History of Duncan coffee Company from Coca Cola documents
Now-what I'd like for you to do is push the little red "hold" button in your minds, and follow me back to August of The 12th, to be exact. At 5:00 a.m., to be even more exact. That was the point in time at which the Duncan Coffee Company went into operation. Herschel M. Duncan, that morning, arrived at the old Cheek-Neal coffee plant in Houston. It was the plant at which he had been superintendent for a number of years. It was also the plant he had just bought. Once he had blended and roasted and tasted the first batch of his coffee, he knew he had a winner. So he bagged it up, loaded it into his model T, and went out to find his first customer • By the end of the day, Herschel Duncan. could report a gross sales revenue of $2.92. Not a lot of money, certainly. But, to a man with the confidence of a true entrepreneur, it was the green light to succes And, so it was. Herschel Duncan's small coffee company began to grow... and did the good reputation of his product. He was joined in the new venture by his brother, Charles in 1921. The brand that the Duncan Coffee Company featured most heavily was Admiration Coffee. Soon, the Admiration a household word in brand became the Southwest market. Before long, the Duncan brothers decided to put together a blend of very high-quality coffees, for use by restaurants and railroad dining cars. The blend was special. So, whatever name they chose would have to convey the image of quality. Herschel had been to Baltimore quite a few times over the years. And it was there that he found the name for his new blend. There is a club in Baltimore that always represented the ultimate in quality, prestige, and graciousness. The Maryland Club. What better name. what better image for the new coffee. And so, in 1928, Maryland Club was introduced to the restaurant trade. It was an immediate success, and Duncan Coffee Company was in the premium-quality, premium-price coffee market. The Duncan Coffee Company, over the next dozen years, experienced such a growth in sales that their production capacity became stretched to its limits. So, in 1936, Duncan made its first acquisition... the Magnolia Coffee Company of Houston. This purchase created room for expansion, and enough production capacity to take care of the steadily increasing sales. BY 1938, the Duncan brothers' Maryland Clab Brand had generated such a demand that the decision was made to enter the retail market with it. But only in Houston. They knew that Maryland Club was a solid success. But they also knew that the institutional market was considerably different than the retail market. So, their first step was more or less a test. Maryland Club Coffee was given some grocery distribution in and around the Houston market only. Well, with that venture, Duncan Coffee Company proved one thing: that there definitely was a retail consumer market for premium coffee.
Within three years, Duncan was once again in the position of having to expand its facilities. So, in 1941, they acquired the Delicious Coffee Company, located in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the war Years, of course, business was somewhat curtailed due to the rationing of coffee... but that slump was industry-wide. And Duncan Coffee Company was sufficiently strong in the market to outlast those somewhat static years. In 1951, the decision was made to enter the retail market with Maryland Club, and distribute it in grocery stores on a full scale.
So, on the weekend before Easter, Maryland Club coffee made a spectacular entry into the Dallas-Ft. Worth market. The vehicle for this introduction was called the "Orchid Promotion." The promotion went like this: each lady who purchased a can of Maryland Club coffee was to receive an orchid corsage. And what a success it was! Everything went according to plan. Or would have. If the orchids had shown up. The ladies were in the stores buying can after can of Maryland Club... and the orchids were wilting in a boy somewhere between Honolulu and Dallas. But everything worked out. Each woman received a "rain chec):", and traded it in later for her orchid. The real success of this promotion was the fact that 100% distribution was secured overnight.... and virtually all of that distribution was maintained. The "Orchid Promotion" was used to expand distribution into West and South Texas, as well as Arkansas. And, within two year of the Dallas market entry, Maryland Club had distribution throughout the entire Duncan marketing area. Not only that, but sales...in these same three years from '51 to '53... had increased nore than 500%. In 1953 two things happened which dịa nothing more than add fuel to fire. Maryland Club Instant Coffee was added to the line, to begin with. Then, Duncan divided the sales of institutional and grocery products into two specialized sales forces. By 1956, both Admiration and Maryland Club were each selling more than 17 million pounds a year.
