The aroma of sausage and scrapple cooking in kitchens along the east coast of American has made it a little easier for kids to get up in the morning. With quickened steps to the breakfast table, families enjoy the fruits of the diligence and hard work of Henry Green Parks, Jr. He started the Parks Sausage Company in 1951 using distinctive, tasty southern recipes he developed for sausage and other products.
Parks registered several trademarks, but the radio and television commercial featuring a child's voice demanding "More Parks Sausages, mom," is probably the most famous. After consumer complaints about the youngster's perceived disrespect, Parks added the word "please" to his slogan.
The company, with meager beginnings in an abandoned dairy plant in Baltimore, Maryland, and two employees, grew into a multi-million dollar operation with more than 240 employees and annual sales exceeding $14 million. Black Enterprise continually cited H. G. Parks, Inc., as one of the top 100 black firms in the country.
Parks sold his interest in the company for $1.58 million in 1977, but remained on the board of directors until 1980. Parks also served on the corporate boards of Magnovox, First Penn Corp., Warner Lambert Co., and W.R. Grace Co., and was a trustee of Goucher College of Baltimore. He died on April 14, 1989, at the age of 72. Source: EPA
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