American Beauty Macaroni Company

American Beauty Macaroni Company was founded in Kansas City, Kansas by Rocco Sarli in 1912. An Italian immigrant who started the Kansas City Macaroni and Importing Company, Sarli merged his operation with Denver Macaroni Company in 1916, which had "American Beauty" as one of its labels. Sarli’s company (whose name would be changed to American Beauty in 1947) had the largest geographical distribution of any pasta business during the 1930s. Sales continued to grow as the Depression years and early 1940s helped establish macaroni products as an economical, nutritional and versatile food.

The post-war years witnessed continued growth. New plants were opened in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, a competitive plant was purchased in Wichita, and one of the first American-made, continuous long-goods presses and spreaders was installed in St. Louis.

By 1966, the company consisted of eight manufacturing facilities located in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Dallas, plus Kansas City, Denver and St. Louis. At that time, the company was controlled by the Sarli and Vagnino families. Sales totaled approximately $14 million.

The company was acquired by Pillsbury in 1977. Following the acquisition the company’s plants in Minneapolis and Dallas were closed. In 1984, Hershey Foods purchased the company and its three remaining plants in Kansas City, Denver, and Fresno, California. The brand is distributed in parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and all states west of the Mississippi River except Alaska and Hawaii.