From Utah to Indiana

Utah Radio Products Company, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Chicago, Illinois, is known for manufacturing of loudspeakers, transmitters and transformers from the early 1920s. In 1929 Caswell-Runyan merged with Utah Radio Products to build a radio reception combination. 1946 saw the merger with International Detrola Corporation. In the mid-fifties, Utah Radio Products moved to a new plant in Huntington, Indiana. The plant flourished in the 1960s and 1970s with one-piece console stereos that proved popular in the mass market. The highly respected Utah loudspeakers were produced until the 1980s when Utah folded, due in no small measure to the influx of Asian competitors.

Coast to Coast...Alaska to Mexico

 

Al and Bob Pelton of San Francisco, working as an appliance salesman and drug store clerk, respectively, had experienced potato-based doughnuts in Germany and they tried a number of things before creating a dry potato mix that worked and made it possible to franchise the concept. They coined the word "Spudnut" and went into business in 1940 in Salt Lake City. By 1946, the company began establishing a nationwide chain of Spudnut Shops. Over 300  sprung up across the USA and were advertised widely with the slogan "Coast to coast...Alaska to Mexico." Their cartoon character "Mr. Spudnut" frequently appeared in advertisements, coffee mugs, and even in parades. When the brothers retired and sold their company in 1968, as is often the case with multiple company buyouts, things went downhill from there. The final owner, Dakota Bake N Serve, sold all of their stock to a promoter in exchange for tax-free bond notes that proved worthless. When the promoter was convicted on several charges of fraud and conspiracy in 1979, it was the end of the Spudnuts chain. Spudnuts have not disappeared completely though the original recipe no longer exists. Quality can vary depending on location.