Background
Vernon was born on August 22, 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, to Abraham E. Stouffer, a dairyman and partner in the Medina Creamery Company, and Mahala Bigelow.
Vernon was born on August 22, 1901 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, to Abraham E. Stouffer, a dairyman and partner in the Medina Creamery Company, and Mahala Bigelow.
He attended elementary school in suburban Medina, and after three years at Lakewood High School transferred to University High School in Cleveland. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1923 with a B. A. in economics.
Determined to embark upon a business career, Stouffer returned to Cleveland in search of a suitable opportunity. In the meantime, Abraham Stouffer had sold his interest in the Medina Creamery, but continued to operate his own dairy farm. Partly to provide an outlet for his dairy products, the senior Stouffer opened a stand-up lunch counter in the old Cleveland Arcade in 1923.
Its success encouraged his son Vernon to open, in 1924, a larger lunch counter in Cleveland's Schofield Building, which he proposed to operate with his parents' assistance. The Stouffer Lunch, begun with an investment of $12, 000, eventually became The Stouffer Foods Corporation, an $80-million business by 1967 which encompassed restaurants, inns, a food-management service, and a frozen-foods division. Vernon Stouffer led the company as president and chief executive officer from its inception, exercising for many years a hands-on management style that extended to all phases of operation.
From the beginning, he envisioned a chain of restaurants serving simple home-style fare of consistent quality, with many of the early menu items drawn from his own mother's recipes.
In keeping personally involved with the company, Stouffer frequented the test kitchens, and had a second kitchen built in his home for his exclusive use. He reportedly spent one-third of his time on the road, ensuring that quality was maintained by posing as an ordinary customer. Stouffer Foods opened motor inns and a food management service, but the company's most lucrative area of expansion proved to be the frozen-foods division.
Developed initially in response to customer demand at a Cleveland-area restaurant, it was established in 1954 and grew rapidly because it targeted a specialized market.
The Stouffers lived for many years in a modest home in Lakewood, a Cleveland suburb on Lake Erie.
In 1966 Stouffer acquired controlling interest in the Cleveland Indians, his hometown major-league baseball team. A ballpark usher as a youngster, Stouffer was perhaps fulfilling a dream, but financial reverses and a decline in the team's fortunes led to its sale in 1972 to a group headed by Nick Mileti. Vernon Stouffer remained a lifelong Cleveland resident, and was active in a number of civic and charitable enterprises.
Stouffer died in Cleveland, Ohio.
Stouffer was an active Republican and claimed President Dwight Eisenhower as a friend.
His attention to efficiency, cost control, and service and his insistence that quality remain his company's hallmark helped make the venture a success. Stouffer's restaurants featured college-trained business managers and, as requested by Stouffer, exclusively employed female cooks, who prepared rigidly standardized recipes under the supervision of dietitians. Waitresses were trained to personalize customer service for the middle-class patrons targeted by Stouffer's marketing strategy. This formula enabled him to develop a chain of forty-six restaurants by 1967, including Stouffer's Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, at one time the largest single restaurant in the nation.
Stouffer was in many ways an embodiment of the American entrepreneurial spirit. Although his was not a rags-to-riches story, he took a small investment, and through hard work, good judgment, and sound management, built a successful business.
He was a member of the Cleveland Yachting Club. He was also a member of the Cleveland Zoological Society, and a member of the Northern Ohio Opera Society, as well as a member of its executive committee. He was also a member of the National Recreation and Park Association.
Modest and down-to-earth, Stouffer was motivated as much by creativity as he was by capitalism.
Vernon Stouffer married Gertrude Dean in 1928, and the couple had three children.