Ben's Original

Last updated
Ben's Original
BensOriginalLogo.svg
Uncle Bens Bens Original.jpg
Ben's Original and Uncle Ben's packages
Product type Rice
Owner Mars, Incorporated
CountryUnited States
Introduced1943;81 years ago (1943)
MarketsWorldwide
Website bensoriginal.com

Ben's Original, formerly called Uncle Ben's, is an American brand of parboiled rice and other related food products that were introduced by Converted Rice Inc., which is now owned by Mars, Inc. Uncle Ben's rice was first marketed in 1943 and was the top-selling rice in the United States until the 1990s. [1] In 2020, it was rebranded as "Ben's Original" in the US. [2]

Contents

History

In the 1910s, the German-British chemist Erich Huzenlaub (1888–1964) [3] and the British chemist Francis Heron Rogers invented a form of parboiling designed to retain more of the nutrients in rice, now known as the Huzenlaub Process. The process entailed vacuum drying the whole grain, then steaming, and finally, vacuum drying and removal of the husk. [4] [5] This increased the rice's nutritional value, reduced cooking time, and made it resistant to weevils. [4]

In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a remit to expand the Mars food company internationally. [6] While in the United Kingdom, Mars learned of Erich Huzenlaub's work with rice. Huzenlaub's London-based company was Rice Conversion Ltd. [7] The two eventually formed Mars and Huzenlaub [8] in Houston, Texas, which gave Forrest Mars partial ownership of the Huzenlaub Process rice conversion patent. In 1942, through Mars's guidance and sponsorship, Huzenlaub created, together with Houston food broker Gordon L. Harwell, the company Converted Rice, Inc., which sold its entire output to the U.S. and British armed forces. The advantage of this product was that it could be air-dropped to troops in the field without the risk of weevil infestation, and it could be cooked more quickly than other rice products. Additionally, the converted rice product would retain more nutritional value. [9] In 1944, with additional financing from the Defense Plant Corporation and an investment by Forrest Mars, it built a second large plant. [10] In 1959, Forrest Mars purchased Erich Huzenlaub's interest in the company and merged it into his Food Manufacturers, Inc. [11]

Uncle Ben's milling plant was on the Houston Ship Channel until 1999 when it moved to Greenville, Mississippi. [12] [13]

Marketing

Ad for the product from 1951 Uncle Ben's ad LHJ May 1951.jpg
Ad for the product from 1951

From 1946 to 2020, Uncle Ben's products carried the image of an elderly African-American man dressed in a bow tie, which is said to have been based on a Chicago maître d'hôtel named Frank Brown [14] [15] with the name "Ben" being a possible reference to a shrewd rice farmer from Houston. [16] In 2020, Mars told Ad Age , "We don't know if a real 'Ben' ever existed." [17] According to Mars, Uncle Ben was an African-American rice grower known for the quality of his rice. Gordon L. Harwell, an entrepreneur who had supplied rice to the armed forces in World War II, chose the name "Uncle Ben's" as a means to expand his marketing efforts to the general public. [18]

In March 2007, Uncle Ben's image was "promoted" to the "chairman of the board" by a new advertising campaign. [19]

In September 2017, Mars, Inc. started to certify the sustainability of basmati rice sold under the Uncle Ben's brand to encourage local farmers to opt for the best agricultural methods. [20]

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Mars, Inc. announced on June 17, 2020, that it would be "evolving" the brand's identity, including the logo. The move followed just hours after Quaker/PepsiCo changed the name and logo of its Aunt Jemima brand amid accusations of racism. [21] [22] As advertised on September 23, 2020, Mars Inc. replaced both the name "Uncle Ben's" along with the brand's historic logo depicting a well-dressed and bald black man in a Bow tie; rebranding itself as simply "Ben's Original", [23] with the new packaging becoming widely available in the United States from about June 2021. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States trademark law</span>

A trademark is a word, phrase, or logo that identifies the source of goods or services. Trademark law protects a business' commercial identity or brand by discouraging other businesses from adopting a name or logo that is "confusingly similar" to an existing trademark. The goal is to allow consumers to easily identify the producers of goods and services and avoid confusion.

