Hillbilly Bread’s Still Alive and A-kickin'

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Are you ready for another bread-y blog post?

Like Tiger Bread (discussed here yesterday), Hillbilly Bread was/is produced by various regional bakeries around the United States. Each bakery is allowed to add its own company imprint to the label.

Thus Hillbilly Bread might be produced by Nickles Bakery in one region and a completely different bakery in another part of the country. The basic label, however, remains identical, thus preserving the brand’s strong equity.

Locally, my mom bought Hillbilly Bread every once in a while at the Nickles Bakery outlet store on W. 21st Street.

(Hillbilly Bread was one of my first blog topics back in April 2009 here.)

Hillbilly Bread seemed to first appear in the early 1960s. A short blurb in the Honolulu Star Bulletin on Feb. 2, 1964 noted, “Another new bread product has been introduced to Hawaii.

“It is Hillbilly bread made from an old bread mix which contains such nourishing and high protein ingredients as old fashioned oatmeal, fresh milled bran, toasted soya grits, hearty crushed wheat, husky corn flour, molasses and honey. The combination of these ingredients give Hillbillly bread a country type flavor and texture not found in regular white or brown bread.

“Hillbilly bread is made locally by Holsum (Hawaii) Baking, Inc."

Here’s an early newspaper ad. It ran in the April 16, 1964 edition of the Eureka Humboldt Standard. Note that the hillbilly character leaning on the sign is holding a rifle.

Here’s an ad from two years later. It’s much more sophisticated than the other ad. This one ran in the News Herald on October 4, 1966.

Here's a 1968 print ad (below) that ran in the pages of the Denver newspaper.

Finally, by 1982 the hillbilly character is no longer holding a rifle. It’s become a fishing pole, as seen in this ad that ran in the Wausau Daily Herald in early March 1982.

Lorain’s Nickles Bakery outlet store – where I bought Hillbilly Bread – closed back in 2010 (which I sadly wrote about here). But a quick look on the internet shows that Hillbilly Bread is still around in 2018, sold in some Walmarts and other national chains.