Edy's Pie

Edy's Pie (formerly known as Eskimo Pie) is an American brand of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil. It was the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is marketed by Dreyer's, a division of Froneri.

Eskimo Pie
1943–1954 Eskimo Pie design for cardboard, ice cream box
Product typeIce cream bar
OwnerFroneri
CountryUnited States
Introduced1921
MarketsUnited States, International

In wake of the 2020-2021 George Floyd protests, the name was changed to Edy's Pie, in recognition of Dreyer's co-founder, candy maker Joseph Edy.[1] The former name used the term Eskimo, a word for American Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples that some now consider offensive.[2]

History

Danish immigrant Christian Kent Nelson, a schoolteacher and candy store owner, claimed to have received the inspiration for the Eskimo Pie in 1920 in Onawa, Iowa, when a boy in his store was unable to decide whether to spend his money on ice cream or a chocolate bar.[3] After experimenting with different ways to adhere melted chocolate to bricks of ice cream, Nelson began selling his invention, under the name I-Scream Bars. In 1921, he filed for a patent, and secured an agreement with local chocolate producer Russell C. Stover to mass-produce them under the new trademarked name "Eskimo Pie" (a name suggested by his wife, Clara Stover), and to create the Eskimo Pie Corporation.[4] After U.S. Patent 1,404,539 was issued on January 24, 1922, Nelson franchised the product, allowing ice cream manufacturers to produce them under that name. The patent, which applied to any type of frozen confection encased in candy, was invalidated in 1928.[5]

One of the earliest advertisements for Eskimo Pies. November 3, 1921, Iowa City Press-Citizen.[6]
  • Russell Stover, co-founder of the Eskimo Pie
    Russell Stover, co-founder of the Eskimo Pie
  • Christian Kent Nelson, co-founder of the Eskimo Pie, in 1922
    Christian Kent Nelson, co-founder of the Eskimo Pie, in 1922

Stover sold his share of the business. He then formed the well-known chocolate manufacturer Russell Stover Candies.[7] Nelson became independently wealthy off the royalties from the sale of Eskimo Pies. In 1922, he was selling one million pies a day.[5]

The abandoned Rosedale Dairy, Fort Dodge, Iowa, longtime manufacturer of Eskimo Pies

Nelson then sold his share of the business to the United States Foil Company, which made the Eskimo Pie wrappers. He retired at a young age, but reportedly out of boredom rejoined what was then called Reynolds Metals Company (now part of Alcoa) in 1935, inventing new methods of manufacturing and shipping Eskimo Pies and serving as an executive until his ultimate retirement in 1961.

In 1992, Nelson died at the age of 99. In that same year, Eskimo Pie Corporation was spun off from Reynolds in an initial public offering, as an alternative to an acquisition that Nestlé had proposed in 1991.

The original round-faced child icon for the brand was created by the illustrator Gyo Fujikawa.[8]

CoolBrands International, a Markham, Ontario-based company, acquired Eskimo Pie Corporation in 2000. Originally a yogurt maker, CoolBrands at one point owned or held exclusive long-term licenses for brands including Eskimo Pie, Chipwich, Weight Watchers, Godiva, Tropicana, Betty Crocker, Trix, Yoo-hoo and Welch's. The company encountered financial difficulties after losing its Weight Watchers/Smart Ones license in 2004.[9] By 2007, it was selling off core assets and in February 2007 it sold Eskimo Pie and Chipwich to the Dreyer's division of Nestlé.[10][11]

In 2020, Dreyer's announced that they would change the former brand name to "Edy’s Pie" in 2021.[12][13] The Edy's name is a nod to candy maker Joseph Edy, one of the founders of Dreyer's.[13]

In France

In June 1924, the "Esquimaux-Brick" company was founded in Paris.[14] It quickly expanded its production to other European countries, in particular to Italy and Hungary. The company produced "Esquimaux Bricks" which, as the name says, did not yet have a stick. The rights for Esquimau brand were registered in France in 1928.[15] The "Esquimaux Ch. Gervais" were marketed the same year by Gervais, a French cheese producer.[16] In 1931, Gervais bought the Société Esquimaux-Brick, which was dissolved.[17] The trademark was filed by Gervais. It was renamed to "Kim" ("Kim Eskimo" or "Kim cone") during the years 1990–2000, as due to its wide use it was recognized as a generic name.[18]

In other countries
Eskimo Pie street vendor, USSR, 1935

In South Australia, the Alaska Ice Cream company licensed the Eskimo Pie name and manufacturing process in 1923.[19]

In the countries of the former Soviet Union as well as in France the word "Eskimo" is used as a generic name, not a trademark, for chocolate-covered ice cream with a wooden stick to handle it.

In the Czech Republic, "Eskymo" is a brand of Eskimo-Pie style ice cream produced (as of 2020) by Unilever under its Algida brand.[20] While the word "Eskymo" can be used as a generic term in some regions of the country, the most common word for a chocolate-covered bar of ice-cream with a stick handle is "Nanuk" (in reference to the 1922 film Nanook of the North).

Notes
  1. "Eskimo Pie to become Edy's Pie in 2021". Food Dive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  2. "Inuit or Eskimo: Which name to use? | Alaska Native Language Center". www.uaf.edu. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  3. James T. Ehler (8 March 1992). "Christian Kent Nelson: Who's Who in Food History". Foodreference.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  4. Eschner, Kat. "The Weird, Brief History of the Eskimo Pie Corporation". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. Duan, Charles (20 October 2015). "Ice Cream Patent Headache". Slate. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  6. "Eskimo Pies". Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  7. "History of Russell Stover Candies Inc. – FundingUniverse". Fundinguniverse.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  8. "Eskimo Pie Day". CooksInfo. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  9. "CoolBrands sells Eskimo Pie, Chipwich brands to Dreyer's". CBC News. 24 January 2007. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  10. "CoolBrands press release announcing sale of Eskimo Pie and Chipwich". Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2007.
  11. "History of Eskimo Pie Corporation – FundingUniverse". Fundinguniverse.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  12. "Acknowledging derogatory term, Eskimo Pie owner says to change ice cream's name". Reuters. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  13. Poinski, Megan (2 October 2020). "Eskimo Pie to become Edy's Pie in 2021". Food Dive. Industry Dive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  14. "Part de Fondateur: Scriponet" (in French). Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  15. "Bâtonnet de crème glacée" (in French). Office québécois de la langue française. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  16. "Histoire de Nestle en France" (in French). Nestle. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  17. "Etablissements Esquimaux Brick" (in Italian). Archivio Centrale dello Stato. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  18. Masson, Delphine (30 June 2000). "Ces marques victimes de leur succès" [These brands are victims of their success]. strategies.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  19. "Alaska Ice Cream Company". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 29 August 1923. p. 7. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  20. "Seriál o zmrzlině: Česká klasika" (in Czech). Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
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