Mars Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$45 billion in annual sales in 2022. The company was ranked as the fourth-largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, the company is entirely owned by the Mars family. Mars operates in four business segments around the world: Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Petcare, Food, and MARS Edge, the company's life sciences division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pringles</span> American brand of snack chips since 1968

Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". The brand was sold in 2012 to Kellogg's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cream of Wheat</span> Brand name of breakfast porridge

Cream of Wheat is an American brand of farina, a type of breakfast porridge mix made from wheat middlings. It looks similar to grits, but is smoother in texture since it is made with ground wheat kernels instead of ground corn. It was first manufactured in the United States in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota and debuted at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

Aunt Jemima was an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, table syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889 by the Pearl Milling Company and was advertised as the first "ready-mix" cooking product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forrest Mars Sr.</span> American businessman (1904–1999)

Forrest Edward Mars Sr. was an American billionaire businessman and the driving force of the Mars candy empire. He is best known for introducing Milky Way (1924) and Mars (1932) chocolate bars, and M&M's (1941) chocolate, as well as orchestrating the launch of Uncle Ben's Rice. He was the son of candy company Mars, Inc. founder Frank C. Mars and his first wife Ethel G. Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajinomoto</span> Japanese food and biotechnology company

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. is a Japanese multinational food and biotechnology corporation which produces seasonings, interlayer insulating materials for semiconductor packages for use in personal computers, cooking oils, frozen foods, beverages, sweeteners, amino acids, and pharmaceuticals. Aji-No-Moto is the trade name for the company's original monosodium glutamate (MSG) product, the first of its kind, since 1909. The corporation's head office is located in Chūō, Tokyo. As of 2022, Ajinomoto operates in 36 countries worldwide and employs an estimated 34,198 people. Its yearly revenue in 2022 is around ¥1.36 trillion JPY or $10 billion USD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parboiled rice</span> Partially cooked rice

Parboiled rice, also called converted rice, easy-cook rice, sella rice, and miniket is rice that has been partially boiled in the husk. The three basic steps of parboiling are soaking, steaming and drying. These steps make the rice easier to process by hand, while also boosting its nutritional profile, changing its texture, and making it more resistant to weevils. The treatment is practiced in many other parts of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinnacle Foods</span> Packaged foods company

Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dirty rice</span> Traditional Louisiana Creole rice dish

Dirty rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made from white rice which gets a "dirty" color from being cooked with small pieces of pork, beef or chicken, green bell pepper, celery, and onion, and spiced with cayenne and black pepper. Parsley and chopped green onions are common garnishes. Dirty rice is most common in the Creole regions of southern Louisiana; however, it can also be found in other areas of the American South and referenced as "chicken and rice," "Cajun rice," or "rice dressing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darlie</span> Brand of toothpaste

Darlie is an oral care brand owned and manufactured by the Hawley & Hazel Company with focus on Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. The company is headquartered in Hong Kong with manufacturing facilities in Zhongshan. The name, logo, and brand-mascot of the company had been the subject of controversy regarding racial stereotyping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jollof rice</span> Rice dish from West Africa

Jollof, or jollofrice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilies, onions, spices, and sometimes other vegetables and/or meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparation methods vary across different regions. The dish's origins are traced to the Senegambian region.

The Nutro Company, Inc., a subsidiary company of Mars Incorporated, is the developer and manufacturer of the Max, Wholesome Essentials, Ultra, Wild Frontier, and Crave brands of dog and cat food, as well as Greenies dental treats. The company is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, USA.

Mars Canada Ltd is the Canadian division of Mars, Incorporated, a privately held multi-national company and a world leader in food, pet care products, and confectionery products.

