The Untold Truth Of Stouffer's

We've all been there — perusing the frozen food aisle of the grocery store to find a quick dinner, to fend off a pizza craving, or to pick up some toaster waffles for a lazy breakfast. Whatever you're in search of, it's hard to miss the sea of Stouffer's entrees that monopolize much of the section. The instantly recognizable meals such as the classic lasagna and macaroni and cheese stare back at you through the frosty glass windows with mouth-watering photographs plastered on the cardboard box covers. But did you have any idea of the stories behind those products and the hard work that went into them over the past 100 years?

Stouffer's has been owned by Nestle USA, Inc. since the '70s, but its history stretches back almost a century (via GoodNes). Stouffer's wasn't always a frozen food titan; over the years the brand put its name on a series of restaurants and a chain of hotels. Yes, hotels — that might surprise you if you only know Stouffer's from frozen single-serve Salisbury steaks. There was also that one time it came up with the novelty idea to dispense its macaroni and cheese on tap. That was a little strange, so for now let's focus on how Stouffer's came to be and how its line of foods is still going strong today.

The sparse menu of fresh buttermilk and crackers proved to be enough to attract customers, and Abraham and Lena Stouffer transformed their little dairy stand into a quaint coffee shop/restaurant by adding sandwiches and fresh-brewed coffee (via Zippia). In the era of Prohibition, apparently it wasn't a challenge to attract city-goers for a tall glass of buttermilk and a sandwich, but these items weren't the showstopper. As the idiom goes, "you can't live on milk and bread alone."

The real draw at the first Stouffer's restaurant was Lena's homemade Dutch apple pies. Her pies are credited with the shop's initial success, according to Case Western Reserve University. As we'll explore later on, the apple pies remained on the Stouffer's menu when the family ventured further into ownership of their own restaurant chain. Unfortunately, Stouffer's doesn't offer the classic dessert in frozen form these days. It does sell Harvest Apples that you could technically use to make an apple pie, but it likely won't be as delectable as Lena's homemade kind.

After the Stouffer family opened the first restaurant in 1924, brothers Vernon and Gordon Stouffer broadened the company's reach by opening sit-down establishments in major cities of the era, such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. According to Taste, the restaurants featured homemade food and a pleasant atmosphere with attentive service. The prices were fair and the food was delicious. It was a homey type of place that was perfect for a family or a young couple on a date. A luncheon menu from 1941, posted by the Culinary Institute of America, lists rib-sticking meals such as Swedish meatballs with whipped potatoes and gravy, roast beef sirloin on toast with homemade chili sauce, club sandwiches, vegetable plates, and desserts like lemon meringue pie and of course the famous apple pie

The "Top Of" restaurants were more upscale dining experiences located on top of skyscrapers in America's most important cities beginning in the late 1950s. The location in Chicago opened in 1956. It was called Top of The Rock, and was located in the shiny new Prudential Building. It provided breathtaking panoramic views of the city. However, it closed in 1976. There were 16 "Top Of" restaurants, with each having its own special theme and decor, such as a French theme in New York, a Southern garden in Atlanta, and Great Lakes ship decor in Milwaukee.

When Stouffer's decided to explore business opportunities outside of food, the company purchased the Anacapri Inn in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1960. Then it incorporated a new division called the Stouffer Hotel Company (via Eating The Road). Over the next two decades, the brand acquired nearly 20 motels across the Midwest but the motel business began to falter. When William Hulett became president of the hotel division, he set out on a complete refresh. Throughout the 1980s, he led the company to acquire numerous upscale, esteemed hotels in locations like Washington D.C., Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

According to Company-Histories, by 1990 the Stouffer Hotel Group establishments were known for five-star customer service, luxury amenities, and top notch dining. The following year, Stouffer's merged its hotel and restaurant divisions to create the Stouffer Hospitality Group. At that time, the company owned 68 restaurants and 40 hotels and resorts (via GoodNes). However, Nestle chose to consolidate business as a whole and sold all of the hotels and restaurants, which left only the frozen foods division. The hotels that were sold in 1992 went to New World Development, which owned the Renaissance and Ramada chains.

Stouffer's employed black women to help create and prepare the Apollo 11 quarantine food. According to Lady Science, these women made those meals happen, yet sadly their contributions fell under the radar of most publications at that time. The black press covered the labor of these trailblazing women and it's important to recognize their accomplishments today. Their names were Julie Stewart and Sara Thompson.

Stewart worked as an aide to Doris Davis Centini, a Stouffer's home economist who played a leading role in developing the quarantine food program. Stewart's recipe for Salisbury Stroganoff was even a selection for NASA's astronaut menu. Thompson was a quality control supervisor who used scientific testing to make sure all the food served to the astronauts met the purity standards set by NASA, Stouffer's, and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) (via James Beard Foundation). These women were key in creating and ensuring the quality of Stouffer's foods for the NASA astronauts during the most remarkable space event in history.

If you've been in pretty much any grocery store aisle, you know that Stouffer's frozen foods continue to succeed today, several decades after they were first released. According to Statista, as of February 2021, Stouffer's was ranked as the number one brand of single-serve frozen dinners in the US, beating out Marie Callender and Healthy Choice. The brand was also listed as the number one multi-serve (family-sized) brand of frozen food (via Statista). Food Dive reported that sales of frozen foods skyrocketed in 2020 and that Nestle chose to invest in a $100 million expansion at the Stouffer's factory in Gaffney, South Carolina.

While the lineup has changed throughout the years, Stouffer's still currently offers classic fan favorites like Salisbury steak, French bread pizza, and lasagna. The lasagna comes in a variety of flavors these days, including Cheesy Garlic, Meat Lovers, Meatless, Veggie, and others. Some of the brand's newer products are a bit different, such as the Bowl-Fulls and Mac-Fulls, which combine macaroni and cheese, a meat such as chicken, and a vegetable.

In 2003, the American restaurant chain Applebee's sued the Switzerland-based Nestle company over the use of the product title Skillet Sensations on a line of Stouffer's frozen meals. According to the Wichita Business Journal, Applebee's claimed to have been the first to use the phrase back in November 1996 for the savory fajita-like meals offered in its restaurants. The dispute focused on the dates that each company had applied for trademark rights to the phrasing. The courts ultimately ruled in favor of Applebee's and determined that consumers may be confused as to the relation between the two products due to the wrongful use of the name. Stouffer's was then ordered to stop using the title.

Stouffer's had allegedly started using the product title to use with similar food products — sauteed skillet meals made with meats and veggies — only about one year after Applebee's had introduced its own Skillet Sensations. Applebee's Skillet Sensations were available in the company's restaurants and for dining and takeout, while Stouffer's versions were only available in the frozen foods aisle of grocery stores (via Progressive Grocer).

In recent years, Stouffer's has been working hard to prove that it's not just your grandmother's comfort food. The brand currently has over 53,000 followers on its official Twitter page, which has been active since 2009. Stouffer's has also been teaming up with bloggers to target its younger, more tech-based audience. In 2016, Stouffer's began to use influencers to share the authentic story of the company and to promote the brand in a fresh and relevant light. According to Food Navigator-USA, Stouffer's used hashtags, beautifully-plated food, and food photography workshops to win over a crowd of food bloggers.

That same year, the company eliminated artificial ingredients from over 140 of its products in an effort to appeal to a consumer market that is increasingly concerned about what's in their food. Per Food Business News, Nestle has been proactive across its various brands (DiGornio pizza and Toll House cookies, for example) to eliminate artificial ingredients while keeping the same appetizing tastes that its customers have come to love. Stouffer's changes also included introducing new varieties of gluten-free, high-protein, and organic meals.