Hines, Duncan

Hines, Duncan (1880–1959), is the namesake of one of the most well-known boxed cake mixes in the United States since the mid-twentieth century. Often considered alongside Sara Lee and Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, unlike these brands, was neither an invented character nor a pseudonym, but the first national restaurant critic in American history. See betty crocker and sara lee. An energetic, extroverted traveling salesman, Hines retired from business in 1936 to self-publish a best-selling restaurant guidebook, Adventures in Good Eating. Soon elevated to the status of “authority on American food,” his persona became associated with notions of trust, honesty, and high standards in an era when middle-class diners traveling by automobile spurred the professionalization and expansion of the restaurant industry.

Due to his widespread, sterling reputation among consumers, Duncan Hines was often courted by food companies to sell their products. Despite his fear that endorsements would compromise his critical judgment, Hines eventually relented, forming Hines-Park Foods, Inc. in 1949 with a media executive, Roy Park. The Duncan Hines brand featured over 200 products, including canned produce, coffee, citrus juices, and salad dressings, as well as appliances, tableware, and even a credit-card service. At first, the best-selling item was Duncan Hines Ice Cream—no accident, for ice cream was Hines’s favorite food, which he ate three times a day, including breakfast. The cake mixes were developed by Nebraska Consolidated Milling. They were distinguished by the requirement that cooks add fresh eggs to the mix rather than supplemental liquids, as was then the industry standard. Duncan Hines cookbooks of sweets recipes also sold well, a tradition that has endured into the twenty-first century.

The success of the ice creams and cakes mixes was immediate and took a large market share from established brands like Pillsbury. As a consequence, Hines-Park Foods drew attention from larger companies. Seeking to capitalize on the mid-century boom in food processing, Procter & Gamble purchased the brand in 1956 and whittled its portfolio down to the cake mixes. After Hines’s death in 1959, his status as America’s popular food expert was eclipsed by the next cohort of tastemakers, notably Julia Child. Duncan Hines the person, a critic, became just Duncan Hines the product, cake mixes.

Under Procter & Gamble’s ownership, and then that of Aurora Foods and Pinnacle Foods, Hines baked goods have remained consistently popular. Although commercial fortunes can change at a whim, the future of Duncan Hines as an icon of American sweets appears to be strong. Dozens of cake flavors have been introduced, as well as mixes for brownies, muffins, and cookies, and frostings. With no face attached to the name Duncan Hines, the cake mixes have instead been associated with reliability, ease of use, and a sense of taste and texture that belies their industrial origin. The name has also taken on a nonculinary life of its own. By the twenty-first century “Duncan Hines” was such a part of many Americans’ experiences with baked goods that dozens of hip-hop rappers’ lyrics substitute his name for the word “cake,” which in urban slang means “money.”

See also cake mix.

1. Hatchett, Louis. Duncan Hines: The Man Behind the Cake Mix. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2001.
2. Hines, Duncan. The Duncan Hines Dessert Book. New York: Pocket Books, 1955.