In the wake of the Civil War, a revolution is taking place on the backs of visionary entrepreneurs of industry. Before they become brand names, budding innovators like Henry Heinz, John and Will Kellogg, and C.W. Post push the limits of ingenuity to launch businesses that will revolutionize industry, and change the landscape of the nation forever.
A new breed of innovator rises up to expand American industry and push the limits of new technology; a father-and-son duo named Mars start on a path to challenge the chocolate throne.
As the Great Depression hits, the titans of food push the envelope of innovation to feed a hungry nation. Then WWII sees competing industrial empires joining the war effort in a united front to fuel the forces fighting for freedom abroad. And in Post-War America, visionaries like Harland Sanders, the McDonald brothers and Ray Kroc battle to revolutionize the restaurant industry, and pave the way for the golden age of the American dream.
In the 1950's, two brothers from Wichita, Kan., aim to build their restaurant, Pizza Hut, by introducing America to Italian dish-pizza; Americans soon fall in love with their pizza, but rival, Domino's, threatens to derail their success.
In 1919, Milton Hershey is king of the chocolate, but everything changes when sugar prices drop in the new post-WWI era; competitors spring up, including Hershey's former employee HB Reese, who goes on to create one of the bestselling candies ever.
In the 1950s, Ray Kroc franchises McDonald's nationwide, but right behind Kroc, a wave of other entrepreneurs try to cash in on the fast-food restaurant craze. Two Florida visionaries start up what will become Kroc's biggest rival, by re-inventing their kitchen's equipment into the pioneering "flame broiler."
At the turn of the 20th century, James Kraft challenges centuries of cheese-making tradition and forever alters the dairy industry with his new cheese innovation. Meanwhile, the Pabst brothers are desperate to keep their successful beer empire solvent through Prohibition.
In the 1970s, one major cola brand launches a blind taste-test marketing plan that takes direct aim at their biggest competitor.
Herman Lay takes regional and small-time chips business to a national scale with his cutting-edge sales techniques and world-changing packaging technology, while a rival innovator invents a new kind of snack chip that will challenge Lay's crown.
A business partnership gone wrong leads Adolphus Green to create one of the most iconic cookie and cracker companies in history, and it revolutionizes packaging.
When a chemist begins working at the Joseph A. Campbell preserve company, he invents a condensed soup that brings this rare luxury to the nation for the first time. It also attracts the attention of Henry Heinz, who becomes a bitter competitor.
A short order chef invents the hamburger bun and engineers a new way of making a burger faster than ever before; Nathan Handwerker invests his life savings into a hot dog stand at Coney Island.
Gilbert Swanson inherits his father's frozen turkey company and partners with a food chemist to innovate a revolutionary dinner that Americans can heat up at home.
A young boy accidentally discovers a frozen treat on a stick; a candy store owner reinvents ice cream and launches the first ever ice cream truck; when two men own a patent on the same thing, a battle erupts.
In the 1970’s, Ray Kroc is far ahead of the competition. But when a burger chain claiming to be king poaches his third-highest ranking executive, Don Smith, it’s war. Smith re-engineers the emerging rival, using the best ideas of his former franchise to modernize the brand. In an unprecedented move, Ray Kroc brings on a world renowned chef to develop the chicken nugget, breakfast, and try to crush the would-be king once and for all.
As C.E. Doolin and Herman Lay try to control the chips business in the 1950s, their success inspires one of the biggest companies in the world to design a strong, saddle-shaped chip and a revolutionary container to ship them in.
Candy company president Charles Guth buys a bankrupt cola company and goes to war with the supplier who wronged him and its new CEO, maverick businessman Robert Woodruff.
William Wrigley stumbles upon a new product that kickstarts a revolution across industries and sparks a life-long rivalry.
Dr. John Kellogg and his brother start a revolution in breakfast, while rival C.W. Post takes direct aim at an empire of his own.
High School friends see an alternative to fast food with the "submarine" sandwich. But they are quickly met with the fierce competition of a new submarine joint, started by a physicist, that is trying to perfect the art of the franchise, and will go on to be the biggest restaurant chain in the world.
In the late 1800s, German immigrants Joseph Schlitz and Captain Frederick Pabst find themselves in a battle for beer dominance. In their fight for one upmanship they will help create the most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet.
