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Bar Keepers Friend offers more than a dozen cleaning products, including its original cleaning powder, at left. (Photos courtesy of Servaas Laboratories Inc.)
Bar Keepers Friend offers more than a dozen cleaning products, including its original cleaning powder, at left. (Photos courtesy of Servaas Laboratories Inc.)
Bar Keepers Friend offers more than a dozen cleaning products, including its original cleaning powder, at left. (Photos courtesy of Servaas Laboratories Inc.)
History: Cleaning powder Bar Keepers Friend was developed in Indianapolis in 1882 by chemist George William Hoffman after he observed his badly tarnished pot turn sparkling clean when he used it to cook rhubarb. Hoffman isolated oxalic acid in the vegetable as the key chemical and used it to formulate a cleaning powder that he sold to taverns for use as a brass rail polish. Bar Keepers Friend was acquired in 1956 by late business and civic leader Beurt SerVaas, who served on the City-County Council more than 40 years (1961-2002), including 27 years as president. Today, the family-owned SerVaas Laboratories manufactures Bar Keepers Friend at a plant near West 52nd Street and Guion Road.
Product details: In addition to the original cleaning powder, Bar Keepers Friend offers more than a dozen other cleaning products, including a soft cleanser, spray foam, toilet bowl cleaner, stainless steel polish and coffee maker descaler.
Fun fact: The 65,000-square-foot SerVaas Laboratories plant at 5240 Walt Place is capable of turning out 24 million cans of Bar Keepers Friend a year.
Location: Indianapolis
Website: barkeepersfriend.com
–Compiled by Jeff Newman
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