All language subtitles for The.Food.That.Built.America.S04E07.When.Food.Freezes.Over.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

[Narrator] It's a $131
billion global industry

representing 1/3 of the
entire snack market.

Yet just a few decades ago,

the frozen snack
industry doesn't exist.

Frozen food was
pretty run-of-the-mill,

kind of boring stuff.

How do you make frozen food
a compelling consumer product?

Never say never.

[Narrator] Until a bold
group of innovators-

What if we push
the edges down?

It really was
brand new territory

for any food entrepreneur.

[Narrator] Gamble everything.

It was huge risk because
it's their life savings.

If you screw this up, you
have now soiled your brand.

[Narrator] And pushed
the limits of technology.

Making things crispy
in the microwave

was pretty much a foreign
concept in the '70s.

[Narrator] To help create
a whole new sector of food.

These were snack
options that never existed

before these incredible
people invented them.

- What do you call them?
- Jeno's Pizza Rolls.

They started this
idea of snack culture.

[Narrator] That anyone could
make in a matter of minutes.

Hot Pockets were
the perfect food

for the dawn of
the microwave era.

[Narrator] Obliterating
the traditional

three square meals a day.

They revolutionized
not only what people eat,

but when they eat it.

[Narrator] By ushering in

some of the most iconic
snack foods of all time.

You still can't get
McDonald's french fries

in the freezer aisle, but
you can get White Castle.

It's impossible.

Make it possible.

This is a frozen food
empire with hundreds

of millions of dollars

and it changed snacking
around the world.

[dramatic music]

[pensive music]

[Narrator] In the early 1960s,

a husband and wife
team are trying

to grow their small
family restaurant.

Jim and Rose Totino were
both incredibly hard workers.

This one actually
needs a little bit more

of the cheese, please.

Rose Totino reminds
me of the grandmothers

of a lot of my friends that I
grew up with back in Brooklyn.

She's short, she's feisty,
she's tough as nails,

very talented in the kitchen,
and full of delicious recipes.

That can go over there.

To understand Rose Totino,

you have to understand
where Rose Totino came from.

Her family really
experienced abject poverty

during the height of
the Great Depression,

so she started working at age
16 to provide for her family.

She is nobody's pushover.

[Narrator] For
the past decade,

the Totinos have been clocking
in grueling 18-hour days

to serve steadily growing
crowds their signature dish.

They would sell hundreds
of them a night on weekends,

and they had to figure out
how to keep up with the demand

because they wanted
bigger profits.

[Narrator] Customers suggest
they add more locations,

however, that plan is
not only too expensive,

but their signature dish
has yet to go mainstream.

[dramatic music]

It's hard to imagine
this, but in America,

most people didn't
know what pizza was.

Between 1880 and 1920,

about four million
Southern Italians

came over to the United States

and brought with them
the concept of pizza

to the industrial cities of
the northeastern United States.

There were bars and
Italian restaurants,

but it's still very
much an Italian product

that most Americans
didn't understand.

[Narrator] The New
York Times first mentions

the dish in 1944, soon
declaring that pizza

could be as popular a
snack as the hamburger

if Americans only
knew more about it.

After World War II,

many soldiers stationed
in Southern Italy

returned home craving
the exotic cuisine

they'd tasted abroad.

And the Totinos take notice,
but they aren't the only ones.

At the time, regional chains
like Domino's and Pizza Hut

were relatively small
chains by no means national,

but the Totinos saw
pizza as something

that shouldn't just be
limited to niche audiences.

[Narrator] The Totinos think
there might be an opportunity

to dramatically increase
their profit margins

without expanding
their restaurant.

But to do this, they'll need
to adapt their fresh pizza

for a relatively new technology.

During the first half
of the 20th century,

most people didn't have
refrigerators at all.

Then by 1950s, they got
refrigerators, and by the '60s,

most people had freezers.

[Narrator] With nearly
80% of American homes

now owning a freezer,

the newly established frozen
food market is taking off.

Back then, the frozen
food aisle was ice cream,

frozen meat, frozen
vegetables, not much else.

And because frozen foods
need to be shelf stable

other than the TV
dinner, generally it was

pretty run-of-the-mill,
kind of boring stuff

that my grandma might have made.

We were eating stuff
like liver and broccoli,

the kind of food
you might have seen

on "Leave It to Beaver"
or in old stock footage.