Instant rice is a white rice that is partly precooked and then is dehydrated and packed in a dried form similar in appearance to that of regular white rice. That process allows the product to be later cooked as if it were normal rice but with a typical cooking time of 5 minutes, not the 20–30 minutes needed by white rice. This process was invented by Ataullah K. Ozai‐Durrani in 1939 and mass-marketed by General Foods starting in 1946 as Minute Rice, which is still made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebro Foods</span> Food processing company

Ebro Foods, S.A., formerly Ebro Puleva, is a Spanish food processing company. Ebro Foods is the world's largest producer of rice and the second biggest producer of pasta. The company's head office is in Madrid.

Erich Gustav Huzenlaub was a German-British chemist. He invented the Huzenlaub process for parboiling rice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pearl Milling Company</span> Brand of pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast foods

Pearl Milling Company is a North American brand for pancake mix, table syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889, and was advertised as the first "ready-mix" cooking product.

References

  1. ↑ "Wake Up, Mars!". Forbes. 13 December 1999. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  2. ↑ Wallace, Alicia. "Uncle Ben's has a new name: Ben's Original". CNN . Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Geburtsurkunde: Erich Gustav Wilhelm August Louis Huzenlaub" [Birth Certificate of Erich Gustav Wilhelm August Louis Huzenlaub] (in German). Stuttgart. April 7, 1959. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Kik, M.C.; Williams, R.R. (June 1945). "The Nutritional Improvement of White Rice" . Bulletin of the National Research Council (112): 61 ff. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  5. ↑ British Patents 519,926 (10 April 1940) and 522,353 (17 June 1940); U.S. Patents 2,239,608 (22 April 1941), 2,287,737 (20 December 1941), 2,287,737 (23 June 1942), cited in Kik and Williams
  6. ↑ "History in the Making". Mars, Inc. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  7. ↑ H.R. Rice Conversion. Rice Conversion Ltd.
  8. ↑ Mars and Hazenlaub Envelope. 1.bp.blogspot.com.
  9. ↑ "Science: Richer Rice". Time . June 28, 1943. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Business & Finance: Rice for G.I.s". Time. August 28, 1944. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  11. ↑ Mars, Forrest (September 28, 1959). "Correspondence from Forrest Mars to Erich Huzenlaub".
  12. ↑ Perrin, Monica (October 11, 1998). "Uncle Ben's closing old mill, moving operations to Mississippi". Houston Business Journal .
  13. ↑ Drane, Amanda (June 17, 2020). "Houston-based Uncle Ben's to evolve its brand after Pepsi ditches Aunt Jemima". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved July 26, 2020. The company's headquarters, on Harvey Wilson Drive, stayed behind in Bayou City.
  14. ↑ "Frank Brown (A.K.A. Uncle Ben???)". Morphological Confetti. February 1, 2006.
  15. ↑ Kendrix, Moss H. "The Advertiser's Holy Trinity: Aunt Jemima, Rastus, and Uncle Ben". Museum of Public Relations. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Uncle Ben's logo and symbol, meaning, history, PNG" . Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  17. ↑ Wohl, Jessica (October 5, 2020). "Uncle Ben's rebranding falls short, say critics" . Ad Age . 91 (19): 3.
  18. ↑ "About". Uncle Ben's. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ↑ Elliott, Stuart (March 30, 2007). "Uncle Ben, Board Chairman" . The New York Times . Retrieved April 16, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Uncle Ben's orders up 100 per cent sustainable rice". BusinessGreen . September 22, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  21. ↑ Valinsky, Jordan (June 17, 2020). "Uncle Ben's follows Aunt Jemima in move to phase out racial stereotypes in logos". CNN. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  22. ↑ Lacy, Lisa (June 17, 2020). "Uncle Ben's Vows to Upgrade 'Visual Brand Identity'". Adweek . Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Uncle Ben's rice getting new name – Ben's Original". CBS News . The Associated Press. September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  24. ↑ Kiner, Deb (12 May 2021). "Uncle Ben's rice is now 'Ben's Original' and available on store shelves in new package". Penn Live Patriot-News.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.