The story of Duke’s mayonnaise begins during the First World War when a housewife named Eugenia Duke decided to do her part – selling sandwiches to soldiers for 10 cents apiece.
"Like pimento cheese sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, to sell to the army canteens the soldiers who were training nearby, says Brand Director Rebecca Lupesco. She's with Sauer Brands – the Richmond-based firm that acquired Mrs. Duke’s company nearly a century ago— and now she says it's the number one mayo in Virginia and the Carolinas.
“Duke’s is actually the fastest growing mayonnaise in the entire country. The category is basically flat, and Duke’s has been growing in double digits.”
The mayonnaise is still made at a plant in Duke’s hometown near Greenville, South Carolina.
Here, the firm produces 365,000 jars of mayo a day, using eggs by the tanker truckload, soybean oil, a mix of water, spices and apple cider vinegar. Director of Quality and Food Safety Jason Chesney says it’s important to keep those ingredients cold.
“We’re trying to create tiny, microscopic oil droplets that are suspended in the water base of the product. Colder oil breaks into microscopic particles easier than a warm oil, so we aim to keep our oil below a certain temperature," he explains. "We also know that if our oil is above a certain temperature, you’re not going to make any mayonnaise that anybody is going to want to buy.”
And Lupesco adds that Duke’s is distinguished by what it doesn’t contain.
“Most other mayonnaises add sugar to their formula, but Duke’s mayonnaise does not have sugar. Also, it’s made with egg yolks, so that makes it thick and creamy and gives it that thicker texture that people really like.”
The proof can be seen online, where fans post slogans according to the company’s Digital Content Manager Sarah DiPeppe.
“If it’s not Duke’s it’s not mayonnaise, Duke’s Before Dishonor –- any mayonnaise related posts – our fans really show up.”
And the firm has boosted buzz by sponsoring the Duke’s Mayo Bowl – a college football game in Charlotte. Instead of a Gatorade bath, of course, the winning coach is showered with mayonnaise. Duke’s has also sponsored events where people lined up to be tattooed with pictures of the product, and DiPeppe says the company gets lots of fan mail.
“We’ve been asked by people in the past for jars for their loved one’s cremains. We get wedding invitations all the time at the office, with really sweet, sentimental letters -- like just how much we mean to their relationship -- their first date being at the Eugenia Duke Bridge in Greenville, and then they’ve share tomato sandwiches throughout their life together. It’s really amazing.”
There’s a cookbook with 75 recipes including one for chocolate espresso cake, and the company sells all kinds of branded merchandise from holiday ornaments and casserole carriers to dog collars and caps in three styles — a dad hat, a trucker hat and a camo hat.
It's mentioned on menus, and comedian Stephen Colbert and his wife specified Duke's in their cookbook, Does This Taste Funny. When Hurricane Helene hit, Duke’s switched one of its production lines to bottle drinking water and helped sponsor a flood-relief benefit with James Taylor, Sheryl Crow and other A-list musicians.
The company is now moving beyond the Southeast and, Lupesco says, it’s expanded its product line.
“There’s a light mayonnaise, we have an olive oil mayonnaise, a lime mayonnaise, a bacon and tomato and a spicy Habanero.”
They’ve also launched mustards, barbeque and seafood sauces from various parts of the South including tartar from Tidewater here in Virginia.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