Frozen pizza, it
just didn't exist.

So the Totinos want to figure
out how to make a pizza

that you could then thaw
and bake at home yourself.

So the Totinos invested
$50,000 of their own money

to create it, but they
weren't professional chefs

or food scientists.

They didn't have a
real understanding

of how to industrially
mass produce food products.

It's kind of amazing
to have that much faith

in yourself to take
a risk that big.

[tense music]

[Narrator] The
Totinos don't know it,

but their groundbreaking idea
for an oven baked frozen pizza

will lead to a $1
billion juggernaut

for one of the top 10
largest food manufacturers

in the world, helping
to popularize pizza

by bringing it
into people's homes

and kicking off what will
become the $22 billion a year

frozen pizza market,
paving the way

for the $131 billion
frozen snack food industry.

But first, they have to make it.

[dramatic music]

You cannot just take a
fresh pizza and freeze it.

Ice crystals are gonna form.

[tense music]

The problem is there's a
lot of different ingredients

which all react differently
when you bake it.

After cooking
these frozen pizzas,

sauce seeps into the dough.

Still just soaked
through with the sauce.

The crust gets really soggy,

[Rose sighs]

which leads to a bit of a mess.

[Jim sighs]
- This will never work.

After nine months,
Rose and Jim Totino

had lost their nest egg

and got in the hole an
additional $50,000.

[Narrator] Unless the
Totinos can crack the code

for a frozen pizza-

Never say never, huh?

[Narrator] They'll lose
their entire life savings.

[pensive music]

A few hours away in
Northern Minnesota,

an ambitious food developer

is looking for inspiration
for his next product.

Jeno Paulucci was a simple,

hardworking guy from
Aurora, Minnesota.

He actually started
the food business

when he was 16 years
old as a fruit vendor.

[Narrator] Despite
being a first generation

Italian American, Paulucci's
first taste of success

wasn't with Italian food.

Paulucci's Chun
King company sells

the first commercially
available canned Chinese food

that you can get
in grocery stores

at a time when Asian food
wasn't as readily available

as it is now by a long shot.

Paulucci sells chop suey,
chow mein, and egg rolls.

Even people who weren't
familiar with Chinese food,

it was their introduction to it.

[Narrator] By 1962,
his canned meal company

was bringing in $30
million in annual revenue

accounting for half
of all US sales

of prepared Chinese food.

He eventually sells
Chun King for $63 million

to R.J. Reynolds, but he still
has inspiration in the tank.

Jeno is a tinkerer and he
wanted to keep trying new things

so it becomes a big launching
pad to build his next thing.

That next thing is unlike
anything on the market.

In the early part
of the 20th century,

most snacks were
things like chips

and cookies and dry goods,

and Jeno Paulucci noticed
there was opportunity

to offer new products.

We've always
embraced this concept

that you need three
square meals a day,

but that changed in the 1960s.

A lot more women were
joining the workforce,

which meant less
time for cooking,

so a lot more
people were grazing,

meaning they just wanted
kind of a light snack

rather than a full
sit down meal.

But people love munching
on cool and creative things,

so you need to keep things
fresh and inventive and exciting

in the realm of snacking.

[Narrator] So Paulucci
is trying to put a new spin

on one of his old
company's products

by making an egg
roll bite-sized.

[Ernie] He wanted
to make egg rolls

work for a larger audience.

[Narrator] Dating
back to Ancient China,

the deep fried pastry cases
with savory vegetables

or meat inside gained
popularity in America

in the late 1930s

when Chinese restaurants
began serving them

to customers in big cities.

Now, Jeno believes he can take
the side dish mainstream.

He had an interest in fusion

and didn't look at food as
having to be in one lane.

[Narrator] Paulucci
doesn't know it,

but his idea for
an oven baked snack

will one day rake in $175
million in annual sales,

sending him on a
collision course

with a future frozen food titan

in a race to see
whose name will be

on one of the most popular
frozen snacks of all time,

Jeno's or Totino's.

[Narrator] In the early
1960s, Jeno Paulucci is hoping

to once again find success
with an American audience

by creating a brand
new kind of snack,

a bite-sized egg roll.

The thing that people
love about egg rolls

is that they're crispy.

That's the key signature
element of an egg roll.

