About Us

Since 1921 when Betty Crocker began answering questions about baking by letter, she’s been working to teach people to cook. From letters and radio to cookbooks and television to the establishment of BettyCrocker.com, her aim has stayed true. Home cooks have come to rely on Betty for her helpfulness, trustworthiness and quality. From cooking fundamentals to clever shortcuts made possible thanks to her dependable products, Betty continues to inspire home cooks across the world.

Betty’s story began with a promotion run by Gold Medal Flour back in 1921. Home cooks could win a pincushion resembling a flour sack if they correctly completed a jigsaw puzzle of a milling scene. The Washburn Crosby Company, a flour milling concern and largest predecessor of General Mills, Inc., received thousands of responses and a flood of questions about baking. The name Betty Crocker was created to personalize responses to consumer inquires.

The surname Crocker was chosen to honor a popular, recently retired director of the company, William G. Crocker. Betty was chosen simply as a friendly-sounding name. Women employees were invited to submit sample Betty Crocker signatures; the one judged most distinctive is the basis for the one in use today.

In 1924, the Washburn Crosby Company saved a local radio station from bankruptcy, changed the station’s name to its acronym, WCCO, and presented Betty Crocker on daytime radio’s first cooking show. “Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air” was an immediate success, and the next year was expanded to 13 regional stations. Each station had its own Betty Crocker voice, reading scripts written at the Home Service Department in Minneapolis. In 1927, the cooking school became a program on the fledgling NBC network, continuing for 24 years with more than one million listeners enrolled.

By the early 1940s, surveys showed that the name Betty Crocker was known to nine out of ten American homemakers. According to Fortune magazine in April 1945, she was the second best-known woman in America, followed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Betty Crocker became known as the First Lady of Food and in that position was called upon to help her country.

In 1945, at the request of the U.S. Office of War Information, Betty Crocker broadcast a radio program called, “Our Nation’s Rations” to help homemakers make the most of rationed foods. Almost seven million copies of a Betty Crocker wartime booklet, “Your Share,” were distributed at this time. Another helpful Betty Crocker publication, “Thru Highway to Good Nutrition,” won national recognition by the American Red Cross for outstanding service in the national interest.

Just as food preferences, cooking methods and consumer interests have changed dramatically over the years, so has Betty Crocker. She has changed her looks seven times over the past century. Portraits were painted in 1936, 1955, 1965, 1969, 1972, 1980, 1986 and 1996. Over the years, her hairstyles and clothes have reflected the changing fashions of American women. Through it all, the goal has been to present an image of Betty Crocker to which modern women can related, an image that recalls the promise of thoroughly tested products and up-to-date recipes.

It could be said that Betty Crocker is the personification of General Mills’ commitment to consumer service and product quality. The work that takes place in the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens is one of the key ways that the company delivers on the commitment Betty represents. Since 1946, when the test kitchens were first established, through to today, the kitchens are where products and recipes are tested using the same tools and equipment as the average home cook so that the results are the same for you at home. To get a behind-the-scenes peek into Betty’s kitchen and meet the professional chefs, bakers, nutritionists and recipe testers who work there, read about our kitchen-tested recipe process.

Believe it or not, the first food product with the Betty Crocker name was dried soup mix, introduced in 1942. Betty Crocker packaged cake mixes were introduced in 1947 with Ginger Cake, the precursor of today’s Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cake. It was quickly followed by Devil’s Food Cake Mix and Party Cake Mix, which could be made into yellow, white or spice cake by using water plus whole eggs, just the whites or by adding spices along with the eggs.

Betty’s trademark Red Spoon began appearing on packaging in 1954. Today, it’s a symbol of the quality associated with Betty Crocker and appears on more than 200 products, including Super Moist Cake Mixes, cookie mixes, Supreme Brownie Mixes, Rich & Creamy Frostings, Hamburger Helper, Bisquick Baking Mix, Betty Crocker Potatoes and Suddenly Salad.

Betty’s popularity isn’t confined to her “birth” country, the United States. She arrived in Canada in mid-1950s and has swiftly made her way around the world. She enjoys a strong presence in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Australia and other countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Betty’s products are specially adapted for the baking style and culture of each country.

Whether viewed as an icon of food expertise and reliable products or as a real person, Betty Crocker’s luminous career endures. At nearly 100, she can still be counted on to offer reliable and accessible recipes, sound cooking and baking advice and dependable products to this and future generations of home cooks and bakers. She — or rather, the multi-talented team behind Betty — is still dedicated to working for, “all of you who like to minister to your dear ones by serving them good food,” as she wrote in the preface of the “Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book” in 1950.

It takes a team of professional chefs and bakers, editors and many others to make BettyCrocker.com the rich resource it is today. Meet the editors who use works, pictures and videos to bring the food to life.

Gina Czupka
Executive Editor

Heading up the Betty team, Gina plans out editorial strategy and manages the team of editors. When she’s not chasing down flavors while traveling, she’s organizing her chock-full cabinets of spices, sauces and condiments before whipping up a global array of dishes at home — including the tuna noodle casserole of her native Minnesota.

Favorite Betty recipe: Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’d rather eat chocolate chip cookies than most any dessert in the world, and this is truly the ultimate recipe.

Emily Den Boer
Senior Social Media Strategist

Emily is our social media gal on Betty and manages our Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest platforms. When she’s not at work, she can be found doing the exact opposite of her job: adventuring through the great outdoors, unplugged.

Favorite Betty recipe: Strawberries and Cream Yogurt Cake. This easy recipe is my reliable standby for all Wisconsin cabin trips, potlucks and parties and never ceases to get compliments!

Annie Van Cleve
Managing Editor

Creating content is what Annie is all about. From stories and articles to recipe collections, she’s serving up what Betty’s home cooks are craving. When Annie’s not at work, she’s probably on her bike scouting out a farmers market in her hometown of Minneapolis.

Favorite Betty recipe: Pizza Crust. I like to stretch it out super thin, pile on whatever veggies need using up and top it off with a generous layer of mozzarella!

Emily Planek
Associate Editor

As an associate editor for the Betty team, Emily plans all things email (subscribe below to get said emails). When she’s not nose-deep in killer content, you can find her drinking an iced coffee, whipping up a trendy new recipe, or jaunting around one of Minnesota’s many lakes.

Favorite Betty Recipe: Orange-Chocolate Slice-and-Bake Cookies. The citrus-y and sweet combo make this dressed-up sugar cookie absolutely addictive!

By Email

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By Telephone

Please call us at 1-800-446-1898 between (7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. CT, weekdays)

By Letter

You can send us a letter at our mailing address:
General Mills, Inc.
P.O. Box 9452
Minneapolis, MN 55440