A year later, Herschel Duncan saw his pride and joy...Maryland Club Coffee... become his top-selling brane. That was also the year Herschel Duncan died. 1957. Following his death, the Duncan Coffee Company was sold to a West Coast coffee importing tarm. Otis McAllister & Company• But two years later, in 1959, Charles Duncan, Jr., and John H. Duncan bought it back again. They immediately began a program of growth. Including the acquisition of Dixie Club Coffee, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama. Now, remember you put 1961 on hold? Well, you can release it now. Because it was in 1961 that Duncan Coffee Company Butter-Nut Foods acquired the larger, Company • That same year, the Fleetwood Coffee Company was acquired, which incidentally was one of the original ten companies to make up Tenco. That's also the year that Duncan moved into a brand new 3-million-dollar plant. That's the one that's right next to Foods Division Headquarters on Old Katy Road. The following year saw the acquisition of two additional companies: The Huggins- Young Coffee Company, and the J. B. Osgood Coffee Company. These were both primarily foodservice companies. Along with the institutional markets of both Duncan and Butter-Nut, they formed the basis for our current Foodservice operation. In 1963, Duncan Coffee Company changed its name to the Duncan Foods Company • And, the next year. Duncan Foods Company on May 8th... the was merged into The Coca-Cola Company In the early 70's, our real advances in coffee Company made some roasting technology. There was the special new process where we started to roast the different components of the blend separately to maximize the flavor of each type. We called it the "Roast and Blend" process and introduced it with our Upside-Down Man... advertising campaign. Today this process is still used, and we call it our "Premium Roasting Process" in our current Betty White advertising. In mid-1978, we brought out Extra Measure coffee which today has found a niche in the economy segment at retail with a stable one to one and one-half share points. It has also been introduced to the foodservice trade, and is an important part of our overall business. One of the greatest successes our company has had is the building of our Foodservice Department during the past several years. Some of the growth came through acquisitions. The Douglas Coffee Company of Omaha was acquired in 1961. It was a small company with only four employees. You'd be interested to know that all four of these employees stayed with us until they reached retirement.
As previously mentioned, the Osgood, Huggins-Young and Fleetwood acquisitions contributed to the growth of our Foodservice Department. In addition to growing by acquisition, growth came by market development. Starting from scratch.
This happened throughout the midwest under Norm Jenkins' personal leadership. Out of our base at Chattanooga, we moved into Florida and on into the northeast, and then we moved up from California into the northwest to become a national foodservice company • The foodservice business was built as you know with coffee as its base, adding tea and chocolate.
Then in 1967, when the Foods Division was formed, freezers were put on foodservice trucks and citrus was added. Tea and chocolate started the allied products line which has expanded to over 200 products during the past ten years: pancake mix, cleaning supplies, single servings of jams and jellies; syrup, catsup, mustard, hash brown/ potatoes and lemon juice.
In 1969, our frozen coffee concentrate was introduced complete with dispensers. This business has had some ups and downs, however, it turned profitable in 1978, and profits improved last year. We have new frozen coffee dispensers that are less expensive and easier to care for. Our Foodservice Department has experienced marvelous growth and has been an outstanding profit contributor to the Foods Division. As an independent company, it would be the fifth largest foodservice company in the U.S.
Then in 1967, when the Foods Division was formed, freezers were put on foodservice trucks and citrus was added. Tea and chocolate started the allied products line which has expanded to over 200 products during the past ten years: pancake mix, cleaning supplies, single servings of jams and jellies; syrup, catsup, mustard, hash brown/ potatoes and lemon juice.
In 1969, our frozen coffee concentrate was introduced complete with dispensers. This business has had some ups and downs
however, it turned profitable in 1978, and profits improved last year. We have new frozen coffee dispensers that are less expensive and easier to care for. Our Foodservice Department has experienced marvelous growth and has been an outstanding profit contributor to the Foods Division. As an independent company, it would be the fifth largest foodservice company in the U.S
To solve the problem, in 1951, ten leading regional roasters joined together and pooled their resources to build an instant coffee plant at Linden, New Jersey. The plant was built using the best technology and equipment available at the time, and was designed to produce instant coffee for all ten of the owners. From the very beginning, Tenco was a success. It began supplying instant coffee to the original ten shareholders, and soon expanded into the private label business and packing products for supermarket chains and other coffee roasters.
Tenco's success and growth attracted the attention of the Minute Maid Corporation, and in September, 1959, Tenco, Inc. was merged into the Minute Maid Corporation.
The following year, 1960, Tenco expanded its operations to include the processing
of instant tea and then on December 30, 1960, when Minute Maid Corporation merged into The Coca-Cola Company, Tenco became a division of The Coca-Cola Company. Over the next 15 years, Tenco continued to grow and prosper expanding both its domestic and international operations as well as its product lines. It was January 1, 1976 that Tenco became a part of the Foods Division. Tenco packs and markets primarily soluble coffee and tea as private label or controlled label products in the United States, Great Britain and some other international markets. Our association with Tenco goes back many years, with Tenco packing instant coffee for Poods Division brands.
Enough of the past, and what of our coffee business today? What will they say
about the history we are creating?
For one thing, when they deal with 1979, they can say that the coffee operation of The Coca-Cola Company Foods Division was number three in the industry.••
... that, • of this Division's $1 billion in sales, coffee contributed very close to forty-five percent....
... that we are truly international. We have a plant in London, and a large business freeze-dried in the United Kingdom. plant in Brazil. But, as I said, that is the reality of today... and the history of tomorrow• The spirit of the Ben Gallaghers and the Herschel Duncans gave birth to the brands we sell today. And that spirit... that In the quality.
pride...is still there.
In the company. In the products and their history•