After all, it's just a pocket
with some kind of filling.

So he says, "Wait a minute,

couldn't I start
selling the egg rolls

with new and
inventive fillings?"

He doesn't know what they are,
but he knows it can be done.

And then a light
bulb moment happens

in the life of Jeno Paulucci,
a genius of food innovation,

he comes up with...

Peanut butter. [chuckles]

[pensive music]

[Narrator] Paulucci invites
a select group of friends

and industry executives to
sample his new frozen snacks.

He decides, "If I'm gonna
start selling the egg rolls,

I need people in test groups
to see how it tastes."

[Narrator] And he's
come up with more

than just a peanut
butter variety.

Let's start with
the cheeseburger.

[suspenseful music]

A Reuben sandwich.

There's no real telling
what's going to succeed

and what's going to fail.

[suspenseful music]

But the egg rolls ended
up being kind of a flop.

[Narrator] Now, Paulucci must
go back to the drawing board

or risk becoming
a one hit wonder.

Meanwhile, the Totinos have
mortgaged everything they have

to go all in on their
risky frozen pizza idea.

Jim and Rose had two problems.

They had a sauce problem and
they had a crust problem.

How do you engineer this food
such that it can be frozen?

[Narrator] That's when
Rose has an epiphany

involving a little
known product.

An edible sealing
agent was usually used

to preserve vegetables,

so it was huge risk trying to
rework this thing on pizza.

[Narrator] After pre-baking
and chilling the dough,

Rose experiments
with various amounts,

trying to get it just right.

[dramatic music]

Rose created a
separating layer

that would go in between
the dough and the sauce

so that the sauce
doesn't seep in.

It basically stays on top of it.

[dramatic music]

So that when you bake it, it
doesn't become a gloppy mess.

They did something no
one had ever seen before

when it came to the
creation of frozen foods.

This is it.

This was a huge innovation
because it allowed frozen pizza

to stay crisp while
it was cooking.

[Narrator] In 1962, they
formed Totino's Finer Foods

to mass produce
their frozen pizzas.

Consider the moment that
Rose Totino is coming up in.

This is a time when women
couldn't go get a credit card

or a loan without their
dad or their brother

sitting next to them.

Rose Totino is the
CEO of this company.

I think that's really
remarkable for that time.

[Narrator] Retailing at just
79 cents for a 16-inch pie,

Totino's frozen pizzas
hit grocery stores

across the Midwest.

Grocery stores are
notoriously scared

of new, revolutionary items.

But apparently, Totino's
was worth a risk.

It was groundbreaking
for its time

and was a huge game changer
for the frozen food sector.

There are way more grocery
stores around America

than Pizza Hut or Domino's.

So Totino's helped
pizza become mainstream.

Totino went from a struggling
family in the Twin Cities

to the first name in frozen
pizza all around the Midwest,

and they were just
getting started.

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] Meanwhile,
Jeno Paulucci's idea

for a frozen egg roll
is still stalled.

[pensive music]

So after experimenting
with Reubens

and peanut butter and
jelly, suddenly he realizes,

couldn't you put Italian
fillings in there?

[suspenseful music]

So he plays around with a
bunch of ingredients and sauce

trying to create
a pizza filling.

[intense music]

It's pizza inside
the crispy egg roll

with all manner of
awesomeness inside of it.

[dramatic music]

I mean, everyone wanted them.

Pizza's awesome,
but Jeno Paulucci

made it into something
much greater.

It's the food you know in a
brand new, exciting package.

These are amazing,
what do you call them?

Jeno's Pizza Rolls.

[Narrator] In 1967,
coming with a dozen rolls

in each box for just 69 cents,

the first frozen pizza
rolls that pack the flavors

of an entire meal in
a bite-sized portion

hit grocery stores
across the Midwest.

Jeno's Pizza Rolls
are a runaway success

and it changes party food
and changes snack food

in a whole new way.

You could just
go in your freezer,

put them in the oven for
10 minutes, and then boom,

you have something that's
really satisfying.

It's almost meal-like,

but you're still gonna be
hungry in time for dinner.

[Narrator] But Paulucci's
financial lifeblood

is about to be threatened,

and the food industry
changed forever.

[phone ringing]

Yeah? You want me to sit down?

Why? What's the matter?

[Narrator] By a new appliance.

The micro-what?

