Vincent DeDomenico, the creator and purveyor of the household name Rice-A-Roni, has passed away at the age of 92, according to his family. DeDomenico was the son of Italian immigrants who loved his family neighbor's Armenian rice recipe and decided to bring it to the United States. A generation later, the Rice-A-Roni brand was a staple in kitchens across the country.Rice-A-Roni, known the world over as "The San Francisco Treat," was the result of DeDomenico's work in his family's pasta business in the 1940s and 1950s, when in 1958 he decided to venture out to create the unique mix of vermicelli, macaroni and special flavorings.
After perfecting the "dry" preparation of the new creation, which included a soup base made for the U.S. Army, the marketing began using scenes of DeDomenico's preferred living area -- San Francisco. Featuring cable cars and hilly streets, the "San Francisco Treat" ad campaign and catchy jingle started ringing up sales for the product, and DeDomenico never looked back.
In 1986, the brand was sold to Quaker Oats in a $300 million transaction. It's now owned by PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP). Even after having created an American kitchen classic, DeDomenico continued to bring home culinary ideas to test on his family. As his daughter Marla Bleecher said, "We ate these products until we were all sick of them."
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