We’re kicking off a theme week today on the Real People Behind Famous Food Brands! Today we’re talking about Duncan Hines. You’ve seen his name on cake mixes and frosting in the baking aisle, but he wasn’t a chef or a baker. He was a traveling salesman turned self-taught restaurant critic! Starting in the 1920s, Hines worked as a traveling salesman for a Chicago printer. He ate a lot of meals on the road, and started compiling a list of good restaurants around the country. This was before there was an interstate system and at a time when there weren’t many chain restaurants, so finding a good meal could be difficult. In 1936, Hines self-published the first edition of “Adventures in Good Eating”, which included 475 restaurants across the country that had earned Hines’ seal of approval. In his guidebooks, Hines would note whether the restaurant had air conditioning, the prices, and its hours of operation. Health department inspections didn’t exist yet, so he’d also take a peek inside restaurant kitchens to check out their food safety and cleanliness. Hines’ guidebooks were extremely popular, and he released an updated edition every year until he retired in 1954. In 1949, he partnered with Roy Park to form Hines-Park Foods, putting the Duncan Hines name on over 200 products. His now-famous cake mix was introduced in 1951. Hines died of lung cancer in 1959 at the age of 78 and his guidebooks were discontinued in 1962. But his name lives on in the bakery aisle of every grocery store! Learn more here.