At the tender age of eleven, Ettore Boiardi was already an
apprentice in an Italian restaurant, peeling potatoes and taking out trash. He
continued studying his profession in Paris and London. Ettore was sixteen when he
arrived at Ellis Island and began to cook at New York’s Plaza Inn. He opened
his first restaurant in Cleveland in his early twenties. When patrons begged
Ettore for his spaghetti sauce recipe, he filled empty milk bottles with
marinara for them to take home. Two of his customers, Maurice and Eva Weiner, owned
a grocery store chain. They convinced Ettore to commercially bottle his pasta and
sauce, and before long his products were in stores across the country. Cans of
spaghetti, ravioli and lasagna carry Ettore’s photo, but not his last name, as
it’s so hard for Americans to pronounce. Instead, they say, “Chef Boyardee.” In
Ettore’s words, “Everyone is proud of his own family name, but sacrifices are
necessary for progress.”
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