In those days there was no refrigeration for the preserva-
tion of fruits and vegetables and the handlers of such pro-
ducts had great losses through spoilage. When quite a young
man and working in the grocery store, Frank Cruikshank,
one of the sons, got the idea that there should not be so much
waste in the loss of fruits through spoilage and would gather
up the fruits that were left over in the store after the day’s
work was done and would take them into his mother’s kitchen
and cook them into jellies, preserves, and jams; store them
away until the winter season and then sell them over the
counter.
The goods were made from fruit and sugar only, being
strictly pure, and the firm continued along such lines, always
aiming to put out the best product possible. The result was a
big demand by the consumers and finally by other retail
stores and then Frank Cruikshank withdrew from the grocery
store and went into the preserving business on a larger scale,
establishing the present business in the early eighties. He,
therefore, is the originator of the pickling and preserving
business as carried on today. He has been in continuous
charge of the business for almost fifty years and is still actively
engaged as general manager.
The firm at the present time have their goods distributed
all over the country, under their own sales force, having ninety
to one hundred salesmen on the road at all times. They have
a branch office in New York City with twenty-five salesmen
distributing the products all through the New England States.
The products consist of fruit preserves, jelly, apple butter,
pickles, relishes, mustard, ketchup, ete. Cruikshank Brothers
Company are therefore pioneers in the manufacturing of their
line of products and market them under the registered trade
name *“Crubro.”
The company has an investment of $1,000,000, with an
annual product of $2,000,000. Employees in addition to
salesmen, 300 to 500 people, according to the packing season,
salesmen—90 to 100.
Officers: Frank Cruikshank, Sr., President; Allan W. Cruik-
shank, Secretary and Treasurer; Frank Cruikshank, Jr., Vice
President: Vinton W. Cruikshank, Second Vice President.