Hanan's Story

Did you know that Hanan Products debuted 75 years ago in New York? Our founder, Stuart Hanan, invented a whipped dessert topping post World War II to address dairy product supply shortages. Bakeries needed a suitable replacement for heavy cream, so Stuart engineered a new and revolutionary whipped topping. He called that whipped topping “Tasty Whip,” which, at the time, sold for just 15 cents a pound. In its first year of production, Hanan sold nearly 40,000 lbs. of Tasty Whip, which the company can now produce in less than a day. Things sure have changed!

Back in 1946, Stuart had no employees; he singlehandedly ran the company until 1950 when he was able to hire two employees. Originally located in Brooklyn, Hanan moved to suburban Hicksville to accommodate expansion.

Hanan first started selling whipped topping to small neighborhood bakeries. Our company’s very first distributor was a person that sold baker’s cheese to use for cheesecakes and thought that Hanan’s whipped toppings would be great to sell along their original products. Today, we sell our whipped toppings, icings, and dessert fillings to thousands of distributors who serve the bakery, supermarket, and foodservice sectors. We even export products to other parts of the world! Our first ever export was to Hong Kong when to someone approached Stuart about there being a market for his products there. Before long, longshoremen would hand pack product and send it on steam-powered ships. Most of our current exports are to South America. Cakes around the world are topped with Hanan products!

Since day one, Hanan’s motto has been “Our products must be second to none.” This commitment has been proudly displayed on a sign in our plant for more than 50 years. This remains our philosophy today and drives innovation. We’re constantly offering new products and services, including vegan, clean label, gluten free, and our Virtual Bakery Technician service, to support our distributors and their customers. Even though our company is at the forefront of advancement, innovation, technology, and change, we remain steadfast in our founding values!