In a “Preservation in Print” article about other fading “ghost signs” across the city, historian Ed Branley points out another Uneeda Biscuit ad in the French Quarter. It’s on the side of an apartment building at 438 Dauphine St. Branley says there was a third Uneeda ad at 901 Tchoupitoulas St. that has been painted over.
The company dates to 1898, and Uneeda Biscuits were among its first products. The term biscuit refers to what we call a cookie or cracker today. Uneeda Biscuits were among the first sold in a package as opposed to loosely packed and sold from barrels in a grocery store. According to company lore, the Uneeda name was created by the son of the packaging manufacturer who said “You need a name” for the new product. Uneeda products, which originally sold for 5 cents (as mentioned on the Dumaine Street sign), remained on the market until 2009.
You may not have heard of Uneeda Biscuits, but I’ll bet you’ve eaten other products from the National Biscuit Company, whose name also is seen on the side of that Dumaine Street building. Better known as Nabisco, the company makes Ritz, Triscuit and Wheat Thins crackers and Oreo and Chips Ahoy! cookies.
Across the country, the National Biscuit Company favored advertising its products with large outdoor billboards like the one in the French Quarter. The building you noticed at 730 Dumaine St. dates to the 1830s. Various owners since then have used the Uneeda sign as a selling point. One 1986 real estate listing called it the “Uneeda Biscuit Palace … a Quarter landmark renowned for its Uneeda Biscuit advertisement.”
Just north of Troy, on Remson Street in Cohoes, stands an example that helps tell the story. Ayer’s field agents had money to spend, and in the absence of any legal obstacles, were able to make leasing agreements with private property owners for what was often virgin wall space. Good locations attracted generations of advertisers. But as the Remson Street example shows, even after being painted over multiple times, the lead white used for the primary lettering, which chemically bonded to bricks below, has allowed the Uneeda originals to hold fast, and with time, weather back into view.
The National Biscuit Company was founded on February 3, 1898 through the merger of the rivalrous American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company and the New York Biscuit Company (along with the United States Baking Company and a few smaller concerns). The name “Uneeda,” the invention of NBC’s advertising agency, N. W. Ayer & Son, was registered on December 27, 1898. By that January, less than a year after the company’s founding, Ayer kicked off a teaser campaign with a Chicago newspaper display ad that read simply, “Do you know Uneeda Biscuit?” Demand was immediate,4 and an unheard of 10-year $7,000,000 advertising budget was requested.5
In 2016, an early Uneeda brick face sign was discovered on the west wall of the Nicholaus Block, on the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard in Schenectady, New York. As is often the case, the sign was exposed when the building next door was demolished. A fragment only, the ghost was well preserved, retaining the typically washed away fugitive reds, greens and blacks that were central to the product’s identity. It was novel enough to make the local news.2 I didn’t know what “Une Bis” was, but it took just a few minutes of Googling to figure out that this was something special.
It wasn’t the first old sign I’d ever noticed. I’d been documenting them for a while. But this Uneeda fragment’s sudden appearance made an impression, and since, ghosts have been popping into my consciousness with ever more frightening frequency.
It was by no means a given that Uneeda Biscuits would be sold in a standard 21-cracker per box for five cents configuration. Prior, crackers were simply shoveled out of a barrel into a bag and sold by weight. And five cents per package left almost no margin for profit even in 1899. Several NBC investors pushed against the strategy. But Adolphus Green, the visionary manager of NBC, was certain the future of grocery retailing was high volume, low price and product standardization.9 His instincts were correct. The ability to convert a nickel into a box or a bottle of something good proved a magic formula. A big “5¢” appeared not only on Uneeda Biscuit signs, but also on Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola and other soft drink promotions, Owl and Cremo Cigar promotions, and many other prominent promotions of the era (hence my speculation about well-worn Buffalo nickels).
Uneeda Biscuit – Hubert Harrison
What is a Uneeda Biscuit?
The Uneeda Biscuit has been a household name in America for over a century. Introduced in 1898 by the National Biscuit Company (now known as Nabisco), the Uneeda Biscuit quickly became a staple in American homes due to its convenient packaging and long shelf life.
When did Uneeda biscuits come out?
The biscuit was first introduced by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) in 1898 and was commonly found in grocery stores around the United States until production ceased in the 1980s. Many people who grew up with Uneeda Biscuits were left disappointed with their disappearance from store shelves.
How did Uneeda biscuits make money?
Before the end of N.B.C.’s first year in business, Uneeda Biscuits hit the market in their new, carefully-designed packages. Green spent more money in advertising the product than had ever been seen in the cracker business — $7 million in the first ten years. He plastered cities and countryside with signs and ads. Green tolerated no mistakes.
Are Uneeda biscuits healthy?
However, most varieties of Uneeda Biscuits contain enriched wheat flour, sugar, vegetable shortening, corn syrup, salt, and baking soda. The biscuits are also often fortified with various vitamins and minerals to boost their nutritional value. The biscuits are still a popular snack food and are widely available in stores across the United States.