Although Progresso is now known for its pick of transcribed soups , the company got its start by selling canned Italian food for thought to Italian Americans live in New Orleans . Now , the company also produces chile , stock , beans , balsamic vinegar , breadcrumbs , and more . show on for eight fact you might not know about Progresso .
1. Progresso’s history dates back to 19th-century Italy.
In the 1890s , Giuseppe Uddo left school to trade cheese and olives to his neighbour in Sicily , Italy . He wasonly 9 years old , but he helped bear his crime syndicate by selling goods out of a horse - draw cart . That experience would come in in handy when he leave Italy for the U.S. in 1907 . At just 24 years old , Uddo and his married woman , Eleanora — whose fellowship , the Taorminas , were also in the food business — moved to New Orleans , Louisiana .
The Uddos already had kinsfolk ties in New Orleans . Vincent Taormina , one of Eleanora ’s relative , had embark on a business there import foods from Italy in 1905 . Eventually , Uddo and Taormina would bring together together to shape the company that would become Progresso . But first , Uddo would shine out on his own .
2. A horse named Sal was integral to its success at the start …
In New Orleans , the Uddos lived in the French Quarter , where Giuseppe decided to start his own import occupation . In 1913 , he corrupt ahorsenamed Sal and ride him around Italian community in Louisiana , betray tomato sauce and olives that he had import from Italy .
3. … But the business soon outgrew Sal.
Uddo ’s business in Louisiana became successful enough that he ditch Sal , purchased hand truck for rescue , and afford a warehouse and grocery store store in the French Quarter . Just before World War I bust out , he tooka riskand purchase thousands of buttocks of tomato paste at once — a gamble that pay off when the warfare prevented U.S. merchants from importing goods from Italy , aim up prices .
After the war stop , Uddo opened a factory in Riverdale , California , to manufacture cans of tomato paste domestically , ensuring that he would n’t have to trust entirely on the availability of imported Italian goods any longer . In doing so , he made history : His California factory was thefirstin the U.S. to manufacture cans of Italian food .
4. Progresso’s founding families were partners in more than just business.
In 1925 , Giuseppe Uddo and Vincent Taormina joined their two New Orleans - based businesses together to mould the Uddo and Taormina Company . Taormina ’s Word , Vincent Taormina , Jr. , decided to get into the import business sector , too — he and another relative , Frank G. Taormina , set off for New York to establish their own Italian significance company , selling olives , tomatoes , Sardina pilchardus , cheeseflower , and black pepper to New York City ’s large Italian population .
At that point , the Uddo and Taormina factory in California was acquire more love apple products than they could deal in New Orleans , and they were search for a novel market place for his good . In 1927 , the New Orleans and New York families merged tocreatethe Progresso Italian Food Corporation in New York City . ( It became Progresso Quality Foods in 1977 . )
The link between the Uddo and Taormina families was more than a patronage partnership , though . Besides Eleanora having been bear a Taormina , in 1933 , Frank Taormina get hitched with Giuseppe and Eleanora ’s daughter , Rose .
5. Progresso’s label was based on a pastel painting.
The Progresso name came from Progressive Grocery Company , a grocery store shop in New Orleans ’s French Quarter . Uddo and Taormina bought the hallmark from Progressive Grocery for $ 25 in rescript to call their new company the Progresso Italian Food Corporation . Besides the positive intension of the termprogress , the wordProgressoalso evokedIl Progresso , a popular Italian - language paper that was published in New York City from 1880 to the 1980s . The raw company’slabelwas based on a pastel painting that Uddo had purchased from Progressive Grocery years before .
6. World War II shifted Progresso’s focus from importing to manufacturing.
When World War II made it again unacceptable to import terminate food from Italy , Progresso expanded its domestic product , buy another manufactory in Vineland , New Jersey . Starting in 1942 , Progresso ’s Vineland factory canned peppers , veggie , beans , and other goods , mostly produce by Italian farmers in southerly New Jersey . In 1949 , Progresso introduced ready - to - eat canned soup — minestrone , pasta e fagioli , and lentil — as a way to make money during the winter , when vegetables were n’t in time of year . Today , Progresso make roughly40 percentof the canned soup sell in the U.S.
7. Progresso is now part of General Mills.
By the 1950s , Progresso ’s product were on shelves in grocery stores all over the United States , helping popularize Italian favorites like tin tuna in olive fossil oil , breadcrumbs , capers , and artichokes among American households . But the fellowship would n’t remain in the Uddo - Taormina families for long . Giuseppe Uddo kick the bucket in 1957 , and the two families feuded over controller of the party . In 1969 , they sold Progresso to Imperial Tobacco , a Canadian company . Progresso went through aseriesof acquisitions during the following decennary , last ending up in the portfolio of the Pillsbury Company in1995 . When Pillsbury was bought out by General Mills in 2001 , Progresso became a General Mills trade name , as it remains today .
8. Uddo’s grandson honored him by opening an Italian restaurant in New Orleans.
In 1990 , Giuseppe Uddo ’s grandson , thelate chefMichael Uddo , openeda restaurant in New Orleans ’s French Quarter call in The G&E Courtyard Grill . Named for the first initial of his grandparent ' first names — Giuseppe and Eleanora — the eating place assist Italian food until it closed in 1999 .
