America is known for its carefully branded food, with top companies making everything from canned vegetables to snacks and condiments defining how people in the US (and beyond) like to eat. We've chosen our 50 most iconic brands that paint a picture of what you’ll find in American pantries, grocery stores and in restaurants across the nation.
Tillamook is a regional cheese made on the Oregon coast, though it has become so popular that its flagship products are available throughout the US. The dairy’s factory attracts thousands of visitors to the Pacific Northwest, with fans coming in to stock up on the cheese curds that are only available on-site as well as scoops of the brand’s incredibly creamy ice cream and other dairy treats.
America is a country full of small regional brands and one of the most sought-after Louisiana-specific snacks is a bag of Zapp’s Potato Chips, a brand that is now owned by Utz. Kettle-cooked in peanut oil, the ultra-crunchy chips come in a variety of Cajun-themed flavours. The seasonal-only Voodoo Chips are particularly popular, with a hard-to-describe flavour marked by a strong vinegar tang and a mysterious blend of spices.
Once a purely Californian phenomenon, See’s Candies has become a nationwide favourite thanks to a cult-like following and some powerful celebrity fans. The company was started in 1921 by Canadian Charles See, who wanted to experience life in sunny Los Angeles. His candy, then all sold by-the-pound, was a hit. See’s remains popular because of its old-fashioned products like peanut butter and toffee as well as its richly flavoured chocolate bonbons.
Defined by its jolly green giant mascot, Green Giant got its start in Minnesota in 1903 and started specialising in canned peas. The company is still a go-to for both frozen and canned peas as well as corn, the latter of which is mostly still packed out of Minnesota. The brand continues to create new and convenient frozen vegetable products to keep vegetables on our plates, with riced veggie blends, mashed cauliflower and veggie fries.
Discover the most influential fictional food faces in history
Conceived in 1989 by Annie Withey as a healthier alternative to typical boxed macaroni and cheese, Annie’s Homegrown’s boxed pastas and rabbit-shaped Cheddar Bunny crackers were presented as an easy and wholesome way to keep kids satiated and happy. Annie’s has since joined the General Mills group of food labels, but the brand still prioritises sustainability and social responsibility, giving parents some peace of mind when choosing its kid-friendly food options.
The state of Wisconsin may be best known for its cheese and beer, but it’s also home to one of America’s most popular brands of sausages. Founder Ralph F. Stayer started making pork sausages in the town of Johnsonville, Wisconsin in 1945 using an old family recipe from Austria. Johnsonville products, which include fresh and bulk sausage as well as cured rope sausage and fully cooked links, can now be found across the country and around the world.
A little bit of spice is what makes food so enjoyable and for many Americans, that extra bit of zip comes from a jar labelled with the McCormick name. The brand produces 73 different spices, ranging from everyday black pepper to ground turmeric. In addition to familiar spices and mixes, McCormick also sells lines of gourmet and organic spices and is also the company behind brands like French’s, Lawry’s and Zatarain’s.
Yogurt is big business in the United States and Chobani is the country’s most popular brand. It’s a relatively new company – founded in 2005 by Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya – but the wholesome Greek-style yogurt has certainly resonated with Americans. Chobani has already started branching out beyond yogurt, following the plant-based trend towards a line of oat milks and spoonable yogurt-like vegan snacks as well as cold-pressed coffee.
There are bigger flour brands in America, but Bob’s Red Mill has become the grain of choice for many bakers because of its natural products, many of which cater to specific dietary restrictions. The company started in the 1970s, literally in a red mill run by a guy named Bob Moore. The brand has made a name for itself with its organic, unbleached and gluten-free flours and meals, as well as products like instant oatmeal, hard-to-source baking aids and whole-grain granola.
