Arnold Zwicky's Blog

On my posting earlier today, “The Bulldog Café, a lost monument of mimetic architecture”, this comment by Robert Southwick Richmond:

Mimetic vehicle design. Chicken Dinner candy bars were on the market 1923-62 – I don’t remember ever seeing one – but the delivery trucks were a laugh and a half. I remember seeing one in St. Louis in 1960.

Bob’s graphic didn’t post, but here’s a whole piece on the delivery trucks on the Issuu site, under the section “The Gentleman Racer: A Guide to Cars, Adventure, Style, and Culture” by Michael Satterfield:

“Chicken Dinner” was the name of a candy bar that was produced in the early ’20s by Sperry Candy, a company based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The name came from the concept of  “a chicken in every pot” a slogan repopularized for the 1928 Republican  Presidential campaign. At some point, the company started building Chicken-Trucks that would be used to promote the candy and it seems also sold the candy like a modern-day ice-cream truck. Each was one unique and had its own version of a stylized chicken integrated into the bodywork.

(#1) A array of Chicken Dinner Candy Bar trucks

(#2) A very early truck

The flavor of the candy thankfully didn’t taste like a Chicken Dinner, instead, it was filled with nuts and covered in chocolate. It was described in ads as “An expensive, high-grade candy.”

(#3) An ad for the candy, showing the nuts and chocolae

It stayed in production for nearly 40 years before being discontinued in the 1960’s. It is also rumored to be a source of the phrase “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner”  from when a Chicken Dinner Candy Bar would be a prize at fair or carnival.

The candy made it until 1962 when the company was purchased by a competitor and the brand was discontinued.

This entry was posted on July 30, 2023 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Language and food, Language in advertising, Mascots, Signs and symbols. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.