Hector Boiardi (October 22, 1897 - June 1985), better known as "Chef Boyardee" was an Italian-born chef who became famous for his eponymous franchise of food products.

Boiardi was born at Piacenza. His cooking skill became notable when he opened his first restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia, in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1940s. Patrons asked for multiple servings of his spaghetti sauce, which he would give to the customers in old milk bottles. Demand grew, so much so, in fact, that he had to employ the use of a tiny factory to keep up with orders. It was at this time that he set his sights on selling his product nationally, first priding his spaghetti products on being inexpensive and thus a good meal choice to serve to the entire family. The factory was moved to Milton, Pennsylvania where Boiardi had close control of all of the ingredients placed into his products. He even grew mushrooms in the basement of the factory to be used in his creations. Boiardi was quite proud of his Italian heritage. He sold his products under Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, allowing his American customers to pronounce his name perfectly.

Later, he sold his brand to American Home Foods (later International Home Foods) and helped them make new Italian food products for the American market until his death. ConAgra acquired International Home Foods in 2000 and continues to use his likeness on Chef Boyardee brand products.

In the last two decades, rumors have abounded that Chef Boyardee was not a real person, but merely a fictional icon created to sell foodstuffs. This stems from the fact that he was less active toward his death; he appeared in many of his company's television commercials for his brand in the 1950s and 1960s.

One of the jingles associated with his products was "Good cookin', that's Chef Boy-Ar-Dee."

The Chef Boyardee company refused to allow the sitcom Seinfeld to use its brand name "Beef-a-Roni" in a famous 1996 episode ("The Rye") in which Kramer feeds the product to a horse, causing flatulence. Instead, the product was called "Beef-a-Reeno."

Boiardi died at Parma, Ohio, in 1985.

External links

• A complete listing of Chef Boyardee Products (official site)

1897 births | 1985 deaths | Natives of Piacenza | Italian chefs | Food advertising characters | People from Cleveland | ConAgra Foods brands