George A. Hormel founded the Hormel Company in Austin, Minnesota in 1891, it is now one of the leading pork processors in the U.S. Hormel sold its first canned ham in 1926, and in 1937, Hormel invented SPAM, a ground pork-shoulder and ham product that was destined to become the world's largest selling canned meat. It was created to make use of surplus pork shoulder, mixing it with ham, salt, sugar and sodium nitrite.During WW II, Hormel sold more than half of its output to the U.S. government, which supplied SPAM to the armed forces of the U.S. and also to the U.S.S.R. under the lend-lease program.
Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 - Sept. 11, 1851)Inventor of Graham flour, bread and crackers (1829). Graham was an American Presbyterian minister who mainly preached nutrition and wanted to reform the eating habits of America and the world. He advocated vegetarianism and the use of only coarse, whole grain flour. He railed against meat, potatoes, tobacco and alcohol, coffee and tea, chocolate and pastries. He was hated and sometimes attacked by butchers and bakers, liquor and tobacco companies. He wanted Americans to eat fruits and vegetables; stop wearing corsets; sleep on hard beds, take cold baths daily, and weekly warm baths; and above all eat bread made with only whole grain, unrefined wheat flour. According to Larousse Gastronomique (1984) Graham bread was the first internationally consumed bread. Many of his ideas on diet have been proven correct and widely accepted.
Richard Hellmann (Early 20th century)Richard Hellmann was a deli owner in New York City in the early years of the 20th century. He made his salads and sandwiches with his wife Nina's mayonnaise. It was so popular, that he began selling it by the scoop, and then in bulk to other stores. In 1912 he built a factory for producing it in jars, and it was an immediate success. His Blue Ribbon mayonnaise in jars contributed greatly to the surge in popularity of cole slaw as a side dish.
Maurice and Richard McDonald (20th century)The brothers who founded McDonald's restaurant. Richard also designed the golden arches logo. They opened the first McDonald's in 1948 in San Bernadino, California, and in 1954 signed a franchise agreement with Ray Kroc. Kroc bought the McDonald brothers out in 1961 for $2.7 million. The chain had more than 100 restaurants at that time.Ray Kroc (October 5, 1902 - January 14, 1984)Before setting up the a fast-food restaurant chain, Ray Kroc was a high school dropout, ambulance driver, jazz pianist, Florida real-estate salesman, radio station manager, and paper cup salesman. In 1954 he was a distributor for a line of blenders which could mix 5 milk shakes at the same time. One of his customers was a restaurant in San Bernardino, California owned by Maurice and Richard McDonald. Kroc set up a chain of drive-in restaurants based on the McDonald brothers model of assembly line preparation for high volume food sales. He opened his first restaurant on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. By 1961 he had 228 restaurants and he bought out the McDonald brothers. When he died in 1984 there were over 7,500 McDonald's restaurants.