[Narrator] Since
launching in 1962,

annual sales of
Totino's frozen pizza

have jumped from
$10 million in 1970

to over $50 million in 1974.

Totino's frozen pizza
grew in popularity,

but only around the Midwest.

[Narrator] But another
Minneapolis food manufacturer

thinks they can turn Totino's
into a national phenomenon.

Pillsbury was undoubtedly
the first name in baked goods,

and they saw the
amazing potential

in Totino's frozen pizzas.

[tense music]

And they offer to buy the
business for $22 million,

but they wanted
something for that money.

What does this mean?

We love what you've
done with the company,

but what we really want is you.

Me?

They wanted Rose Totino,

a hardworking,
depression era woman

who built this successful
company in the Midwest

to be the first female vice
president in Pillsbury history.

[Narrator] In 1975, Rose sells

Totino's Finer
Foods to Pillsbury

for the modern equivalent
of over $125 million.

Welcome aboard.

This is a moment when
feminists are fighting

for the Equal Rights
Amendment, for fair pay.

So Rose Totino being
hired as a vice president

to this Fortune 500
company in the mid-1970s,

I mean, that's a
really big deal.

She didn't just break
the glass ceiling,

I mean, she shattered
it with a sledgehammer.

That's the American dream,

and that is the brass
ring right there.

[Narrator] With the muscle
of Pillsbury now behind them,

the Totino's brand is finally
sold in grocery stores

from coast to coast,
and it soon becomes

the best selling frozen
pizza in America.

It was so huge that
so many competitors

and copycats jumped
into the market

because Totino's had
to figure this out.

[Narrator] But a
new kitchen appliance

is threatening to upend the
entire frozen food industry.

Now, there's Ward's
incredible microwave oven,

makes a cook's life easy.

[Narrator] First
commercially available in 1947

at nearly six feet tall

and costing the modern
equivalent of $66,000.

A little over two decades later,

microwaves are 1/5 the size,
20 times less expensive,

and finally in demand.

So, now the microwave whet
the appetite of the public

to have more convenient things.

If you had to make yourself
dinner super quickly,

the microwave was
your best friend.

[Narrator] In 1970,
40,000 microwave ovens

are sold in the U.S.

By 1975, there are one million.

[pensive music]

The microwave?

[Narrator] To stay
ahead of the curve,

Jeno Paulucci spends
countless sums

to try to transform his
pizza rolls specifically

for the new technology.

Jeno was brilliant
because back in those days,

microwaves were used for
things like leftovers.

There weren't microwave items.

Jeno's Pizza Rolls were
able to transition much easier

to the microwave because
they were relatively small

so they could be
cooked very quickly

and they didn't
lose their luster.

To turn that into a
microwavable treat,

that was way ahead
of the competition.

[Narrator] With his product
now microwave friendly,

Jeno's sales hit roughly
125 million in 1978.

But 2,000 miles away,
a pair of brothers

have been tracking how
the rise of the microwave

has helped launch
innovative frozen snacks.

Paul and Dave Merage
were very ambitious guys.

They were born in Iran
to Jewish parents,

and then they were educated

and moved around
throughout Europe,

eventually coming to America.

Paul got a master's degree
in business from Berkeley

and then decided to start a
company called Chef America

where they would freeze

and sell frozen Belgian
waffles for the oven.

[Narrator] Now they intend
to create something brand new

to expand the boundaries
of what a microwave can do.

During the 1970s,

Paul noticed more
people eating on the go.

Very often, you'd have
both parents working.

If you were a
latchkey kid like me,

you needed to have something
new could make for yourself

for a snack while you
were doing homework.

Paul realized that
the bigger companies

aren't really paying attention
to these trends happening.

So, if they can
figure out a recipe

for the perfect
grab and go snack,

they're gonna hit it big.

They wanted to get in early
on this microwave food trend.

And Paul Merage noticed
that Jeno Paulucci

had recently changed the recipe

and cracked the code
of cooking pizza rolls

in the microwave,

but you've gotta eat a
dozen of them to feel full.

So the Merage brothers had a
notion for something bigger

that occupied a different
space than the market.

[Narrator] The Merage
brothers don't know it yet,

but their microwavable
creation will one day

rake in three quarters
of a billion dollars

in annual revenue

and help sales of microwave
ovens triple across the country.