Read through our easy bread recipes, using an array of different flours
Ghirardelli products may not be as available nationwide as Hershey or Mars, but the chocolate brand is closely linked with the history of San Francisco. Founded in 1852 by Italian immigrant Domingo Ghirardelli, the high-quality chocolate is often sold in individual squares for a quick single-serving indulgence. The company is particularly known for its peppermint bark, which has become a holiday tradition for many Americans.
Despite its European-sounding name, Haagen-Dazs ice cream was founded in 1960s in the Bronx, New York. Founders Rose and Rueben Mattus wanted to make a luxurious ice cream with premium ingredients and to this day Haagen-Dazs is one of the most high-end ice creams to be found in most grocery store freezers. The brand started with just three flavours – vanilla, chocolate and coffee – but it quickly expanded to strawberry and now sells a range of flavours in both pint and bar form.
A product that falls under the Betty Crocker portfolio of brands, Hamburger Helper is a product of the 1970s – a time when meat prices were soaring and working parents were looking for ways to make quick and affordable dinners. Sold in boxes marked with its cartoon gloved-hand mascot, the “helper” consists of pasta or rice and flavouring that can turn a pound of hamburger into a full meal. There are also versions available for use with a can of tuna.
The brand formerly known Uncle Ben’s announced in 2020 that it would be changing its name to Ben’s Original to address the racial stereotypes perpetuated by its previous branding. The new brand retains the familiar orange and blue packaging but has done away with the problematic “Uncle Ben” character. Either way, the rice inside the packages is the same, with both regular white and brown rice and convenient boil-in-bag and quick cooking “Ready Rice” options available.
For countless American families, an at-home taco night starts with a boxed kit from Old El Paso. The brand started life in New Mexico in 1917 as the Mountain Pass Canning Company, rebranding in 1938 as Old El Paso to better sell a fiery taco sauce. To keep up with the times the company now also sells Korean and Caribbean-inspired taco kits as well as standalone salsas, seasonings and taco shells.
In 1927, after making a considerable effort to make strained food for her baby, a woman named Dorothy Gerber came up with the idea to commercially can baby food. The Gerber brand became truly famous in 1931 with the introduction of the “Gerber Baby” a drawing of a cherubic infant that became the company’s logo. Parents still rely on Gerber for convenient and nutritious baby food, with formula, baby cereal and vitamins all now part of the product line.
Known as the “original gourmet jelly bean” Jelly Belly was started by the Goelitz family, which began making candy way back in 1869. The original Goelitz beans were introduced in 1965 and became a favourite of then-California Governor Ronald Regan. The company introduced its intensely flavoured Jelly Belly beans in 1976, which became incredibly popular throughout the 1980s thanks to their unique and strangely accurate flavours.
While Krispy Kreme does have its own standalone shops, when the doughnuts were first launched in 1937 they were initially sold in grocery stores and boxes of the classic glazed treats can still be found in supermarkets and convenience stores across the US and beyond. In addition to the full-sized doughnuts, the company recently launched a new line of individually packaged doughnut bites and mini crullers that are made specifically for retail stores.
Like many other classic American products that feature a person’s name, Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn was started by a real man named Orville Redenbacher. Redenbacher began selling popcorn at the age of 12, earning enough money to send himself to university to gain the knowledge to develop a popcorn product that left few, if any, unpopped kernels. His corn is still the gold standard for both microwave-ready and traditional popping corn.
Here are more food and drinks we love that are named after real people
Huy Fong Foods’ Sriracha sauce, also known as “Rooster Sauce” is the most prominent brand of a traditional Thai hot sauce. The rooster-labelled sauce is made in Irwindale, California and has long been a common sight on the tables at Vietnamese restaurants in North America. Even though Huy Fong Foods’ sauce was created in the early 1980s it saw a huge surge in popularity in the 2010s, becoming a mainstream project that is now used in dishes that go well beyond traditional South East Asian fare.
As an illustration of America’s long-term culinary diversity, Goya Foods opened its doors in 1936 and became the country’s largest Hispanic-owned food company. The company makes or distributes more than 2,500 different food products originating in the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Central and South America in categories like olive oil, beans and grains, seasonings, coconut water.
