Golden Grain Company: Rice-A-Roni, The San Francisco Treat campaign
Megan McnamerOverview
Rice-A-Roni appeared on grocery store shelves in the late 1950s. The idea of flavored rice as a side dish caught on with increasingly busy American families, and the manufacturer, Golden Grain Macaroni Company, which eventually became a subsidiary of Quaker Oats, effectively capitalized on the instant-meal trends of the 1950s and 1960s. The company successfully marketed a wide variety of rice and pasta flavors over the years, incorporating vegetables into these flavors by the 1990s. An enduring jingle—"Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat!"—along with an association with San Francisco...