Momma's Story

Momma Dietz wasn't always Momma Dietz.

Ruth Dietz Eni, our Chairman and Chief Executive Momma, spent years working her way up to the title of Momma. She's earned it and then some, thanks to an obsession with flavor and an inability to settle - both instilled in her by Gottleib Dietz, her father and the founder of Dietz & Watson.

Ruth grew up listening to her father talk about the business at the dinner table, and as a teen she helped him taste and perfect new recipes. Soon after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she joined the family business. With Ruth's nurturing dedication, Dietz & Watson grew from a small Philadelphia company to a nationally recognized brand, continually redefining the deli world. In the 1970s, Ruth introduced her revolutionary Gourmet Lite low-salt, low-fat meats -- making Dietz & Watson one of the first companies in any food category to offer special choices for health-conscious consumers. Ruth's concern for health-conscious, delicious foods led her to create an entire Healthier Lifestyle® product line, well before it became a popular trend in eating.

A working mom before there was really such a thing, Ruth loved to come home after a busy day and cook special meals for her kids, whose palates are every bit as finicky as hers. Today, her kids are grown, and Louis, Chris and Cindy work side-by-side to help Momma run the company as CEO, COO and CFO, respectively.

Momma's been there for every one of Dietz & Watson's 70 years, for every one of our 450 product launches, and today, Dietz & Watson produces the same old-world recipes that she and her father lovingly perfected. Along with daring new flavors such as Buffalo chicken breast, Momma Dietz continues to produce the very same hot dogs, scrapple, and sausages that have made Dietz & Watson a cherished household name.

If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by the Philadelphia headquarters and you'll find Momma Dietz hard at work alongside Louis, Chris and Cindy, perfecting new products and refusing to settle for "good enough." If you're not sure where it is, just follow your nose. The scent of hand-spiced, sizzling knockwurst is impossible to miss.