The History of the Classic Yoo-hoo Chocolate Beverage

Tom Blank of Weird History Food explored the shelf stable history behind the classic Yoo-hoo chocolate flavored beverage.

There are some things you never outgrow: chicken nuggets, naps, and the magic of Yoo-hoo. Maybe it's the iconic yellow label. Maybe it's the fun-to-say name. Or maybe it's because Yoo-hoo exists in a category of its own: part drink, part nostalgia, part what the heck is this, actually?"

The idea for the chocolate drink was conceived by Natale Olivieri in 1928, the owner of a fruit drink business who lived in Garfield, New Jersey. While watching his wife can her homemade marinara sauce, Olivieri realized that he could make his drink shelf-stable.

Inspired by his wife's tomato canning skills Olivieri watched her sterilize jars by boiling them before sealing and a light bulb went off if it worked for marinara why not chocolate? After a few tries he figured it out gently shake the bottle while it boiled. Kill the bacteria seal the sucker up and boom shelf stable chocolate drink no milk no spoilage.

Olivier named the drink Yoo-hoo and began selling it locally, where it quickly gained a large following. He expanded his business, but it began to wane in the 1950s until baseball great Yogi Berra put the drink on the national map, when he not only starred in Yoo-Hoo ads but also became part of the company.

Sales among adults in the Northeast jumped 40% after Berra ads hit the airwaves the campaign took Yohoo from a kid's lunchbox treat and Yogi Berra didn't just endorse Yoo-Hoo he invested in it becoming a vice president of the company.

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