Today in History—September 10: The Man Behind the Can Patents a Spaghetti Cooker

Written by

Michele Metych

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

On this day in 1935, Italian immigrant Ettore “Hector” Boiardi patented a production spaghetti cooker for his factory. It was an unglamorous piece of equipment, but it was a sign of how far Hector’s business had come.

You may know the company better as Chef Boyardee.

There really was a Chef Boyardee, and this was his American dream.

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Born in northern Italy, Hector worked in kitchens in Paris and London before immigrating to America. His arrival was paved by his brother Paul—a popular maître d’ at New York City’s Plaza Hotel—who got Hector a kitchen job there. He was soon head chef.

But Hector outgrew that kitchen and moved to Cleveland to open his own restaurant. Italian food was still a novelty in America at the time—especially in the Midwest. His restaurant served spaghetti with his coveted sauce. Customers loved it so much they wanted to take it home. A takeout meal kit business—not a thing then—was accidentally born, as Hector sent customers home with pasta, sauce, cheese, and instructions.

The restaurant’s cooks couldn’t keep up with takeout orders, but Hector saw potential. He invested in a canning and processing plant, and in 1928 the Chef Boiardi Food Company was born, with his brothers Paul and Mario joining him.

Business boomed. But Americans couldn’t pronounce his last name. So, Hector made the spelling phonetic, creating the name we all know today to grace grocery store shelves.

Soon after Hector introduced his spaghetti cooker, the business outgrew the Ohio plant and relocated to Pennsylvania. There they could cultivate their own mushrooms and even source locally grown tomatoes.

Fun Fact

Hector Boiardi catered a welcome-home reception at the White House for 2,000 World War I soldiers.

Then World War II happened. The Boiardis’ factory was commissioned to produce rations for soldiers, and it began operating 24-7 with 5,000 employees.

After the war, the Boiardi brothers, seeing the scale of operations, faced a difficult choice. Rather than laying off some of their thousands of employees, they sold to a corporation. American Home Foods bought Chef Boyardee for $6 million in 1946. Conagra later acquired American Home Foods, and they sold the brand for $600 million last year.

And it all started with a pot of spaghetti.

By the Numbers

20,000 tons: Tomatoes pureed per season at the Boyardee plant during peak production
250,000: Cans of sauce produced daily at the Boyardee plant during peak production
210 million+: Cans of Chef Boyardee sold annually in the U.S. (2018)

Also on This Day

1823: Simón Bolívar is granted supreme authority of Peru by Congress
1880: The Makoko-De Brazza Treaty establishes French colonial rule of what is now the Republic of the Congo
2008: The Large Hadron Collider conducts its first test

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