Production at the boxy white factory wound down in March. Soon the final packages of Ry-Krisp will disappear forever from the cracker aisles, and with them, a bit of local history will crumble. In one short century, Ry-Krisp rose from humble origins to become a product distributed around the globe.
The recent graduate of St. Olaf College grew up seeing Ry-Krisp on the table or in the pantry. Ry-Krisp was always around, but I had to mature into liking it. I started eating them during camping trips, and now I like a nice stack with cheese and cucumbers. The Nebraska food conglomerate acquired Ry-Krisp in ; the brand was just one piece of a massive deal to purchase the food holdings of Ralcorp, a descendant of Ralston Purina.
When companies change hands, heritage goes out the window. Minneapolis had become internationally known for its milling innovations by the turn of the last century. It was in this era that Ry-Krisp was invented. Peterson, his brother and widowed mother first sold the crackers door-to-door, then offered it at their bakery in south Minneapolis and registered the trademark for Ry-Krisp in The first Ry-Krisp was round with a hole in the center, keeping with the Scandinavian tradition of drying crispbreads on a pole.
Ads for disc-shaped Ry-Krisp showed up in immigrant newspapers printed in native Nordic languages. In , the new owner built the factory where the crackers were made until production came to a stop this month. In the late s, Ry-Krisp made an even more dramatic marketing twist. One series of print ads was aimed at adolescents.
Parkin, an associate professor of history at Monmouth University in New Jersey, noted that the ads used line drawings to depict women as impossibly thin in contrast with fuller-figured women. Feed Loader. Parkin said Beatrice Adams, the ad writer who originated the campaign, claimed that her mocking tagline gained cultural traction. This past March, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company Ry-Krisp announced that it would be ceasing production and closing its only factory's doors.
First opened in , the company is a lesson in image transformation. When it first opened, Ry-Krisp catered to the Norwegians, Swedes and Danes who had settled in the Midwest, tugging on the heartstrings of immigrants looking for a taste of the familiar crispbreads they were used to eating back home. In the s the company shifted focus and started touting health claims, puffing up the aspect of rye as a whole grain and digestive aid. When the '40s hit, Ry-Krisp changed again, albeit this time in a crueler fashion.
Recipe included with this story: Rye Crispbread. It's the angle of Ry-Krisp as diet food that kept the company churning out crackers in three shifts, 24 hours a day for seven days a week up until the s, but as customers either died or changed tastes, sales for Ry-Krisp began to falter and no image-freshening could save the year old company.
However, there's one thing that might have been overlooked in all this advertising over the years - taste. Although I grew up nearly four hours west of the Ry-Krisp plant, I'd never eaten one until I got to college and met Anine. She was an exchange student from Norway, and investigating her fridge and cupboards were just as interesting as scanning the grocery aisles at IKEA.
Among her tubes of pate and wheels of tiny cheese was a packet of crispbread, much like those Ry-Krisp crackers. I thought we had that listed on the website, but will recheck. Thx, Ted. Pat — Thanks for posting us on Ft Rickey. This is one of the ways they pay for their own operation, so do support them where possible!
Hoping to have them available as soon as we sort out some manufacturing challenges so you can have them for whatever use. All the best, Ted Leavitt. Don — apologies that this is a repeat answer to the one before but the question was the same. When we bought the brand, we had to develop a new manufacturing location. It will take us awhile to get on store shelves but the product will be able to be purchased directly.
Thanks for the interest. Will be waiting eagerly and am going to have my first few crackers with cheese and a glass of wine. It is wonderful, and making this in America will help stop international terrorism and bring about world peace. Love it! Things that bring world peace are always great. Working hard on both and will keep you posted through the website.
I loved the unseasoned crackers with any flavor hummus. If I have to order mass quantities, I guess I just will do that! Andie — your post ended up in our spam folder. Thanks for your comment. Will check into it. Thanks for the suggestion! Still working at it. Any new update? My very last hoarded box kind old now too: is almost gone! I consider it a necessity.
Am anxious to be able to purchase online by the case. Both Safeway and QFC had no idea what happened. When will I be able to find them again? Have tried other rye crackers but none of them have the flavor and texture to go with great cheeses and spreads. I used to find your crackers at Randalls markets in Texas. But I live in Pittsburgh so I want them back here!! Aldi stores are opening all over the country. Maybe they would be open to stocking your product.
Gabrielle, Thanks for the good word on our crackers. They are tricky in that they take such a small line in their stores, but you never know. All the best, Ted. I grew up eating these yummy crackers!!! Is the only was to order them in a case?? Bonnie, Thanks for the note. Figuring out cases vs. We need to get back into production first and that means getting the legal stuff behind us.
Fingers crossed.
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