On April 16, 1953, Seagrove’s Mountain View Canning Company was incorporated. Before the year was over, the business would change its name to Luck’s.
Founded in 1947 by Alfred Spencer and Ira Luck, the original purpose of Mountain View Canning was to can homegrown vegetables and farm raised meat. The first commercial product produced at the two-story cinderblock cannery was Mountain View Beef and Gravy.
Pinto beans, Great Northern beans, and black eyed peas–-all home-style with pork seasoning–were added to the company line in 1950 and 1951.
When Luck’s Beans sponsored the country group Tommy Floyd and the Blue Ridge Buddies for a series of short musical spots syndicated on television stations in the Southeast, it helped the canned legumes grow in popularity.
In 1967, Luck’s merged with American Home Products. Then in 2000, Lucks was acquired by food processing giant Con Agra and the production of the canned beans was moved to Tennessee. The Seagrove cannery ceased operations two years later.
Luck’s Beans continue to be canned and sold today with their signature yellow label, although they are now produced in Tuscon, Arizona, by the Arizona Canning Company, which purchased the line in 2011.
Image from townofseagrove.org.