ADOLPH'S

BRAND NAME COOKING WITH ADOLPH'S

The official company website:  Lawry's

HISTORY

The following is an excerpt from the book Ideas that Became Big Business by Clinton Woods. Published by Founders, Inc. Baltimore, MD, 1959, 414 pages.

Buy this book: Ideas That Became Big Business

The Meat Tenderizer Story

Steaks for the dinner table--usually served only on special occasions--became every day possibilities when a way was found to make the less expensive grades and cuts of meat tender enough to broil.

"Soon after two ex-GIs, Lloyd Rigler and Larry Deutsch first met in 1947, they had discovered a Los Angeles restaurant that served deliciously tender but inexpensive steaks. After several visits the chef, Adolph, revealed that he used a specially prepared meat tenderizer that enabled him to make the lean, less-expensive grades and cuts of meat tender enough to broil. The fine flavor that is inherent in these cuts was savored for the first time when tenderized and broiled like sirloin or filet mignon. Recognizing the need for such a product and the nationwide potential it had of bringing more cuts that could be cooked as steaks into the American home, they decided that the meat tenderizer was the vehicle for a new business. The chef, interested only in the restaurant business, sold them his name and recipe for the tenderizer.

Rigler and Deutsch teamed as partners, pooled their small resources and purchased sufficient ingredients for a few hundred jars of the product they named "Adolph's Meat Tenderizer". Dressed in chef's caps and white coats, they demonstrated this new cooking aid in the food department of the May Company store in Los Angeles. At 49 cents a jar the supply was sold in a few hours. This experience demonstrated that the need and demand they had foreseen was a reality.

Then they made a decision that meant much to the product's later success. They suspended operations. Knowing that papain, derived from the tropical papaya fruit was the magic ingredient that Adolph mixed with salt and other ingredients to make this tenderizer, Rigler said "Now let's find out all there is to know about papain; whether we can make the product better, and how we can produce it on a scientific basis." With the aid of a chemist, they set up their first research laboratory and developed an improved product with scientific formulation and quality control. As a result a new basic compound was developed that safe-guarded the stability of the enzyme papain.

An important discovery clearly indicated that in order to formulate a product that would make all meat more tender, flavorful and juicy it was necessary that all the ingredients be present in just the right quantities. The first scientific formula for Adolph's Meat Tenderizer was established! Through continuing research the original formula has been continually improved, resulting in the perfected product of today.

In late 1948 the partners acquired the services of Jeanette Frank, a specialist in nutrition and diets. With her help they learned how the product should be used--necessary for label directions. They learned that it improved all cuts, grades and kinds of meat, that meat prepared with Adolph's has up to 25% less shrinkage during the cooking; hamburgers, too, cooked plump and juicy without shrinking. Further kitchen testing revealed that meat cooked faster when prepared with Adolph's.

Knowing they had a meat tenderizer that would satisfy the needs of the consumer, and armed with an abundance of information about their product, Rigler and Deutsch were ready to tackle the retail market. They sought advertising counsel and chose James P. Shelley to work with them (Shelley, now with McCann-Erickson, Inc., still handles the account). Every cent of profit was put back into the business and their market strategy of circling the Los Angeles metropolitan area began to pay off. Having captured this market they moved quickly up the coast to San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and by the end of 1950 Adolph's Meat Tenderizer was being sold and used in all major cities in the eleven Western States.

In the meantime, they acquired a quality custom packager to help with manufacturing. Quality control and actual product blending was supervised personally by the partners, however, until the new Adolph's manufacturing plant was opened in North Hollywood, California in 1958.

As they progressed from city to city, sales continued to jump immediately behind them. They grossed $125,000 in 1950, $250,000 in 1951. By late 1952 their sales figure had passed the half-million-dollar mark.

During 1953, the year in which Reader's Digest featured Adolph's Meat Tenderizer in a report to consumers, sales zoomed to a rate of $20,000,000 per year. Brokers were appointed to cover every county in the United States and the foreign market loomed as a new challenge.

And so through the simple operation of sprinkling salt-like crystals on meat, it became possible for millions of Americans to enjoy tender steaks and roasts cooked from the less expensive braising cuts. Adolph's Meat Tenderizer also proved in value to America's homemakers by insuring that any meat they cook is tender, juicy and full of flavor. It also saves cooking time and by reducing shrinkage makes each pound of meat go further.

Lloyd Rigler and Larry Deutsch entered the dietetic food market in 1954 by introducing Adolph’s Salt Substitute, a decision based on the request of Rigler's mother, a low-sodium dieter who loved good food but was unable to find a satisfactory replacement for salt. Further investigation revealed that her need was the same as that of millions of low-sodium dieters across the country. Adolph's Salt Substitute was designed to meet that need.

Then, in 1957 cam Adolph's Sugar Substitute, the first and only sweetener in granular form that looks, sprinkles and sweetens like real sugar. Here again it was found that such a product would satisfy a real need for diabetics, weight-watchers and, as a dietary aid in the prevention of dental caries. With a nationwide brokerage alliance established and products that people needed and wanted, distribution was achieved in short order.

Adolph's employees have shared in the success of their company in many ways. They work in a steel and glass building where every office faces a gardened area, has perfect climate control and an individual hi-fi speaker. A progressive fringe benefit program offers everything from a birthday holiday to full insurance protection. Adolph's policy of satisfying consumer needs with new products is paralleled by Adolph's employee relations program, based on satisfying the needs of employees.

Looking to the future, the new headquarters building of Adolph's, Ltd. houses a fully-equipped modern laboratory and kitchens that provide every known appliance for cooking meat. At Adolph's there will always be continued research and testing for ultimate perfection, control and uses of their products. And the search for new products that fill specific needs and contribute to better living will go on."