In 1881 Max J. Brandenstein (1860-1925),[2] son of tobacco wholesaler Joseph Brandenstein, began roasting coffee in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1899 he established a tea, spice and coffee import business in his name that took over his brand with the assistance of brothers Mannie, Charlie, and Eddie. The firm's name was later changed to the MJB Co.[3] to minimize sibling rivalry and disguise their German-Jewish origins.[4]
In her 1978 memoir Coffee, Martinis and San Francisco, Ruth Bransten McDougall, the granddaughter of the founder, wrote that her father Mannie Brandenstein changed his name to Bransten to protect the business against anti-German sentiments during World War I, as well as to please his wife, whose family originated from France.[5]
In 1900 Mannie Brandenstein debuted what was to become a well-known advertising campaign: "MJB Coffee Why?" In time, signs bearing the slogan appeared all over the San Francisco Bay Area. [1]
"In 1898, Edward Norton, of New York, was granted a United States patent on a vacuum process for canning foods, subsequently applied to coffee. Others followed. Hills Brothers, of San Francisco, were the first to pack coffee in a vacuum, under the Norton patents, in 1900. M.J. Brandenstein & Company, of San Francisco, began to pack coffee in vacuum cans in 1914."[6]
In the 1940s, MJB got endorsement from several of the industry’s glitterati, including the Cherokee Strip film stars promoting the brand.[8] Moreover, a 1970s TV campaign of MJB taglined "tastes good when it should" featured actress Teri Garr. The campaign's success led to her being discovered by director Steven Spielberg, who cast her in his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.[9]
Ruth Bransten McDougall, Mannie’s daughter wrote a book named Under Mannie’s Hat that is a collection of memoirs of their family and brand history.[10]
^Page 94, Coffee, Martinis and San Francisco, by Ruth Bransten McDougall, published by Presidio Press, 1978
^Ukers, William Harrison (1922). "Chapter 30: Development of the Green and Roasted Coffee Business in the United States". All About Coffee. New York: Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Co. p. 506 – via Project Gutenberg.
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