There are four major competitions that are so massive in range, scope, equipment required and competitors involved that they can’t be held on a yearly basis. Most Americans correctly guess the first three: the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympics and the Pillsbury Bake-Off, but understandably forget to mention soccer’s World Cup!
In 1949 the Pillsbury Co. wanted to do something to celebrate its 80th anniversary in a way that involved American homemakers in the event, so the company launched the “Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest.” The company and its ad agency figured the contest would be a great way to gather heirloom recipes passed down from generation to generation and to honor American cooks. In 1949 everybody knew how to bake, so the challenge accomplished all Pillsbury desired, and then some. The first contest, held in New York City’s glamorous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, was so popular that the company decided to do it again the following year.
Early on, the press had trouble wrapping their copy around the “Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest,” and the abbreviation of GNR&BC sounded like a railroad passing through Nebraska, so they abbreviated the title to “the Bake-Off.” In the early contests, all recipes had to use Pillbury’s BEST Flour, so it should come as no surprise that cake recipes dominated the early years, representing four of the grand-prize winners during the ’50s. Nine of the first 10 winners from this decade were in sweet treats and desserts.
Mmm.
The early contests initially had an October entry deadline and an early December announcement of winners. This strategy was designed to take advantage of the period known to marketers as “Fall Bake,” the eight-week period leading up to Christmas when many recipe brands would do 40% of their annual sales volume. An early example of the power of the Bake-Off was Grand-Prize Winner Dorothy Koteen’s 1954 recipe for “Open Sesame Pie,” which upon its publication caused a consumer stampede on sesame seeds that cleaned out shelves from coast to coast.
In 1966, Pillsbury launched its “Busy Lady” contest theme, which was among the first to address the ever-expanding need for convenience for women working outside of the home. During this period, convenience products like refrigerated dough, frozen vegetables, canned meats, cake mixes and processed cheese first appeared in Bake-Off recipes. In 1968 two separate categories were added, one for convenience mixes and one for refrigerated dough.
Edna (Holmgren) Walker strolled off with the Grand Prize in 1969 with her “Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs,” proudly made with Pillsbury’s own refrigerated crescent rolls. It’s amazing, in fact, how each decade of the Bake-Off seemed to mirror the times: The fifties’ recipes were “Lovin’ from the Oven,” the ’60s were “Fast n’ Ez,” the ’70s were “Lowfat & Natural,” the ’80s were “Fast and Healthy,” and the ’90s were “Cook Local, Eat Global.”
In 1976 Pillsbury decided that the logistics of having 100 cooks stage a simultaneous Bake-Off at one time, at one place, every year were just too much, so the event became biennial. As Kris Burns, Pillsbury’s promotion manager for the Bake-Off, explains: “The equity is big enough to leverage annually without the expense of running the contest annually.”
The next major change wouldn’t occur for two decades, but it would be a big one. Taking a page from celebrity chef Emeril LaGasse, Pillsbury decided in 1996 to “kick it up a notch,” by increasing the grand prize from $50,000 to a cool million. “We didn’t increase the prize to drive entries, we did it to increase the program’s visibility,” Pillsbury’s Senior P.R. Manager Marlene Johnson explains. “We figured with the high lottery prizes consumers were winning that we deserved to have a larger-than-life payoff too. After all, we are the largest cooking contest in the world.” That first million-dollar prize in 1996 was won by the first male grand-prize winner in the contest’s history.
The logistics of the actual event are daunting. The most recent event, the 40th Bake-Off, accepted tens of thousands of entries by mail and online from June through Oct. 15, 2001. An independent judging agency reviewed every entry to ensure the rules were followed. A home economist panel then reviewed the entries twice before finally forwarding the best to the Bake-Off test kitchens. Finally, if it looks good, tastes great, and uses the eligible products, the recipes are reviewed to insure they’ve never been published or used in another national contest — don’t ask me how they know, they just do. Pillsbury selects the top 100 recipes from this final pool to compete head to head at the actual Bake-Off Event.
On Feb. 26, 2002, 100 cooks assembled at Loew’s Portofino Bay Hotel, a part of the Universal Studios complex in Orlando, FL. Each of the finalists was set up in her own mini-kitchens with GE appliances at the hotel. One luckless soul had the job of waiting at a local supermarket, cell phone in hand, in case one of the contestants needed an ingredient.
Judging the actual event is a matter of extraordinary taste and pacing. Obviously with the stakes (to say nothing of the bragging rights) as high as they are, the final judging is carried out with a secrecy that borders on reverence.
The 2002 Bake-Off was won by Denise Yennie for her “Chicken Florentine Panini,” announced by host Marie Osmond at a ceremony televised live by CBS.
The prospects of future Bake-Off contests are brighter than ever, as Kris Burns summarizes it: “We will continue to use Bake-Off as a major merchandising platform for our brands.” After executing 40 Bake-Off contests across 53 years, while garnering well over $100 million of free publicity, it appears that they’ll do just fine for a long, long time to come.
Rod Taylor is senior VP of CoActive Marketing. He can be reached at [email protected].
Taste Makers
When you’re running “the largest cooking contest in the world” you get to know a whole lot about what America is cooking. Here are some topline observations on what’s popular in America’s kitchens from the gurus at Pillsbury’s Bake-Off Central:
Handheld Rules
Hold the plate. Americans are on the go to such an extent that they want to be hand fed as much as possible, ideally from their own hand. Whether it’s bars and bites, or popovers and pockets, we still live for convenience.
Church Cookbook Recipes
In the 90’s we first heard the term “comfort foods” applied to dishes like meatloaf and cherry cobbler as Americans opted for simpler, more calming recipes. If possible, we’re delving even further back into our food pasts, to covered-dish, “church social” kinds of casseroles calling for ingredients like cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, sausage and cheese, sometimes all in the same recipe.
Heat is Hot
They say you lose your sense of taste as you grow older. Maybe that’s why, as America’s population ages, spicy Thai, Indian or Mexican recipes are increasing dramatically. Cooks are using everything from fresh and canned red and green chiles, to horseradish and mustards to add flavor and “bring the heat” to foods.
Salsa’s Soaring
Entrants are finding new and innovative ways of using salsa, often in place of other sauces for example, pouring salsa in place of tomato sauce into spaghetti or onto pizza crusts. Salsa sales surpassed ketchup years ago as a condiment, proof of the versatility of this historically Mexican product.
Easy is Good
The most popular dinner recipes were those that could be made in one dish. Recipes using boneless or pre-cooked chicken and even deli meats have increased. Marinades are adding flavor and contributing an exotic air to recipes without increasing prep time.
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