Hellmann's and Best Foods

Hellmann's and Best Foods are brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise and other food products. The Hellmann's brand is sold in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and also in Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Canada. The Best Foods brand is sold in the United States west of the Rockies, and also in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Hellmann's and Best Foods are basically marketed the same way. They both have similar logos and web sites, and they have the same English slogan: "Bring out the best." The Spanish slogan is "Haz una cara...Hellmann's!" (roughly translated to "Make a Hellman's face!"). In Brazil it is "Hellmann's, a verdadeira maionese" (Hellmann's, the true mayonnaise).

Both brands were previously sold by the U.S.-based Bestfoods Corporation, which also sold several other food products in addition to Hellmann's and Best Foods mayonnaise. Bestfoods, before 1997 known as CPC international, was acquired by Unilever in 2000.

History

In 1905, Richard Hellmann from Vetschau, Germany, opened a delicatessen on Columbus Avenue in New York City, where he used his wife's recipe to sell the first ready-made mayonnaise. It became so popular that he began selling it in bulk to other stores. In 1912 he built a factory for producing Mrs. Hellmann's mayonnaise. It was mass marketed and called Hellmann's Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise. It was so successful, Hellmann closed his delicatessen by 1917 to devote full...
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