75 years later, Thanksgiving staple Jiffy corn muffin mix still costs less than $1

"Splashy rebrands are not the company's style, said Howard S. Holmes II, president and CEO of Chelsea Milling Company, which has been making the mix for 75 years. But the box has, in fact, been subtly tweaked over the years. "Do you remember when Coca-Cola came out with their new Coca-Cola formula?" Holmes asked. "It didn't really go well. I think we'd be foolish to move away from what people expect, particularly from the performance of our mixes and the presence of our packaging.""

""Historically, we've never had a marketing department," Holmes said. "We've never had an advertising department. You'll never see a print ad for Jiffy mix. You've never seen a commercial on TV for Jiffy mix. And as far as I'm concerned, you won't." The company is now experimenting with social media marketing, but Holmes said it's sticking to its old-school ethos. Jiffy boxes are manufactured in Michigan, just like everything else made by Chelsea Milling Company."

"The company was started in 1887, taken over by Holmes' great great grandfather Harmon in 1901 and has been run by the family for five generations. Great grandmother Mabel Holmes invented the cornbread mix in 1930. As company lore has it, she wanted to help a single dad during the Great Depression to bake for his kids. Back then, boxes of Jiffy mix cost 10 cents. Right now, you can find them on sale for 50 cents at Walmart."

Chelsea Milling Company preserves Jiffy's iconic blue-and-white packaging with only subtle updates, prioritizing consistent product performance and recognizability over splashy rebrands. The brand remains largely nonadvertised, historically operating without marketing or advertising departments and avoiding print and television commercials while now cautiously experimenting with social media. All Jiffy mixes are manufactured in Michigan. The company is family-run across five generations, tracing origins to 1887 and to Mabel Holmes, who created the cornbread mix in 1930 to help a struggling parent. Jiffy sells roughly 200 million boxes of various mixes annually and remains widely available at low prices.

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