But when the brothers
get to experimenting,

they realize their big
idea has a major flaw.

[microwave dings]

Microwaving frozen sandwiches
is a recipe for disaster.

[Narrator] By the early 1980s,

over 16 million American
households now own a microwave.

And at Pillsbury, new
vice president Rose Totino

knows her oven baked frozen
pizza will need to adapt

[microwave dings]
to remain relevant.

[dramatic music]

As a anyone who's
ever tried to microwave

a slice of pizza knows,

it generally turns into
something between

sponge and yoga mat.

It heats it, but it's not crisp.

It's chewy and wet and
lacks the awesomeness

that you can get from
traditional baking.

Other brands began to
cut in on their sales,

so she had to try something new.

Totino's Frozen Pizza
was not microwave-friendly,

so Rose had to go back
to the drawing board.

[Narrator] Meanwhile,
Paul and Dave Merage

are racing to get in on
the microwave gold rush,

hoping to be the first to
market with a creation

built specifically for
the new technology,

a frozen sandwich.

The idea of convenience food

really exploded
with the microwave.

The Merage brothers
wanted to make new foods

that could be made very
quickly by teenagers,

by kids even in some cases,
that you had never tried before.

And the microwave sandwich was
a pretty revolutionary idea.

[microwave dings]

[dramatic music]

[door slamming repeatedly]

[microwave dings]

[suspenseful music]

During one of their tests,

the sandwich had become
encrusted around the edges.

Wait, I have an idea.

And they realized they
shouldn't be working with bread.

They should be
working with dough

that is more like the dough
that you'd have on a calzone.

What if we push
the edges down?

[Dave] Kinda like a pita?

Yeah.

There we go.

[microwave dings]
[suspenseful music]

They were able to
solve the leakage issue,

but they still want to
create a crispy exterior.

Making things crispy
in the microwave

was pretty much a foreign
concept in the '70s.

[Narrator] That's when
the brothers experiment

with a new technology.

The susceptor is a
little cardboard sheet

that is laminated with
metallic film on the inside

that allows microwave heat
to become radiant heat.

This is similar to using
a boiler in the oven.

Susceptor technology
was first pioneered

by Pop Secret popcorn.

People may remember
back in the day,

you get microwave popcorn
and there would be tons

of unpopped kernels on
the bottom of the bag,

and it's because the heat
didn't evenly distribute.

But by putting that
thin layer of metal

within the layers of the bag,

it was able to conduct the heat

and cook the popcorn more
evenly, less unpopped kernels.

[Narrator] Now,
the Merage brothers

see an opportunity to harness
the susceptor's technology.

- Use both sides.
- Yeah.

They realize microwave popcorn

just uses one susceptor
on the bottom.

What if we had one
on the top as well?

So they made a way
that you can fold it

and put it in the box.

[dramatic music]

By surrounding it with
that thin layer of aluminum,

you're actually allowing
the heat to evenly conduct

and it allows you
to get a crispy edge

on something in a microwave

which you otherwise
couldn't get.

Susceptor technology
solved the problem.

It was a game changer.

[Narrator] The Merage
brothers portable meal

is the first frozen snack
that can be perfectly cooked

inside and out in
just two minutes.

What are we gonna call it?

How about Chunk
Stuffers? [laughs]

One of the trial
names, Chunk Stuffers,

it sounds kinda like
a dog food to me.

So they land on calling

their tasty microwavable
creations, Hot Pockets.

[Narrator] Retailing at
$1.99 for a box of two,

coming in flavors
like pepperoni pizza,

ham and cheddar,
or barbecue beef,

Hot Pockets hit grocery stores
across the country in 1983.

Hot Pockets were in
many ways the perfect food

for the microwave era because
they were a great snack

for kids, teenagers
after school.

It's very easy to make.

The Hot Pocket was
convenient, portable,

and yes, ready in a
matter of minutes.

So it was a reason to go
out and buy a microwave.

Now, America embraced
them and they took off.

[Narrator] They will
eventually come in 50 varieties

and hit sales of
$750 million a year.

And when the Merage
brothers decide

to sell their company in 2002,

Nestle buys it for a
remarkable $2.6 billion.

The Merage brothers
basically created

one of the best microwave
foods of all time.

Their devotion to
perfecting this

is what put them head and
shoulders above competition

from other frozen food makers.

