Chock full o'Nuts

Chock full o'Nuts is an American brand of coffee that originated from a chain of New York City coffee shops.

Its unusual name derives from the 18 nut shops that founder William Black (c. 1902–1983) established with the brand in the city beginning in 1926. When the Great Depression struck, he converted them to lunch counters, serving a cup of coffee and a sandwich for five cents.

The brand became popular over the next 27 years and was introduced to the consumer market through grocery stores in 1953. It is owned by coffee giant Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group.

The chain was founded by William Black (né Schwartz), who sold nuts in Times Square to theater-goers. In 1926, he opened a store at Broadway and 43rd Street, eventually adding 17 more. When the Depression began New Yorkers could no longer afford the luxury of shelled nuts, so Black converted the shops into lunch counters, selling coffee and sandwiches.

The company's signature "nutted cheese" sandwich, made of cream cheese and chopped nuts on dark raisin bread, cost a nickel with a cup of coffee when the company was founded. When coffee prices went up in the 1950s, Black, like other restaurateurs, held to a five cent cup of coffee by watering it down. But soon he broke ranks and raised the price, announcing that he refused to compromise on quality. In 1953, the coffee brand was introduced to supermarkets. Several years later baseball star Jackie Robinson became the company's vice president and director of personnel, after retiring from the game (the chain was already known for regularly hiring black employees in its lunch counters as both cooks and waitstaff).

In 1961, Chock full o'Nuts introduced a brand of instant coffee. Within the decade the chain had approximately 80 restaurants in New York City. A selling point was hygiene and the sandwiches advertised as "untouched by human hands". Cooks used tongs to assemble them.

In 1974, Chock full o'Nuts purchased Rheingold Brewery. In the 1970s, the lunch counters gradually closed. After Black died, the company sold its remaining 17 restaurants to the restaurant company Riese Bros. In 1988, investor Martin D. Gruss and the companies he controlled purchased a ten percent stake in the Chock full o'Nuts Corporation, saying he might seek control of the company. In 1993, Chock Express stores were introduced.

The Sara Lee Corporation purchased Chock full o'Nuts for $238 million in 1999. In May 2006, it was purchased from Sara Lee by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA along with the MJB, Hills Bros., and Chase & Sanborn coffee brands.