Ben and Jerry’s isn’t just an ice cream: for many of its fans, the brand represents a philosophy, a dedication to both quality and whimsy and even a political identity. The brand was founded in Vermont in 1978 by two guys who are actually named Ben and Jerry. The brand has come a long way since first opening up in a gas station, with scoop shops across the country and grocery store pints available in cheekily named flavours like Cherry Garcia and The Tonight Dough.
Known as Hellmann’s in the eastern part of the United States and Best Foods on the West Coast, this single brand of mayonnaise is the result of a merger that happened between two rival brands way back in 1932, with neither label wanted to change its name. The mayonnaise inside the jars is the same, representing classic American mayo. The brands have evolved over the years, introducing products like mayonnaise with olive oil, spicy chipotle mayo, flavoured dressings and vegan mayo-like spreads.
The founder of Sara Lee Desserts isn’t actually named Sara Lee, but his daughter was. After running a bakery chain with his brother-in-law, Charles Lubin founded the company in 1949 and started selling cheesecakes. By the 1950s Lubin started freezing his cheesecakes, poundcakes and other desserts to make them easier to transport and the company grew into a small empire. Cheesecake and poundcake are still the flagship Sara Lee products, with pie and coffee cake also available.
Founded in 1906 in Pennsylvania, Planters has retained solid brand recognition thanks to its monocle and top hat-clad Mr. Peanut character, who started appearing on peanut bags in the 1910s. Even though the marketing department bizarrely killed off Mr. Peanut in 2020 Super Bowl commercial, he’s still on Planters’ products, ranging from cans of all kinds of nuts to Planters Cheez Balls.
Owned by the meat giant Hormel Foods, Spam’s place in American pop culture has typically been one of disdain, but the canned ham has regained some well-deserved respect over recent years. Spam was originally conceived as a convenient, affordable, and therefore war-appropriate, protein source in 1937 and became particularly popular in Hawaii. Interest in Hawaiian cuisine has seen Spam appear on restaurant menus across the US to much delight.
Now owned by the Kraft Heinz Company, Philadelphia Cream Cheese doesn’t actually come from Philadelphia – the product was formulated in New York in the late 1800s with a recipe for an ultra-creamy cheese that was easy to spread. The cheese goes well with bagels but is also a key ingredient in many recipes ranging from cheesecake to hot dips. The classic cheese is available in both brick and tub form and the brand also makes pre-made dips and flavoured spreads.
Quaker Oats comes by its old-timey logo honestly – the company was established in 1877, using a logo featuring a Quaker man to establish feelings of wholesomeness. It was the first trademarked breakfast cereal in the US and also the first to advertise in a national magazine. Unsurprisingly, the brand established itself with oatmeal products, which are still the core of its business, but it now also sells the Life Cereal as well as various granola bars, rice cakes and corn meal.
As the country’s most recognised brand of canned fruits and vegetables, Del Monte has been bringing nutrition to American kitchens for over 135 years. While processed vegetables aren’t as popular as fresh these days, Del Monte has played a huge role in getting otherwise seasonal and regional produce like tomatoes, asparagus, pineapple and peaches to people across the country any time of year.
With its iconic wienermobile and well-known advertising jingle, Oscar Mayer makes what is definitely the best-known hot dog wiener in the United States. Oscar Mayer was a real person: the immigrant from Bavaria opened his first butcher shop in 1883. The company is best known for its tube steaks (aka wieners), but it also sells cold cuts, smoked sausage, bacon and frozen products like mini corn dogs and sliders.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the quintessential lunch for many American children and Jif is probably the country’s most well-known peanut butter brand. Founded in 1958, the original creamy Jif tastes much like it has since the beginning. Over the years Jif has added crunchy, omega-3, no-sugar added, reduced fat, natural and “Simply Jif” varieties and has also started to offer peanut butter in squeezable and “to-go” packages for added convenience.