When a commercial caterer realises his two best selling items are doughnuts and coffee, he joins forces with his brother-in-law to create a revolutionary doughnut chain. Soon a rivalry starts with a beloved Southern-based doughnut shop.
When his ice cream truck breaks down, Tom Carvel discovers that half-melted ice cream is a surefire hit with customers. But while he works to mass produce this new treat, the McCulloughs hit upon the same idea.
In a quest to dominate the growing commercial bread industry, Lee Marshall bets on a new kind of white loaf, unwittingly inspiring a homemaker named Margaret Rudkin to come up with a healthier alternative.
Hollywood agent Wally Amos transforms his professional life when he decides to make and sell his own gourmet chocolate chip cookies, and opens America's first cookie store; housewife Debbi Fields opens her homestyle cookie shop in a mall.
When Col. Sanders sells his company to investors in 1964, the new owners identify a rising star within the organization: Dave Thomas.
Small town farmer Orville Redenbacher has a lifelong dream of creating the perfect popcorn kernel, leading to the first significant development of popcorn in thousands of years which he sells nationwide, eventually pitting him against industry rivals for supremacy of America’s oldest snack.
Restaurateur Glen Bell works to create a burger alternative for the fast-food market and after several setbacks goes on to help introduce the taco to America; two brothers look to beat the burger by betting that a roast beef sandwich can compete.
Former wrestler Rocky Aoki and a perfume salesman become the unlikely fathers of a casual dining revolution when they open different establishments in the heart of New York City: one of America's first Japanese restaurants and a swinging singles bar.
Martha Entenmann takes the reins of her late husband's baking company and grows it into a national powerhouse; a married couple bankrupt one bakery, but succeed their second time around with a revolutionary way to sell snack cakes.
Hector and Mario Boiardi open an Italian restaurant in Cleveland in 1924 and soon introduce Italian food to Americans; the brothers eventually find themselves in competition with James Kraft and his newest offering, macaroni and cheese.
Two heavy-hitting cereal rivals duke it out for breakfast dominance; competition heats up when an idea is stolen; the ensuing battle transforms the breakfast landscape from a labor intensive meal at the table, to a meal of convenience on the go.
The top-selling candy days of the year revolve around Easter, Valentine's Day and Halloween, and it all started with a few bold pioneers.
As new wing-focused restaurant chains take the recipe out of Buffalo, N.Y., restaurateurs must find a way to cleverly market the new "Buffalo wings" to turn their restaurants into national icons, and chicken wings into a global phenomenon.
A cereal executive's bold idea to finance the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie will kick-off a candy revolution that produces some of the most iconic, imaginative confections in history.
Two icons compete for America's coffee drinkers and forever change a worldwide, multi-billion-dollar industry.
Eventually challenging America's burger joint heavyweights, two future fast-food kingpins find themselves on a collision course in an all-out chicken sandwich war that is still raging to this day.
Four intrepid food entrepreneurs race to harness emerging technologies like the home freezer and microwave, to bring revolutionary frozen snack icons to a waiting world, and forever change what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat.
A look at some staples of Thanksgiving dinner that weren't around until a few brands used technological advances to reinvent turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and more; food innovators made each part of the meal accessible.
When an entrepreneur creates shelf-stable peanut butter out of his garage, it leads to the birth of an iconic sandwich; as competition heats up to be America's favorite peanut butter, three famous brands battle it out to be number one.
Two entrepreneurs rise from the ashes of Prohibition by staking everything on two liquors - a bitter, bottom-shelf whisky, and a flavorless foreign moonshine - and go on to save an industry and create two of the most popular brands in the country.
Lighting up the backyard grill is an American summer tradition like no other. But 100 years ago, cooking outside was not nearly as popular or accessible. Most backyard grilling essentials hadn’t been invented yet, and many people didn’t even have backyards, while the hot dogs we know, and love were still relatively unknown in the marketplace. It would take industry titan Henry Ford, one relentless tinkerer named Kingsford, and a passionate butcher from the Oscar Mayer family to create the most iconic brands of the Summer and change the face of American backyards forever.
Before juice was everywhere, these innovators used brilliant ingenuity to create the most nostalgic drink products and thirst quenchers of the last century, leading the charge on a new billion dollar beverage industry.
