Goodbye to Derby Tamales

ConAgra answered a consumer’s inquiry on February 13, 2009 thusly (found via a search for “Derby tamales”):

“We are . . . sorry to inform you that we no longer produce Derby® Beef Tamales. As consumers’ preferences for products change, so do the varieties of our products. Only the products with the greatest consumer appeal remain on the store shelves over time. Unfortunately, this product did not have enough consumer interest for us to continue manufacturing it.”

Derby tamales came in a jar, and I have to admit, did not seem all that appealing. But it was the namesake of a company, Derby Foods Inc., more famous for another product that continues to survive: Peter Pan peanut butter. Derby Foods was bought by Swift & Co., the famous meat packing company, then always went with whichever conglomerate bought its successor, Hunt-Wesson Foods. (Hunt-Wesson’s owner, Norton Simon, merged with Swift’s owner, Esmark, years ago, and took Derby Foods grocery lines under its name.)

That Derby tamales survived this long is probably a small miracle given today’s companies’ desire to only keep the Number 1 or Number 2 brands (MAYBE Number 3-except Kraft, see Postum above) in any given category-as long as the category is a big one.

Postum and Derby seemingly had their categories all to themselves, but with a category like “canned tamales” or “coffee substitute”, their days were numbered. With their demise, these categories disappear, too.

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