From Plaza Hotel cook to Chef Boyardee

Born Hector Boiardi in northern Italy, the future inventor of Beefaroni immigrated to New York as a teenager around 1917.

His brother Paul worked as a waiter at one of the restaurants of the Plaza Hotel. He helped Hector get a job there as a cook.

In the 1920s Hector moved to Cleveland, where he opened his own Italian restaurant and also sold take-home versions of his pasta and sauces. Paul became a maitre d’hotel at the Plaza.

One night, A&P head John Hartford came to the Plaza for spaghetti. Paul Boiardi prepared him some based on Hector’s recipe, telling Hartford that his brother was trying to get a national line of Italian foods produced.

Hartford offered to help—and soon, the Chef Boyardee brand introduced Italian food to millions in the 1940s.

Tags: Beefaroni, chef Boiardi, Chef Boyardee, Hector Boiardi, Italian immigrants in New York City, John Hartford A&P, Plaza Hotel history, The Plaza Hotel NYC