America has many regional butter brands, but the most popular butter in the country is Land O’Lakes. Not long after its launch 100 years ago, the brand started featuring a drawing of an indigenous woman on its packaging, which was phased out in 2020 so that the company could better focus on the farmers who make its farm-fresh butter. The sticks of butter inside the boxes are still the same: sweet and creamy and perfect for both spreading on toast and using in baking.
Since 2015 Kraft Foods has fallen under the massive Kraft Heinz Company banner, which is home to many of America’s top brands. Kraft itself, however, is best known for its boxed macaroni and cheese. The Kraft label also appears on other products such as barbecue sauces, salad dressings and Kraft Singles, also known as “American cheese.”
Pringles look like potato chips and taste like potato chips, but under FDA regulations, they can’t legally be called “potato chips” in the US because they are made with “dehydrated processed” potato rather than slices. Since 1975 they’ve been known as “crisps,” despite being an American product. Developed to prevent the breakage you’ll find with regular chips, Pringles are best known for their bold flavours and signature cardboard tube packaging.
Pillsbury started in 1869 as a grain processing company, but the brand became what it is today in the 1950s when it started producing pre-made biscuit dough to make post-war baking more convenient. With the help of the Pillsbury Doughboy mascot and some clever advertising campaigns, the brand’s signature tubes of cookie, crescent roll, and pizza crust dough have become a must for busy cooks who don’t have time for traditional baking.
Betty Crocker’s influence on the American home cook isn’t what it was in the company’s heyday. In the 1920s through 1960s, the fictional “Betty” was a best-selling cookbook author, radio host and TV star. However, the brand’s products are still ubiquitous in American grocery stores. Betty Crocker’s first commercial product was a 1942 dried soup mix, but the company has since become best known for its cake mixes and canned frosting.
Keebler started off in Philadelphia in 1853 as a small independent bakery but it has grown to be one of America’s best-known packaged cookie brands, thanks to consistent quality and the popularity of the commercials featuring the cute Keebler Elf. The brand’s fudge stripe cookies are probably its most instantly recognisable product, but customers also love Keebler’s multiple varieties of chocolate chip cookies, shortbread sandies and wafer cookies.
The Cheerios brand lives under the General Mills umbrella, but the O-shaped oat cereal is really a phenomenon unto itself. The cereal has existed since the 1940s and while many people eat it as a breakfast cereal with milk, Cheerios has long branded itself as a finger food suitable for babies learning their fine motor skills. Honey Nut Cheerios are the oldest and most popular variation of the original cereal, but Cheerios are now available in a rainbow of flavours like cinnamon and blueberry.
Check out the most popular cereals from the decade you were born
Twinkies are one of America’s most famous desserts – not because the snack cakes are particularly delicious, but because they’re an emblem of strangely self-stable American products The story of the Twinkie has had many twists and turns: the cakes first hit the market in 1930 and looked like they would disappear in 2012 when Hostess filed for bankruptcy. After a year off the shelves a new company stepped in and resurrected the mighty Twinkie as well as products Ding Dongs and SnoBalls.
Smuckers’ reputation as being a homespun company that serves good wholesome food has made it one of America’s most trusted brands, despite now being a huge corporation that owns other brands like Folgers coffee and Meow Mix cat food. Smuckers got its start in Orrville, Ohio in 1897 when J.M. Smuckers started making apple cider and apple butter. Today the brand is beloved for its line of fruit jams and rich ice cream toppings.
Golden in colour with ridged edges and a smattering of perforations, Ritz is probably America’s most recognisable cracker. Ritz’s success lies in its versatility and the crackers have been a hit since they were first introduced by Nabisco in the 1930s. The classic Ritz shape and flavour is still in production, but they’re also now available with new flavours, as a whole wheat cracker, in thinner chip-like versions and as sandwich crackers filled with peanut butter or cheese.
