Ever Had Wish-Bone Italian Dressing? You Can Thank This Missouri Family!
When it comes to eating salads, for most of us, we like to add some dressing to them to make them a little tastier to enjoy. Many of us go with Ranch, Blue Cheese or French Dressing. I would be willing to speculate that if we did a survey about what our favorites dressings were, Italian dressing would be in the Top 3.
One of the most popular Italian dressings on the market today is Wish-Bone Italian Dressing. If you are a fan, you can thank the Sollomi family and they are from Kansas City Missouri. Lets learn a little about their history and their dressing.
There was a classy establishment located at 4455 Main Street, the Wishbone Restaurant served family-style bowls of fried chicken along with prime rib, lobster tails, brook trout, corn fritters, mashed potatoes and gravy — and, of course, salad. It opened in 1948 and in that year, Phillip Sollomi debuted his Italian vinaigrette for his fried chicken restaurant. It would eventually be sold in every grocery store in the country.
The Sollomi family, especially Phillip Sollomi Sr, liked to stay busy. He and his wife Lena opened this place after WWII. The dressing was a hit from the beginning. The back of the Wish-Bone bottle shows that the dressing includes garlic, onion, red bell pepper and a handful of other seasonings, along with oil, vinegar and sugar. The Sollomi family still has the original recipe, which of course, is private to them.
You can learn a little more about their history and how this dressing became the backbone of a dressing empire HERE. The family was competing against Kraft, and back in the early days Phillip was told to lower the price of his product. He decided to sell it for a dime more. Premium product. The commercial from 1977 plays on that fact that you should be willing to pay a little more for a better product.
Ranch is the most popular dressing now, but if you are an Italian dressing person, you might want to try this again. Flavor is still the best. Their Facebook page link is HERE. The family did eventually sell Wish-Bone to the Lipton company, but it looks like the Sollomi family is getting involved again, to once again remind us of their legacy. Again, you can click HERE for the full story on what they are doing today.