Uncle Ben's is a brand name for parboiled rice and other related food products. The brand was introduced by Converted Rice Inc., which is now owned by Mars, Inc.. Its headquarters are in Denver Harbor, Houston, Texas. Uncle Ben's rice was first marketed in 1943 and was the top-selling rice in the United States from 1950 until the 1990s. Uncle Ben's products are sold worldwide. In 2020, Mars announced plans to "evolve" the brand name and logo.
History
In the 1910s, the German-British scientist and chemist Erich Huzenlaub and the British scientist and chemist Francis Heron Rogers invented a form of parboiling designed to retain more of the nutrients in rice, now known as the Huzenlaub Process. The process entailed vacuum drying the whole grain, then steaming, and finally vacuum drying and husking. Besides increasing rice's nutritional value, it also made it resistant to weevils and reduced cooking time. In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr., moved to the United Kingdom with a remit to expand the Mars food company internationally. While in the United Kingdom, Mars learned of Erich Huzenlaub's work with rice. Huzenlaub's London-based company was Rice Conversion, Ltd. The two eventually formed Mars and Huzenlaub in Houston, Texas, which gave Forrest Mars partial ownership of the Huzenlaub Process rice conversion patent. In 1942, through Mars's guidance and sponsorship, Huzenlaub created, together with Houston food broker Gordon L. Harwell, the company Converted Rice, Inc., which sold its entire output to the U.S. and British Armed Forces. The advantage of this product was that it could be air-dropped to troops in the field without risk of weevil infestation, and it could be cooked more quickly than other rice products. Additionally, the converted rice product would retain more nutritional value. In 1944, with additional financing from the Defense Plant Corporation and an investment by Forrest Mars, it built a second large plant. In 1959, Forrest Mars purchased Erich Huzenlaub's interest in the company and merged it into his Food Manufacturers, Inc.. Uncle Ben's milling plant was on the Houston Ship Channel until 1999, when it moved to Greenville, Mississippi.
Marketing
Since 1946, Uncle Ben's products have carried the image of an elderly African-American man dressed in a bow tie, which is said to have been based on a Chicago maître d'hôtel named Frank Brown. According to Mars, Uncle Ben was an African-American rice grower known for the quality of his rice. Gordon L. Harwell, an entrepreneur who had supplied rice to the armed forces in World War II, chose the name Uncle Ben's as a means to expand his marketing efforts to the general public. In March 2007, Uncle Ben's image was "promoted" to the "chairman of the board" by a new advertising campaign. In September 2017, Mars, Inc. announced plans to certify the sustainability of basmati rice sold under the Uncle Ben's brand. This move is carried to encourage the local farmers to opt for the best agricultural methods. On June 17, 2020, Mars, Inc. announced that they would be "evolving" the brand's identity, including the brand's logo. The move followed just hours after Quaker/PepsiCo acknowledged its Aunt Jemima brand is based on a racial stereotype and it will change the name and logo.
