H and H Coffee

Dedicated to the history of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. founded 1899 in San Antonio, Texas.

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San Antonio Express, 30 December 1966, page 17 — the "COLOR-KEYED CAN" photo of Jordan Sawyer ("the Master Chef") holding the new can, paired with the "Master Chef Expanding" article on the Continental-era 601 Delaware Street operation

This late-1966 San Antonio Express page-17 piece is a rare Continental-era primary source. Four years after Continental Coffee of Chicago purchased Hoffmann-Hayman in 1962 (per HH-CLIP-1987-0002, the T. J. Menger feature article), the company at 601 Delaware Street is here operating under the Master Chef Food Products name with a new president — Jack Moore — and a sales manager, Warren Burns, neither of whom appear in the project’s earlier officer records. The 1966 piece confirms the plant was actively being “expanded and modernized” to meet anticipated growth in the San Antonio market and introduces two brand mascots: Jordan Sawyer, “the Master Chef,” and Karla Kreft, the Master Chef girl. The “first step” of the expansion program was the new color-keyed cans for easy grind selection that Sawyer is shown holding. The clip therefore documents that the Master Chef brand, the 601 Delaware plant, and a San Antonio-based corporate identity all persisted under Continental’s ownership well past the 1962 acquisition.

Transcription

![Photo of a man in a chef’s hat and white coat holding a coffee can]

COLOR-KEYED CAN — Jordan Sawyer, the “Master Chef,” presents the new color-keyed Master Chef can, which insures foolproof grind selection and represents the first step in a Master Chef expansion program for the San Antonio market.

Master Chef Expanding

Master Chef Food Products has decided to expand its operations in the San Antonio market.

Jack Moore, president, and Warren Burns, sales manager, said the move was decided upon after a survey which showed great growth potential for this area.

The plant at 601 Delaware St. has been expanded and modernized to meet the expected increased demand.

First step in the expansion program is the new color-keyed cans for easy grind selection.

In San Antonio with Moore and Burns to kick off the expansion program were Jordan Sawyer, “the Master Chef” himself, and Karla Kreft, the Master Chef girl.

Significance

  • Continental-era operating name confirmed: “Master Chef Food Products” is the firm’s name at 601 Delaware in Dec 1966 — neither “Hoffmann-Hayman” nor “H&H” appears in the article. This fits the lore that Continental kept H&H brand operations running under a re-jiggered local identity, with Master Chef as the lead brand.
  • Two new H&H/Continental-era officers:
    • Jack Moore — president of Master Chef Food Products as of Dec 1966 (post-Albert G. Menger’s c.1962 retirement after the Continental sale). First documented attestation in this project.
    • Warren Burns — sales manager. Also first attestation.
  • 601 Delaware still a working plant in Dec 1966. Confirms continuous operation between the 1962 Continental acquisition and G. P. Menger’s August 1972 sale of the real estate to Kenneth L. Wagner. Article explicitly states the plant was “expanded and modernized” — investments at the site, not winding down.
  • Two brand-mascot personas: Jordan Sawyer as “the Master Chef” (a costumed in-person spokesperson, photographed in chef’s whites holding the can) and Karla Kreft as “the Master Chef girl.” Pairs with the company’s earlier mascot framings (Texas Girl, etc.) and may have produced photographic / promotional ephemera worth tracking down.
  • Master Chef product update: color-keyed grind selection. A packaging-tech beat — the can carries color coding to indicate grind type (drip, percolator, etc.). Tracks with the broader 1960s consumer-retail emphasis on convenience-of-grind-selection that competing brands (Maxwell House, Folgers) were also promoting.

Source

  • San Antonio Express (San Antonio, Texas), Friday, 30 December 1966, page 17 — the “Master Chef Expanding” article and the paired “Color-Keyed Can” photo caption. Article also includes a separate “Community” Austin-bureau piece on VISTA and an “Official Retired” Bonn-dateline brief; those are unrelated to the H&H story.
  • Archive: assets/pdfs/1966-12-30-san-antonio-express-news-master-chef-expanding-color-keyed-can.pdf.
  • Date accessed for ingest: 20 May 2026.

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