Ettore Boiardi began cooking as a child, and was only 11 years old when he started his first job at a restaurant. He left his native Italy and moved to New York at age 16. Boiardi joined his brother working at the Plaza Hotel where he worked his way up to head chef by age 17! In 1926, while still in his 20s, Boiardi opened his first restaurant. His spaghetti sauce was so popular that he put it in milk bottles to send home with his customers. From there, it was a short jump to selling his sauce canned in grocery stores. By then he had simplified his name to Hector Boyardee so Americans could easily pronounce it, and he marketed his sauce under the name Chef Boy-Ar-Dee.
Boiardi hit the big time with his spaghetti kit, consisting of a can of sauce, uncooked pasta, and a small container of parmesan cheese. The line of goods later grew with pizza kits and canned pasta. He opened a factory in Milton, Pennsylvania, in 1938 because it was a good area to grow tomatoes. Local farmers also grew mushrooms for Boiardi, and he became the USA's biggest importer of olive oil and parmesan cheese. When World War II came, he expanded his operations to provide rations for American GIs. Then after the war, a few bad investments and Boiardi's reluctance to lay off his war workers led him to sell the company. He stayed on as an advertising spokesman for two more decades, however.
If it's hard to reconcile the image of an acclaimed chef with the sugary canned pasta in stores today, you aren't the only one with that opinion. Bioardi's descendants aren't too keen to claim the products as they are today. The company is now owned by ConAgra. -via Cracked
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