H and H Coffee

Dedicated to the history of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. founded 1899 in San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio coffee firm that purchased Hoffmann-Hayman in 1962. 1972 appears in internal notes as a late boundary date — but this is the year G. P. Menger sold the 601 Delaware Street real estate (not the brand operations); Continental had absorbed the brand business a decade earlier.

The 1962 acquisition date comes from the T. J. Menger obituary (San Antonio Express-News, 1 Apr 1987), which states T. J. Menger stayed with H&H until 1962, when Continental purchased the firm.

Acquisition terms (family papers — mixed reliability)

Nancy Draves, paraphrasing G. P. Menger’s notes (2015):

  • December 1962 asset sale to Continental — business sold with everything inside the plant
  • Continental agreed to lease the 601 Delaware building for 10 years
  • G. P. later estimated proceeds from a subsequent building sale to Continental (actual real-estate transfer documented August 1972 — see 601 Delaware Street)
  • Continental retained workforce, H&H trade name, and brand portfolio per Nancy Draves’s reconstruction; Albert G. Menger (“Sonny”) may have remained president into the Continental era (obituary cited by Nancy Draves, not yet located in KB)

Post-sale retail packaging (1970)

Chris M. Jasso, in a 29 June 1970 letter to G. P. Menger (paraphrased by Nancy Draves): Continental-era H&H coffee cans on grocery shelves — gold body, tall format, white plastic lid; generic stock label (white oval, red type) “not very pretty”; priced 10¢ above national brands; two Spanish words misspelled on bilingual contents panel.

Roasting equipment disposition (1971)

Four Jabez Burns Jubilee roasters — old when H&H installed them ~1940s per Jasso — were sold by Continental to Ernesto Gonzales of Monterrey and removed from 601 Delaware. Jasso and retired roaster Lupe Valdez commissioned them in Mexico. Full account: 1971 — Burns Jubilee roasters sold to Monterrey.

Continental at 601 Delaware — documented 1970–1975

Three primary sources confirm Continental Coffee Company was operating from 601 Delaware Street (the former H&H plant) well into the 1970s:

  • July 1970 (San Antonio Express-News, 11 Jul 1970): Classified employment ad — “Continental Coffee Company / 601 Delaware / SAN ANTONIO” seeking a route salesman. Starting salary $135/week plus commission; truck furnished; hospitalization plan and pension. Source: 1970-07-11-express-and-news-sat-jul-11-1970.

  • June 1971 (San Antonio Express, 22 Jun 1971): Second route salesman classified — “CONTINENTAL COF­FEE CO., 601 Delaware”; starting salary $150/week plus commission after 4-week training. Source: 1971-06-22-san-antonio-express-tue-jun-22-1971.

  • March 1975 (San Antonio Express, 4 Mar 1975): Classified sale of step-vans “SEE AT 601 Delaware St.” — a 1955 International ($550), a 1964 Chevy 12’ ($1,000), 1965 Chevy 12’ ($1,000), and 1966 Chevy 12’ ($1,000), all “priced for quick sale.” Whether this vehicle sale indicates wind-down of operations or routine fleet turnover is undocumented. Source: 1975-03-04-san-antonio-express-tue-mar-4-1975.

These three ads push the documented Continental presence at 601 Delaware from the 1962 acquisition through early 1975 — a 13-year operational use of the H&H plant. The real estate was not sold until 1972, so the 1971 and 1975 ads post-date the real-estate transaction; Continental may have been leasing back the building after the 1972 sale.

Continental Coffee of Chicago — confirmed parent

The buyer was the Chicago-based Continental Coffee Company, confirmed by the 2 April 1987 San Antonio Express-News feature article on Theodore J. Menger (HH-CLIP-1987-0002):

“He remained there until 1962, when the company was sold to Continental Coffee of Chicago. He retired at that time.”

This settles the prior open question of whether the San Antonio “Continental” was a local firm or the Chicago Continental Coffee Company (founded 1915 by Joseph Eisendrath; major national foodservice coffee distributor). It was the Chicago firm. The lineage therefore runs:

Hoffmann-Hayman (San Antonio, 1912–1962) → Continental Coffee (Chicago, parent) → operations at 601 Delaware continued through ≥1975

Continental → Sysco — still an open thread

Lore (unverified): Continental Coffee Company was rolled into Sysco Corporation (Houston). With the Chicago parent confirmed, this would mean Sysco’s 1990s Continental acquisition brought H&H brand/distribution assets under the Sysco umbrella.

How to resolve: A Sysco historical acquisition list or SEC filing from the Continental acquisition would confirm the date and named the assets included.

Open questions

  • Did Continental keep the Hoffmann-Hayman or H&H brand names in market for any period after the 1962 acquisition?
  • Was the San Antonio Continental the same entity as the Chicago Continental Coffee Company that Sysco acquired in the 1990s? If yes, H&H assets ended up in Sysco.
  • When did Continental’s San Antonio operations close — the 1975 vehicle sale suggests possible wind-down, but no closure document has been located.

See also

People

Places

Events

  • 1971 — Burns Jubilee roasters sold to Monterrey
  • Albert G. Menger elected President of Hoffmann-Hayman
  • Continental Coffee of Chicago acquires Hoffmann-Hayman

Companies

Synthesis

  • G. P. Menger Family Narrative