[Narrator] Companies
like Green Giant, Tyson,

and Swanson follow suit by
creating their own products

specifically for the microwave.

And in Columbus,
Ohio, a bold CEO

thinks he can make another
sandwich even more popular

for the microwave era.

But not just any sandwich,
it's an American classic

from the world's
first fast food chain.

The best food ever
to be microwaved.

[Narrator] In the mid
1980s, an unexpected player

is looking for a way to enter

the burgeoning
frozen snack market.

Bill Ingram is a grandson of
the founder of White Castle.

He is only the third head
of the family-owned company.

He's big on legacy,

but he is also very
willing to try new things.

[Narrator] Opening
in Kansas in 1921,

White Castle was the number
one burger spot for decades.

But to ensure quality control,
they refused to franchise.

Now after six decades
in the business,

they ranked far
behind their rivals.

They are not expanding
across the country

the same way McDonald's is,
but they still wanna compete.

[Narrator] That's when Ingram
notices a peculiar trend.

Unbeknownst to the
folks of White Castle,

some customers start to
freeze White Castle burgers

to prepare at home.

And he's like,
"Oh, wait a second,

we can turn that
into an opportunity."

[suspenseful music]

He wants to start selling

their White Castle hamburgers
into grocery stores.

He's gonna sell 'em
into the freezer aisle.

This was heretofore unprecedented.

[Narrator] Ingram's idea
to try to bring his sliders

into the freezer aisle will lead

to the best selling frozen
hamburger in the country

with sales of roughly
one million of them

every single day.

[microwave dings]

But for now, there's a problem.

It's hard to adapt fast
food to the freezer aisle.

You can't just take a
frozen White Castle burger

and throw it in a microwave.

[saucer clinks]

You get a bun that is both
wet and squishy in the middle,

but hard and crusty
around the edge,

kind of a unevenly heated thing.

He realized you have
to make some changes

to make the White Castle
burger workable in a microwave

because the way it's prepared

at White Castle
is kind of insane.

It's a small burger, it's very
thin, it's got holes in it,

and it's steamed
on a bed of onions,

so you get that
onion coming through.

Steamed burgers are
really not a common thing.

It's kind of what makes

the White Castle
experience so singular.

How do you keep a patty juicy?

How do you get
that oniony flavor

without having it
on the flat top

with the onions underneath it?

And above all, White Castle
sliders get two pickles.

How do you bring people the
magic of a White Castle slider

without ruining the White
Castle slider in frozen form?

That's the challenge.

[Narrator] Over the
next several months,

Ingram forges ahead
trying to revamp

their signature sliders
for the microwave.

[Jason] They do a lot of
different trial and error.

Mm. Mm mm.

And much the way
susceptor technology

solved the Hot Pocket problem,

Bill Ingram and
his food scientist

created a special plastic
wrapping of their burgers

[suspenseful music]

that actually cycles the water
inside that frozen package

the way that almost replicates
that steaming process.

[microwave dings]

[suspenseful music]

And that gave them
something as close

to the White Castle experience
as you could possibly get

without actually walking
into a White Castle.

[Narrator] But there's
one notable exception.

You can't microwave pickles,

and the pickle is a key part
of the White Castle slider.

The whole point
is to give people

the White Castle experience
down to every last detail.

But there's no way
that we're gonna be able

to include that pickle in
that package and make it good.

It's impossible.

His food scientists
were terrified

because if you start
sending out White Castles

in the freezer of every
grocery store in America

and they're terrible
because of this hot pickle,

you have now soiled your brand.

[Narrator] Meanwhile,
the frozen snack market

is gaining even more momentum.

With the rise of the
microwave in the '80s,

huge brands, they're
like, "Wait a second.

This is a thing
that's happening,

but we've gotta capitalize
on this new technology

by making snacks specifically
for the microwave."

[Narrator] Now, products
like Super Pretzels

and miniature pizza
bagels called Bagel Bites

hit freezer aisles
across the country.

But Rose Totino has a new plan.

She knows that her position is
to keep growing the business.

[Narrator] She wants to
carve out the biggest share

of the market in one fell swoop.

So if they couldn't
figure out the microwave,

they would buy
somebody who could.

[Narrator] By making a
deal with an old veteran

of the frozen food industry.