White squishy Wonder Bread certainly has its detractors, but its long shelf life and cheerful polka dotted packaging has made it a symbol of American ingenuity. Wonder wasn’t America’s first sliced bread, but it was one of the earliest to earn massive brand loyalty. This year the brand celebrated its 100th anniversary and the nation’s love for Wonder Bread is still strong, with whole wheat, Texas toast and Italian varieties as well as buns and rolls being sold alongside the classic white.
When people think of boxed sandwich cookies they invariably think of Oreos, the black and white biscuits that have existed in America for over 100 years. Oreos fall under the larger Nabisco brand, but are a force unto themselves, earning a place in pop culture through their dunkable pull-apart construction and the question of whether it’s better to pull them apart and lick out the centre, or eat them whole.
A hot sauce so popular that people ask for it by name, Tabasco is the pride and joy of Avery Island, Louisiana, where it’s been manufactured since 1868. The secret to Tabasco’s depth of flavour is in the barrel-aging, the use of high-quality vinegar and the carefully grown peppers. The company started introducing new flavours in the 1990s, but the classic Tabasco is still the go-to. Loyalty towards the brand is so strong that fans flock to Avery Island to pay homage.
Different brands of candy-coated chocolate buttons can be found around the world, but in America M&M's reign supreme. The candies that famously “melt in your mouth, not in your hand” were first brought to market in 1941 by Forrest E. Mars Sr., the same man responsible for Mars and Milky Way bars. M&M's can be found in almost any grocery store in America, or at M&M's boutiques around the world where customers can buy specialty flavours and memorabilia.
Discover these tasty facts about M&M's you might not have known
Frito-Lay is America’s most beloved manufacturer of potato and corn chips, encompassing individual brands like Doritos, Cheetos, Sun Chips and, of course, Fritos and Lay’s. It all started with two separate companies (Lay’s did potato chips, Fritos did corn) that both formed in 1932 and merged in 1961 to become a massive company that caters to America’s hunger for crunchy, salty snacks of every description.
A uniquely American foodstuff, Jell-O has been part of the country’s cultural fabric since it launched in the early 1900s. Known as a quick and easy child-friendly dessert, a cafeteria favourite and the basis of jiggly mid-century “salads,” the flavoured gelatine has certainly left its mark on the US. A division of Kraft Heinz, the Jell-O brand also makes pudding and cheesecake mixes and ready-to-eat pudding and gelatine dessert cups.
These days Kellogg’s brands itself as “one of the original plant-based wellbeing companies,” which isn’t inaccurate, but the huge food corporation will always be known simply as the originator of America’s most-loved breakfast cereals. W.K. Kellogg first created Corn Flakes in 1894 and the brand has gone on to put creations like Raisin Bran, Froot Loops, Rice Krispies and Special K on breakfast tables across the nation.
As America’s most famous chocolate company, Hershey is so well-known that the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania is a tourist destination, complete with a theme park full of chocolate-related experiences. The company started in 1894 as a subsidiary of the Lancaster Caramel Company and has since become iconic thanks to its no-fuss chocolate bars and signature one-bit kisses. The company also owns a number of other brands including Reese’s and Milk Duds.
Campbell’s soup has been a standard in American cupboards since it introduced its first tomato soup in 1895, but the brand was forever immortalised in 1961 when Andy Warhol turned its soup cans into works of high art. In addition to that history, Campbell’s remains a top brand because its products are affordable and easy to prepare as a meal on their own or as an ingredient in some of America’s most beloved homestyle recipes.
There is no condiment more closely associated with American food than the icon that is Heinz ketchup. The Heinz label makes other things like mustard, steak sauce, vinegar and relish, but its ketchup is king. The company was founded in 1869 near Pittsburgh and began selling horseradish and pickles, with “catsup” being added in 1876. The ketchup didn’t become popular until the early 1900s and in 1948 the company introduced the classic glass bottles that we all still know today.