Who needs Harvard, who needs Yale?
At Poupon U, you’ll never fail.
Stanford, Princeton? Big mistake!
Poupon U’s a piece of cake.
That’s the official cheer of Poupon University -- Poupon U for short -- the creation of Barry Levenson, the founder and curator of The Mount Horeb Mustard Museum.
“Poupon U actually grew out of a joke by a mustard maker, who told me that’s where mustard makers go to school to learn their craft,” said Levenson, a former state attorney who started the museum in 1992.
“We’ve run with it. You can get a DDS degree in Diddley Squat or JD Juris Dufus. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Like any self-respecting university, Poupon U offers a variety of collectibles, including pennants, surgical scrubs (although it does not have a med school), caps and others.
The Wisconsin version of the Poupon U fight song goes:
On our hot dogs,
On our bratwursts,
Mustard is so cool.
Never mayo, never ketchup,
They’re against the rules.
Gleaming gold and mellow yellow,
Smooth, rough, sweet and hot,
Fight Poupon U, we’ll fight
And eat some lunch.
There also is a South Bend version for Notre Dame fans, but you’ll have to go to www.mustardmuseum.com to sing that one.
Levenson’s humor and cleverness extend to marketing beyond Poupon U. There are other songs. For example:
Have you seen the mustard man,
The mustard man, the mustard man?
Have you seen the mustard man
With a hot dog in his bun?
Or, Roll Out The Mustard:
Roll out the mustard
On pretzels and tofu and cheese,
On a baked potato,
On muffins and green beans and peas.
Try it in risotto,
On roast beef and burgers and chops,
Let it be the star of your sandwich,
So use mustard wherever it plops.
At Brewers’games, the latter can be sung right after the Sausages race; of course, clad in mustard.
You can learn about the history of mustard at the MustardPiece Theatre in the museum. On the first Saturday of each August, you can attend National Mustard Day, which has turned into a big street festival.
Levenson has sponsored a $5,000 writing contest. The author of two books himself – one on baseball and the other on food law, called Habeas Cod Fish – Levenson writes the first chapter, and contestants write the second. The winner and Levenson finish the book and get it published. The first contest, recently concluded, was called “Murder At The Mustard Museum.”
The museum mustards have names like Mucky Ducky Honey & Hot, Slim & Nunne, Mucho Macho Mustard, Bite Me! Lime-Cilantro Hot Sauce, Bone Suckin’ Sauce.
“I’m not selling paper clips,” Levenson says. “You make paper clips. You sell paper clips. Either people need them or not. In this business, we need something that people will respond to. People who are serious about their mustard can still have a sense of humor. One of my biggest satisfactions is that when people walk through the door they often are smiling.”
Levenson and his wife, Patti, a Milwaukee native, run the museum and store. They met through a friend who had visited Mount Horeb.
“She said there was this mustard museum which was kind of cute, and the guy there was pretty funny. Maybe he would make a good speaker for a fund raiser we were doing in Milwaukee,” said Patti, who now is listed as the director of marketing and tours at the museum. “We talked on the phone and decided to have a mustard tasting event. That’s how we met.”
“It was love at first squeeze,” Barry adds.
The museum itself claims to have the largest collection of mustard memorabilia in the world. Few have disputed the claim. It includes jars and other containers, advertising, and interesting tidbits about mustard from all 50 states and more than 60 countries.
Mustards from all over the world are sold through the store part of the museum. About half are sold at the store itself, and half via mail order and the internet, with the percentage of the latter growing each year.
You also can find mustards made at the museum. They include Champagne Honey Mustard, Sweet-Hot Stoneground Mustard, Spicy Beer Mustard, Creamy Dill Mustard, Hot Jalapeno Mustard, Smoky Garlic Mustard and others. In fact, the Levensons will even personalize your mustard, with a label that includes your photo and name, or your business or alma mater.
Although the business started in 1992, Levenson traces its origin to Oct. 28, 1986. “I was wandering through Woodman’s on the east side of Madison, at 2:30 in the morning, depressed because the Red Sox had just lost the seventh game of the World Series (the infamous Bill Buckner Series),” explained Levenson.
Levenson, then a state attorney, decided he had to do something to snap out of his funk. He would collect whatever was in front of him at that moment. It turned out to be mustard.
Now, 20 years later, The Mustard Museum will celebrate its 20th anniversary – at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 28, with an event that is still in the planning stages.
“It will be highlighted by a cake and everything at 2:30 a.m., right here at the museum,” Levenson says of the big night…or early morning to be more accurate. “My wife insists nobody will come. But, we’re going to have all kinds of fun.”
“The whole thing started as a hobby,” said Levenson, who quite his job as a state attorney in 1991 and formally started the museum in 1992. The 20th anniversary will be for the start of his mustard collection.
“The Red Sox drove me to it. They’ve driven a lot of people to a lot of things over the years. As the collection grew, people asked to see it more often. I asked myself, ‘who needs a secure, high-paying job, with paid benefits, great health insurance.’ I left the Attorney General job. It took me six months to crystallize my thoughts.”
Levenson now employs up to eight people during peak seasons and has a steady, loyal customer base around the country and world.
“We’ve had customers for years and years who have been very loyal,” he said. “I guess we are the definition of a niche. I don’t think you can be too conservative in this business. You swing for the fences, to use the baseball analogy. If you strike out, you strike out.
“I always thought of Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for this business. I don’t care about the singles hitters. Babe Ruth struck out a lot, but he got more people excited about baseball. We’ve struck out on some things, but also have a few home runs.”
At Poupon U, you’ll never fail.
Stanford, Princeton? Big mistake!
Poupon U’s a piece of cake.
