Robert Rich Sr. was born into a dairy family but built his fortune on an unlikely product – the first non-dairy whipped topping. Rich’s invention was inspired by milk shortages during WWII and won him a place in the National Frozen Food Industry Hall of Fame. His invention was also dismissed by his father and drew the scorn of the dairy industry, which instigated lawsuits against his non-dairy product in 36 different states. Today, the family-owned and run business, “Rich Products,” is a $7 billion multinational food products company that sells over 2,000 products in 112 countries.
Robert E. Rich Sr. was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 7, 1913. His father, Pal Rich, owned an ice cream plant that he ultimately built into the largest independent ice cream company in the US. Robert worked various jobs at the company over the summers, including driving delivery trucks and working on production lines.
When it came time to decide on his career path, Rich stuck with the dairy industry but was ready to do things his own way. With a $5,000 loan from his father, Rich bought a small farm and started “Wilber Dairy Company” (later renamed the “Jones-Rich Milk Company”) in 1935. It was soon one of the largest diaries in the region.
During WWII, when the US implemented food rationing, Rich was tapped by the government to create dairy rationing guidelines, which included eliminating whipped-cream sales. Rich then became Michigan’s milk administrator, where he learned about a common connection he shared with automaker Henry Ford.
As it turned out, Rich was not a big fan of cows. He actually dubbed them “this country’s most inefficient manufacturing plant,” a sentiment shared by Ford. As early as 1921, Ford was predicting that dairy and meat from cows would be replaced by man-made products. In the 1930s, Ford built a soymilk plant near Dearborn, Michigan. The demonstration plant made several hundred gallons of soymilk a day, though none of it was ever sold commercially.
In 1942, not long after the US entered WWII, Ford established the George Washington Carver Laboratory where he intensified his research into alternative dairy products, including soymilk and “soy whip topping.” He served this soymilk to patients in the nearby Ford Hospital, and he offered to give the soymilk recipe to anyone who was interested. Bob Rich was one of the first to accept this offer.
Rich was so intrigued that he established a separate company, “Rich Products Corporation,” to pursue the idea. His team perfected the combination of soy protein, corn syrup, vanilla, and emulsifiers into “Rich’s Whip Topping.” However, the team struggled to get the topping to whip reliably.
By sheer accident, Rich froze a batch of the topping just before a pitch to potential clients. He pretended everything was going to plan, borrowed a jackknife to hack off a hunk of frozen topping, and was amazed when it whipped right up into the fluffy white topping he had promised – and triple the volume.
The topping took off amid consumers that were deprived of whipping cream because of the war. But it also rankled the dairy industry that had been fighting to prevent imitations from gaining a foothold amid the harsh rationing. Rich was sensitive to the industry’s plight and called his product a “coffee whitener” in an attempt to distinguish it from real dairy products. Still, the dairy industry went to court to enforce the laws in states where it was illegal to sell imitation dairy products
Rich was ultimately sued by the USDA in 36 states. All told, he won 40 of 41 suits launched against his whipping cream alternative. The product also marked the Rich family’s entrance into the frozen food business, which branched out to include things like seafood and pizza dough. In 1990, Rich became the second person inducted into the new Frozen Food Hall of Fame, right behind Clarence Birdseye.
Rich also maintained his dairy business, which he grew into the largest independent diary in the country before selling it in 1969. Rich’s family believed he kept it so long mostly out of respect for his father. He sunk the proceeds into Rich Foods which he then used to further expand the company, now with his son, Robert Rich Jr., at his side. The company today supplies thousands of products to retailers, bakeries, and foodservice providers in over 100 countries, and currently ranks number 116 on Forbes’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies.
When Rich passed away in 2006, he was one of the richest men in America, with an estimated fortune of +$2.5 billion. The company today is still run by Rich Jr., along with his wife, Mindy, and they plan to keep it 100% family run “for eternity.” The company is aiming for $10 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Next in line will be one of the Rich’s four children. (Sources: The New York Times, Forbes, Frozen Food Hall of Fame)