At the turn of the 20th century, Bernard Kroger and another upstart grocer come up with genius innovations that help invent the modern supermarket.
A young upstart named Oscar® Mayer creates one of the most iconic meat brands on the planet; pioneer Jay Hormel invents a meat product sold the world over, which becomes part of a $20 billion food empire.
At a time when dog food is a rarity and cat food is almost nonexistent, it will take visionary innovators to invent the first dog treat, dry food, the first cat food, and many more innovations that will carve out the billion-dollar pet food industry.
At a time when U.S. beer is dominated by the same lager style, one Milwaukee company experiments with something new.
Imagine a world where marinara sauce isn't part of the American palate. That was true nearly sixty years ago, when food conglomerate Campbells kickstarts what will become an Italian American food staple.
A cab driver turned ice cream entrepreneur comes up with the idea to mix name brand candy into high quality ice cream to create new novel flavors. After opening an ice cream shop to share his mix-in creations, his concept skyrockets.
In the late 1800s, two pharmacists 1500 miles apart race to create healthy, non-alcoholic beverage options, kickstarting the entire soda industry with their breakout hits: Hires Root Beer and Dr. Pepper.
A scientist and businessman team up to develop a Vitamin C rich war ration for the troops fighting in World War 2, which unexpectedly leads to the development of a frozen concentrated orange juice that tastes great and allows for the widespread distribution of OJ for the first time in history. Soon after, a fruit salesman develops a process of flash pasteurizing fresh orange juice that turns the fledgling industry on its head. The two companies will go on to battle it out for domination.
During the mid-20th century, two unlikely characters find themselves in competition to simplify the lives of homemakers across the country by creating a tasty but easy boxed cake-mix. America's sweetheart and the original foodie go head-to-head to make baking easy.
In the early 1900s, an underestimated confectioner creates the first wrapped penny candy--the Tootsie Roll. Meanwhile, an unemployed salesman transforms medicinal hard candy into a fruit flavored, multipack designed purely for fun with Tropical Charms. The two go on to kickstart an entire industry of nationally branded candies and transform the lollipop into a global icon.
Will Kellogg is on top of the cereal industry after beating out post, but now, the king of cereal has met his match with a young flour mill executive; a decades long war for dominance ensues as Kellogg's and General Mills battle it out.
After being kicked out of the family business by his father, Forrest Mars scratches and claws his way back to create a multi-sector global empire, Mars Inc. Today that empire is worth over $47 billion dollars and a family dynasty that is the third wealthiest in America, worth nearly $100 billion.
Lunchtime is one of the most enjoyable meals of every kid's day, but before the 1960s it was just another meal. Then, three very different food visionaries take matters into their own hands to create lunch time favorites loved by children everywhere, from sandwiches, to fruit snacks, and a build-it-yourself pre-packaged lunch that has become a supermarket staple.
It's 1935 and a hot-headed Kentucky gas station owner named Harland Sanders develops a new method for making fried chicken, drawing customers from far and wide. Soon, tough times force him to take his secret recipe on the road, as he works to establishes franchises across the country. Over time, he builds a national fast-food brand, becoming a cultural icon. But when his company is sold to a food conglomerate who changes his recipe for cost cutting measures, he goes to war against his own chicken empire--and wins.
In an early 20th century America where soda is synonymous with cola, small-time St. Louis soda maker Charles Leiper Grigg dares to take on corporate giants Coke and Pepsi by introducing something entirely new–a clear, lemon-lime soda he calls “7-Up.” Little does he know that at the same time, two brothers in Tennessee, Ali and Barney Hartman, have concocted an almost identical soda. What started out as their personal lemon lime cocktail mixer will put them on a collision course with 7-Up when they release it to the public as “Mountain Dew.” Both will evolve into something entirely different than what they began as, but together they’ll crack the industry wide open.
In the 1950s, middle-aged salesman Ray Kroc is drowning in debt when he's inspired by a roadside burger stand he wants to spread nationwide--McDonald's. To buy out the business, he creates the modern model of franchising and ignites a fast-food gold rush. Over three decades, Kroc's innovation produces icons like the Big Mac and Chicken McNugget, crushing the competition to make McDonald's the biggest fast-food chain in the world.
