H and H Coffee

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

Irene Brown

Miss Irene Brown — Hoffmann-Hayman Demonstrator of H and H Products. Profiled in the 26 August 1923 San Antonio Light employee series (page 62) under the deck headline “Store Demonstration H. & H. Products.”

The article reads: “A part of the service that the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company renders grocers is to demonstrate H and H coffee and H and H tea in their stores, that the housewife might taste the taste of these delicious products.”

Key entities extracted:

  • Products demonstrated: H and H coffee and H and H tea (both, not just coffee)
  • The “Miss” title (as printed) confirms she was unmarried in 1923, distinguishing her from the married “Mrs.” Clara H. Allred
  • Program framing: explicitly described as a service H&H rendered to grocers — the demonstrators were H&H employees placed in grocer locations

One of two demonstrators visible in the 1923 press series (the other was Clara H. Allred, titled “special demonstrator”). The role was front-line marketing labor at grocer-counter tastings.

Open questions

  • Full vitals, San Antonio directory citations
  • Tenure dates
  • Title distinction from Clara H. Allred’s “special demonstrator” — sequence (Brown promoted later, or Allred had seniority)?

See also