Vivienne® Romano Cheese Dressing was originally produced and marketed in Saint Louis, Missouri from 1948 to 1968 by a family with a prominent reputation in the food, restaurant, entertainment and hospitality industries. The original recipe was created by Vivian Uyeda Tucker Reisinger as the chef's dressing for a famous, private club of which her father, Thomas T. Uyeda, was the General Manager. In 1991, her son, Thomas Tucker, took time out from a 20 year investment banking career, to pursue a long-time goal of reviving this business, and, with his wife, Elaine, who had over 15 years of upper-end specialty buying and merchandising experience at Neiman-Marcus, reintroduced Vivienne® Romano Cheese Dressing to the market in May 1992. Vivienne® Romano Cheese Dressing now has retail and food service distribution in nearly all of the United States, and in Canada and Latin America. The following history recounts some of the culinary achievements of this family.

In 1948, Mr. Tom Uyeda, grandfather of Tom Tucker and renowned for his management of private country clubs in St. Louis (St. Louis Country Club, Bridlespur Hunt Club and The Bogey Club), enlisted the help of his daughter and Tom's mother, Vivian Uyeda Tucker, to create a chef's salad dressing for The Bogey Club, of which Mr. Uyeda was the General Manager. Due to the highly favorable reaction to the dressing by the members of this club, Mrs. Tucker decided to market Vivienne® Dressing commercially to the gourmet food market in 1952. In 1955, the Uyeda and Tucker families were engaged to manage The Frontier Room Restaurant, located on Kingshighway in what was then one of Saint Louis' most fashionable neighborhoods - across from Forest Park. With the Uyedas renowned for their cuisine and hospitality and Al Tucker (husband of Vivian and father of Tom) famous as one of Saint Louis' most popular musical impresarios in the 1940's and 1950's, The Frontier Room became one of Saint Louis' most highly acclaimed dining and entertainment establishments. Among The Frontier Room's many awards was the coveted Holiday Magazine Award for Fine Dining. Vivienne® Dressing was featured there as the "house dressing" and was served to guests from a mobile salad cart that was moved throughout the dining room. The Frontier Room menu, conceived by the Uyedas and Tuckers, was an eclectic array of American and Cantonese dishes, from Tom's Special Sirloin Steak, Broiled Chicken and Lake Superior White Fish to Egg Roll, Barbecue Pork Strips and Chicken Chow Mein. In addition, a nightly radio program was broadcast live at The Frontier Room by KMOX Radio featuring recorded and live music and interviews. The acclaimed cuisine and lively entertainment of The Frontier Room contributed to the success of Vivienne® Dressing in supermarkets and gourmet specialty stores in the Saint Louis area. Vivienne® Dressing was also sold in selected markets in Los Angeles and Chicago.

After the deaths of Mr. Uyeda and Al Tucker in the late 1950's, Mrs. Tucker retired from the restaurant business at The Frontier Room upon her remarriage to Walter Reisinger, an executive with Anheuser Busch. By the late 1960's, the pressures of growth began to conflict with the family nature of the salad dressing business; the now Mrs. Reisinger decided to cease operations in 1968 and retain the recipe and name for the benefit of her young family who potentially could revive the brand in the future.

After closing in 1968 there had been hundreds of requests from former customers and friends of Mrs. Reisinger to bring Vivienne® Dressing back to the market. Then, in 1991, Tom Tucker took time out of a 22 year investment banking career to develop a business plan for the Company. In May 1992, Vivienne® Romano Cheese Dressing was truly "Back By Popular Demand."

Vivienne® Romano Cheese Dressing was a Product Award Finalist in the Category of Outstanding Oil, Vinegar or Salad Dressing at the Summer 1996 International Fancy Food and Confection Show in Philadelphia. Additional original dressings, sauces and other recipes from the Frontier Room and the Tucker family kitchens are planned for introduction in the future.