A.J. Canfield Company

The A.J. Canfield Company produces and bottles soda beverages including Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge, primarily in the Chicago area and was founded in 1924. Production for the midwestern United States is handled by the American Bottling Company, a subsidiary of Keurig Dr Pepper and distribution by Kehe Foods of Chicago.

A.J. Canfield Company
IndustrySoda Beverage Producer
FounderA. J. Canfield
SuccessorSold to Select Beverages in 1995; Select Beverages was acquired by the American Bottling Company in 1998
Headquarters
Founded in Chicago, Illinois
,
United States
Number of locations
Across the United States
Key people
Chicago artist and marketing expert, Edward View Sr. designed and created the Canfield’s logo along with the design of all the soda can labels. There were so many flavors that it was marketed as the rainbow.
ProductsCanfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge
Canfield's 50/50
Canfield's Dry Ginger Ale
Grandpa Graf's
Swiss Creme

History
50/50 soda bottle

The company was started in 1924,[1] at 67th Street and South Chicago Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, by A. J. Canfield, a former railroad worker.[2]

In the days when there were many local and regional soda manufactures, and when these regional soda manufactures marketed their products in returnable glass bottles, Canfield's was some unique, as the vast majority of it's products were marketed in glass quart bottles only. Almost all regional bottlers at the time used quart glass bottles with removable paper labels that could be returned to any other bottlers plant. However, Canfield's had the unique marketing strategy of using returnable quart glass bottles with a much larger tip/mouth and larger bottle caps. Supposedly, this would lead to a higher quality beverage, as "Canfield's bottles" could only be returned to the Canfield bottling plant. The marketing idea was that Canfield's beverages, AND BOTTLES were of higher quality than other Chicagoland soda plants. This plan would sometimes backfire, as some retailers would not market Canfield's products, as returning their quart bottles would require extra sorting through the returnable quart bottles. Canfield's also used unique reinforced wooden cases for delivery and return of their quart bottles. Canfield's was a marketer of this unique glass quart bottle soda until the mid 1970's. In approximately 1976 Canfield's switched to a plastic quart bottle that had a unique shape. The plastic quart bottle closely resembled a vintage glass "milk bottle with cream top". This change coincided with Canfield's "Come Taste The Rainbow - Canfield's Rainbow Of Flavor And Fun" advertising campaign. Many unique fruit flavors were added to the product line at this time. Canfield's was a large scale advertiser on WGN TV, "Chicago's Very Own Channel 9" until 1995, when the original company was sold.

In 1995, the A.J. Canfield Company was sold to Select Beverages for an undisclosed sum.[3] Its largest plant, on the south side of Chicago at East 89th Place, was closed in December 1995.[4]

In 1998, Select Beverages was acquired by the American Bottling Company, a joint venture company owned by Cadbury Schweppes and the Carlyle Group,[5] now the Keurig Dr Pepper.

Products
  • Canfield's 50/50 is a grapefruit- and lime-flavored soft drink marketed by the Canfield's company.[6][7][8] In the late 1980s-early 1990s the 50/50 soft drink brand was bottled at Laurel Packaging, Inc. (now Pepsi Bottling Group), Johnstown, PA, and was distributed by the Will G. Keck Corporation (Kecksburg, PA) and also by D & M Management, Inc. (Davidsville, PA), an independent beverage distribution firm, in the West Central Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, DC, and the Northern Virginia areas.[9][10]
  • Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge, since 1972
  • Canfield's Dry, a brand of ginger ale
  • Grandpa Graf's, a brand of root beer
  • Swiss Creme Soda
  • Mickey Rooney, a watermelon drink made in association with Mickey Rooney
  • Club soda
  • Tonic water
  • Diet tonic water
  • Anna Banana
  • Honee Orange
  • Hula Punch

References
  1. A.J. Canfield Co. v. Vess Beverages, Inc., 796 F.2d 903 (7th Cir. 15 July 1986).
  2. Vogell, Heather (31 August 2000). "Arthur J. Canfield, 84". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  3. Ford, Dawn (1 July 1995). "Select buys Canfield, creates Midwest powerhouse". Beverage Industry. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  4. Millman, Nancy (9 April 1996). "New Owner To Dip Canfield Into New Markets". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  5. Kirk, Jim (24 February 1998). "Select Beverages To Be Swallowed By Joint Venture Firm". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  6. Haddix, C.; Kraig, B. (2017). The Chicago Food Encyclopedia. Heartland Foodways. University of Illinois Press. p. 532. ISBN 978-0-252-09977-9. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  7. Beverage Industry (in Estonian). Magazines for Industry. 1987. p. 142. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  8. "Beverages Direct web site". Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  9. "Canfield's 50/50 Soda".
  10. "Arthur J. Canfield, 84". Chicago Tribune. August 31, 2000. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
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