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The ads tell a lot about how the industry has changed.

Over 100 years of publishing a magazine, advertisers come and go. But what’s truly noteworthy is when advertisers stick with a publication over 10 decades.

Looking back at issues of Restaurant Hospitality (née American Restaurant magazine), the ads illustrate as much about the restaurant industry at the time as the editorial content.

In 1921, for example, dishwashers were touted as “germ-killing machines,” the new-fangled contraption called a cash register promised to add by machinery, rather than by “hand and brain and pencil.” And FAMCO’s Automatic Butter Serving Machine promised to cut butter into pats, saving users 23 cents on their butter bills.

In those early years, Vulcan and Hobart Mixers were big names in kitchen equipment, as they are today.

Wyandotte Sanitary promoted cleansers because “cleanliness is a courtesy which restaurants in increasing numbers are coming to realize they owe to their guests.”

Jello-O, then Genesee Pure Foods Co., offered up Bavarian cream, rather than gelatin, and Sunsweet Prunes were recommended for stuffing fowl.

And some things never change: All-Bran Muffins (Kellogg’s) in 1935 were advertised as a natural laxative food.

Here’s a look at some of the ads from the early days of Restaurant Hospitality.

About the Authors

Lisa Jennings

Executive Editor, Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality

Lisa Jennings is executive editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. She joined the NRN staff as West Coast editor in 2004 as a veteran journalist. Before joining NRN, she spent 11 years at The Commercial Appeal, the daily newspaper in Memphis, Tenn., most recently as editor of the Food and Health & Wellness sections. Prior experience includes staff reporting for the Washington Business Journal and United Press International.

Lisa’s areas of expertise include coverage of both large public restaurant chains and small independents, the regulatory and legal landscapes impacting the industry overall, as well as helping operators find solutions to run their business better.

Lisa Jennings’ experience:

Executive editor, NRN (March 2020 to present)

Executive editor, Restaurant Hospitality (January 2018 to present)

Senior editor, NRN (September 2004 to March 2020)

Reporter/editor, The Commercial Appeal (1990-2001)

Reporter, Washington Business Journal (1985-1987)

Contact Lisa Jennings at:

[email protected]

@livetodineout

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-jennings-83202510/

 

Sue Pearsall

Sue Pearsall is Restaurant Hospitality's art director.

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