Spatinispaghetti sauce is an American tomato sauce mix with a flavor profile built upon oregano, thyme, pepper, onion, garlic, and other natural flavors. The sauce mix was manufactured and distributed originally by Spatini Co., subsequently by Unilever and its subsidiary Lipton, and at present by Lawry's.
History
Spatini spaghetti sauce mix was originally developed and marketed by Russell G. Lakoff and Harry Seidman of Overbrook Hills, Pennsylvania, who registered their business in Philadelphia as Spatini Co. on September 4, 1952, selling the dry powdered mix packaged in boxes of three packets. It was manufactured in Philadelphia until 1976, when the private company was sold to Lipton. At that point the Spatini Company was moved to Lipton headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The Spatini Co. also manufactured a brown gravy mix that was sold under the Spatini brand. In 1962, Spatini spaghetti sauce added a version with tomatoes already included. Lipton, a subsidiary of Unilever, purchased Spatini Co. in 1976, and took over the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of Spatini spaghetti sauce mix. Unilever shifted Spatini spaghetti sauce mix from Lipton to its subsidiary Lawry's line in the mid-1980s, and Lawry's continued to promote and sell Spatini spaghetti sauce mix for home consumers, as new recipes using the mix were introduced for commercial users. Retail manufacturing of Spatini spaghetti sauce mix for home consumers ended in January 2007, but it continues to be manufactured and distributed commercially for restaurant and institutional use by Lawry's, which was sold by Unilever to McCormick & Company in 2008.
Ingredients
In 2017, the listed ingredients for Spatini spaghetti sauce include salt, sugar, onion, potato starch, spices, corn maltodextrin, garlic, beet, dextrose, yeast extract, guar gum, and carrot. In the 1980s, Spatini spaghetti sauce listed ingredients as sugar, salt, dehydrated onion, potato starch, spices, natural flavors, garlic powder, maltodextrin, beet powder, autolyzed yeast extract, and guar gum. The ingredients in earlier versions of Spatini spaghetti sauce were listed as sugar, salt, dehydrated onions, potato starch, spices and herbs, artificial color, egg white powder, whey, monosodium glutamate, natural flavor, and vegetable gum.
Nutritional information
The commercial version of Spatini spaghetti sauce mix lists a serving size of two teaspoons or six grams, which seasons a half cup when prepared. One serving contains 20 calories, 620 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of sugars, 4 grams of carbohydrates, with no fat, protein, cholesterol, or fiber.
Marketing
Spatini spaghetti sauce began to emphasize television advertising in 1964, when the company shifted its advertising agency from Weightman, Inc., to Firestone-Rosen, Inc. Because Firestone-Rosen had conflicting assignments from the Ronzoni company, Spatini moved its account to Ron Bloomberg Advertising in 1969, after which Spatini was advertised on broadcast media by singing the words "Spatini spaghetti sauce" to the tune of "La donna è mobile" from the opera Rigoletto.