Jeno Paulucci sells
Jeno's Pizza Rolls

to none other then
Pillsbury in 1985

for a cool [laughing]
$135 million. [whistles]

Pillsbury takes two of
the heroes of our stories

and puts them together
on their team.

[Narrator] But
Paulucci has no idea

that his crowning
achievement will only become

the best selling
snack in America

by leaving his legacy behind.

They were thinking,
"You know what

this Jeno's Pizza Roll
needs? More Totinos."

[Narrator] In the late 1980s,

Bill Ingram is
trying to take over

the booming frozen snack sector

by creating a
microwaveable slider.

The White Castle burger
is a crazy specific thing.

[Narrator] But there's
one missing piece.

These don't taste like
our restaurant sliders.

Well, unfortunately, you
can't microwave a pickle.

The pickle's a
disaster in a microwave.

So, we tell 'em they
can add their own pickle.

[suspenseful music]

Their solution
was to invite people

to bring their own pickle.

So in 1987, they're the
first frozen hamburger

in the frozen food aisle,
and as it turned out,

people liked them
and they were happy

to bring their own pickle.

Business starts to grow
between 10 and 20% a year.

This turned out
to be a huge hit

for White Castle, a genius move.

What a smart way
to increase sales

without adding
physical locations.

Gross sales exceeded 268
million with per unit sales

at 1.3 million per store,

which is like the
best in the industry,

better than McDonald's,
Burger King,

almost the very best
in the business.

I firmly believe that
microwave White Castle sliders

are the best food
ever to be microwaved.

All you have to do is
cook them for one minute.

The bun comes out
all puffy and warm.

It doesn't suffer from
microwave bread syndrome

of being dry or
crusty or too squishy,

and they come out perfectly.

[Narrator] Over the
next three decades,

white Castle sells over
six billion frozen sliders

and it becomes the
number one selling

frozen hamburger in America.

Bill Ingram, probably
more so than his father

or his grandfather, was
willing to embrace new ideas.

And he really
brought us something

that we weren't getting

from any of the other
fast food places.

Even now, you still can't
get McDonald's french fries

in the freezer aisle, but
you can get White Castle,

and that's a pretty big deal.

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] Meanwhile,
the team at Pillsbury

have been busy revamping
their recently acquired

Jeno's Pizza Rolls.

These are our new
Totino's pizza rolls,

perfect for the microwave.

When the Totino's brand

and the Jeno's
brand came together,

it was very much a
match made in pizza,

I guess you could say.

Pillsbury sells all
the Jeno's products

under the Totino's name.

[Narrator] Combining
Totino's popular sauce, cheese,

and toppings with Jeno's
microwavable pastry cases,

the revamped super snack
hits stores in 1993

and immediately catapults
to the number one spot

as the most popular
microwavable snack in America.

Totino's Pizza
Rolls, formerly Jeno's,

are pretty much the only
name in that market.

They built niche for themselves,
which they dominate.

[Narrator] It will
go on to become

the best selling frozen
snack on the planet,

helping the full line of
Totino's brand products

rake in over a billion
dollars in annual sales.

Rose Totino is a force
that you cannot deny.

She launched the single
biggest frozen food empire

that this country's ever seen.

[Narrator] After retiring
from Pillsbury in 1985,

Rose Totino will be inducted

into the Minnesota Inventors
Hall of Fame in 2008.

And while Totino's Pizza Rolls

ultimately win the
microwave snack race,

Jeno Paulucci isn't
finished innovating.

One of the things
that Paulucci has said

is that if he had
to do over again,

he wouldn't sell Pizza
Rolls to Pillsbury

because it was obviously
a huge phenomenon.

But after he sold Jeno's,

he started another
successful brand

that, among other things,
sold the Michelina's line

of frozen Italian pastas.

[Narrator] The food
innovators of this era

helped make hot food quickly
accessible anytime of day

and turned meals into snacks,

pioneering the $131 billion
frozen snack market.

When Hot Pockets and
Totino's Pizza Rolls

and White Castle's frozen
sliders came along,

it was this idea that
you could have something

that you previously had for
a meal, whenever you want,

just by putting it in the
microwave for a few seconds,

which started this
idea of snack culture.

These were snack
options that never existed

before these incredible
people invented them.

It's not just the story of
the foods that built America,

these are the people
that built America.

They just happened to
build it through food.