H and H in San Antonio: A Business Arc
Seventy-three years from a back-room roaster to a real-estate sale. This is the business arc of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company in San Antonio.
1899–1912: From clerk to company. William R. Hoffmann started by roasting evenings in George Sauer’s grocery on Alamo Plaza and delivering the next morning. By 1904 he had his own blend. By 1912 he had merged with W. E. Hayman’s Merchants Coffee Company to form Hoffmann-Hayman, capitalized at $20,000 and charted by the State of Texas. Hoffmann died that same year; Hayman became president.
1917: First acquisition. The firm bought Morrison Coffee Company in January — five brands (Wesco, Misa, Broncho, Juanita, Texco), the roasters John Green and Johnnie Morrison retained, consolidation at 307 North Medina. H&H became the dominant independent roaster in San Antonio.
1920: The Menger transition. Hayman sold his interest to the Menger family. Gus P. Menger became president; his brothers Rudolph W. and T. J. joined as officers. Hayman went on to co-found Tucker Coffee Company with the Aviation brand. The Mengers would hold the firm for the next 52 years.
1932: Scale. The Delaware Street plant opened — 16,000 square feet, fireproof concrete, railroad siding, $130,000 — and Crystalvac launched in the same months. By 1934, H&H products reached 150 Texas cities. By 1937, additional vacuum-packing machinery expanded from glass to tin.
1960: Succession. Gus P. Menger stepped to Board Chairman in May 1960; his son Albert G. Menger became president. The 1962 Express-News “Dean of Coffee Roasters” ad marked 58 years of operation — the longest independent run of any San Antonio coffee firm in the record.
1962: Acquisition. Continental Coffee Company of Chicago purchased the brand operations. H&H became a Continental division; the San Antonio family operation ended. T. J. Menger retired at the sale after 41 years. The 1964 newspaper ads still carry the H&H brand alongside Continental’s footer — Continental kept the local label running. (Year and Chicago parent confirmed by the 2 April 1987 T. J. Menger feature, HH-CLIP-1987-0002.)
1972: Close. On August 3, 1972, Gus P. Menger signed the sale of the Hoffmann-Hayman Warehouse Co. property at 601 Delaware to Kenneth L. Wagner — closing out the Menger family’s seventy-plus-year involvement with the firm. The building still stands.