The History of Yogi Berra & the Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink

Yogi Berra & Yoo-Hoo's history go back to the 1950's. Yogi had met the Oliveri Family, the owners of the Yoo-Hoo company at a Country Club function near his home in New Jersey.

Natale Olivieri started bottling the chocolate drink in 1928 in Garfield, w Jersey.

By the late 1950's he Yoo-Hoo product wasn't selling all that well. Mr. Olivieri asked for Yogi's opinion at the new Jersey function. Berra said he actually liked the soft drink & started promoting it along with his teammates. Soon Yogi put Yoo-Hoo on the map, appearing in commercials, advertisements and supermarkets promotions. 

Berra would show up at the factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey & became a hero to the factory workers. He soon became a Vice President of the company owning a large amount of Yoo-Hoo stock.

In his auto biography Yogi wrote "One time I was in the office and the phone rang, I always answer a ringing phone, the woman on the other end asked if Yoo-Hoo was hyphenated. I said, 'No ma'am, it's not even carbonated."

Yogi was still involved with the company while he was a Mets coach in the late sixties & early seventies. By 1972 he was the Mets manager, leading the team to a World Series in 1973. Berra's ads were posted in Mets scorecards & yearbooks of the era. By 1975 he was fired & still had ties with the Yoo Hoo Company.

Eventually as the company's ownership kept changing at Yoo-Hoo, Berra sold off his stock & cut his ties with the new owners.