Cracker Jack started its "prize in every box" promotion on this
day in history, Feb. 19, 1912.
German immigrant F.W. Rueckheim first invented the now-
ubiquitous ballpark treat in the late 19th century.
According to SnackHistory.com. it was initially sold at his
small candy and popcorn shop, F. W. Rueckheim & Bro.
Frederick Rueckheim (1846 – 1937)
McKee Foods Corporation is a privately held and family-owned
American snack food and granola manufacturer headquartered
in Collegedale, Tennessee.The corporation is the maker of
Drake’s Cakes, Fieldstone Bakery snacks and cereal, Little
Debbie snacks, and Sunbelt Bakery granola and cereal.The
company also formerly operated Heartland Brands.
The company was founded during the Great Depression in
the 1930’s by Oather "O.D." McKee and Ruth McKee (below).
Oather started out selling 5¢ snack cakes from the back of
his 1928 Whippet in the Chattanooga area.
As a vice president and director on the McKee Foods Board
of Directors, real-life Debbie, aka Debra Mckee Flower (above)
manages the business.
In 1932, salesman Herman Lay opened a snack food operation in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1938, he purchased the Atlanta, Georgia–
based potato chip manufacturer "Barrett Food Company",
renaming it "H.W. Lay Lingo & Company".
Lay crisscrossed the southern United States, selling the product
from the trunk of his car.
The business shortened its name to "the Lay’s Lay Lingo Company"
in 1944 and became the first snack food manufacturer to purchase television commercials, using Bert Lahr as its celebrity
spokesperson.
Herman Warden Lay
(March 6, 1909 – December 6, 1982)
Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim)
(August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967)
Cracker Jack is a brand of snack food well known for being
packaged with a prize of trivial value inside.
The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat The
More You Want", were registered in 1896. Some food
historians consider Cracker Jack to be the first junk food.
The origin of sugar-coated popcorn with a mixture of peanuts
is unknown, but periodicals document its manufacture and
sale in North America as far back as the early 19th century.
The Freeport, Illinois Daily Journal newspaper published on
January 29, 1857, for example, contains an advertisement by
a local merchant selling sugar-coated popcorn.
The Cracker Jack brand has been owned and marketed by
Frito-Lay since 1997.
1918 Cracker Jack ad asking readers to enlist in the Navy.
Eating Cracker Jack would save valuable sugar and wheat
for the war effort .
“Ladies’ Home Journal”
Cracker Jack is a brand of snack food consisting of molasses-flavored,
caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged
with a prize of trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name and slogan,
"The More You Eat The More You Want", were registered in 1896. Some
food historians consider it the first junk food.