That’s the official cheer of Poupon University -- Poupon U for short -- the creation of Barry Levenson, the founder and curator of The Mount Horeb Mustard Museum.
“Poupon U actually grew out of a joke by a mustard maker, who told me that’s where mustard makers go to school to learn their craft,” said Levenson, a former state attorney who started the museum in 1992.
“We’ve run with it. You can get a DDS degree in Diddley Squat or JD Juris Dufus. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Like any self-respecting university, Poupon U offers a variety of collectibles, including pennants, surgical scrubs (although it does not have a med school), caps and others.
The Wisconsin version of the Poupon U fight song goes:
On our hot dogs,
On our bratwursts,
Mustard is so cool.
Never mayo, never ketchup,
They’re against the rules.
Gleaming gold and mellow yellow,
Smooth, rough, sweet and hot,
Fight Poupon U, we’ll fight
And eat some lunch.
There also is a South Bend version for Notre Dame fans, but you’ll have to go to www.mustardmuseum.com to sing that one.
Levenson’s humor and cleverness extend to marketing beyond Poupon U. There are other songs. For example:
Have you seen the mustard man,
The mustard man, the mustard man?
Have you seen the mustard man
With a hot dog in his bun?
Or, Roll Out The Mustard:
Roll out the mustard
On pretzels and tofu and cheese,
On a baked potato,
On muffins and green beans and peas.
Try it in risotto,
On roast beef and burgers and chops,
Let it be the star of your sandwich,
So use mustard wherever it plops.
At Brewers’games, the latter can be sung right after the Sausages race; of course, clad in mustard.
You can learn about the history of mustard at the MustardPiece Theatre in the museum. On the first Saturday of each August, you can attend National Mustard Day, which has turned into a big street festival.
Levenson has sponsored a $5,000 writing contest. The author of two books himself – one on baseball and the other on food law, called Habeas Cod Fish – Levenson writes the first chapter, and contestants write the second. The winner and Levenson finish the book and get it published. The first contest, recently concluded, was called “Murder At The Mustard Museum.”
The museum mustards have names like Mucky Ducky Honey & Hot, Slim & Nunne, Mucho Macho Mustard, Bite Me! Lime-Cilantro Hot Sauce, Bone Suckin’ Sauce.
“I’m not selling paper clips,” Levenson says. “You make paper clips. You sell paper clips. Either people need them or not. In this business, we need something that people will respond to. People who are serious about their mustard can still have a sense of humor. One of my biggest satisfactions is that when people walk through the door they often are smiling.”
Levenson and his wife, Patti, a Milwaukee native, run the museum and store. They met through a friend who had visited Mount Horeb.
“She said there was this mustard museum which was kind of cute, and the guy there was pretty funny. Maybe he would make a good speaker for a fund raiser we were doing in Milwaukee,” said Patti, who now is listed as the director of marketing and tours at the museum. “We talked on the phone and decided to have a mustard tasting event. That’s how we met.”
“It was love at first squeeze,” Barry adds.
The museum itself claims to have the largest collection of mustard memorabilia in the world. Few have disputed the claim. It includes jars and other containers, advertising, and interesting tidbits about mustard from all 50 states and more than 60 countries.
Mustards from all over the world are sold through the store part of the museum. About half are sold at the store itself, and half via mail order and the internet, with the percentage of the latter growing each year.
You also can find mustards made at the museum. They include Champagne Honey Mustard, Sweet-Hot Stoneground Mustard, Spicy Beer Mustard, Creamy Dill Mustard, Hot Jalapeno Mustard, Smoky Garlic Mustard and others. In fact, the Levensons will even personalize your mustard, with a label that includes your photo and name, or your business or alma mater.
Although the business started in 1992, Levenson traces its origin to Oct. 28, 1986. “I was wandering through Woodman’s on the east side of Madison, at 2:30 in the morning, depressed because the Red Sox had just lost the seventh game of the World Series (the infamous Bill Buckner Series),” explained Levenson.
Levenson, then a state attorney, decided he had to do something to snap out of his funk. He would collect whatever was in front of him at that moment. It turned out to be mustard.
Now, 20 years later, The Mustard Museum will celebrate its 20th anniversary – at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 28, with an event that is still in the planning stages.
“It will be highlighted by a cake and everything at 2:30 a.m., right here at the museum,” Levenson says of the big night…or early morning to be more accurate. “My wife insists nobody will come. But, we’re going to have all kinds of fun.”
“The whole thing started as a hobby,” said Levenson, who quite his job as a state attorney in 1991 and formally started the museum in 1992. The 20th anniversary will be for the start of his mustard collection.
“The Red Sox drove me to it. They’ve driven a lot of people to a lot of things over the years. As the collection grew, people asked to see it more often. I asked myself, ‘who needs a secure, high-paying job, with paid benefits, great health insurance.’ I left the Attorney General job. It took me six months to crystallize my thoughts.”
Levenson now employs up to eight people during peak seasons and has a steady, loyal customer base around the country and world.
“We’ve had customers for years and years who have been very loyal,” he said. “I guess we are the definition of a niche. I don’t think you can be too conservative in this business. You swing for the fences, to use the baseball analogy. If you strike out, you strike out.
“I always thought of Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for this business. I don’t care about the singles hitters. Babe Ruth struck out a lot, but he got more people excited about baseball. We’ve struck out on some things, but also have a few home runs.”
Gregg Hoffmann is a veteran journalist, author and publisher of Midwest Diamond Report and Old School Collectibles Web sites. Hoffmann, a retired senior lecturer in journalism at UWM, writes The State Sports Buzz and Beyond Milwaukee on a monthly basis for OMC.
