Dare Foods
From The Waterloo Way Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
Dare Foods Limited is a family-owned business based in Kitchener, Ontario. It manufactures cookies, crackers, candies and fine breads at its seven plants in Ontario, Quebec and South Carolina. Dare candies are made in Toronto and Milton, Ontario. With 7 manufacturing plants, over 1300 employees and after 115 years of operating, Dare Foods has a wonderful history as a privately-owned, Canadian family business.
Company Profile
Dare Foods currently approaches the market with a “feel good food” value proposition. Although a few things have changed since the first hand-made cookie was baked in 1892, Dare maintains its commitment to high quality products. Today, after 115 years, Dare remains a solid, family-owned business that continues to build a legacy rich in innovative, high-quality products that meet the changing needs of its consumers.
Dare produces a wide variety of snack foods satisfying many different consumer needs like better-for-you offerings, convenience and pleasure all of which contribute to making the customer feel good. Their range of cookies, crackers, fine breads and candy are available throughout North America, in Mexico, Sweden, the Far East and over 25 countries around the world.
Innovations & Achievements
In 2003 Dare became one of North America’s first major food manufacturers to declare all of its manufacturing facilities “peanut free.” In this way, Dare addressed consumer concerns over nut-based food allergies and empowered its customers to be worry-free about all of its “feel good food”.
In 2002, Dare Foods, Canada’s second largest cookie, cracker and fine breads manufacturer, needed to breakout of the traditional seasonal promotion mold, with both consumers and trade. Along with Sales Promotion Services, Dare secured category exclusive access to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (DVD/VHS releases for The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Theatrical release The Return of the King). The Fellowship of the Ring campaign established new sales records for Dare during the promotion period, with this non-traditional Back –To–School program. Based on the results from The Fellowship of the Ring, Dare exercised its option to execute a tie-in to The Two Towers and achieved even higher sales in BTS, 2003. The final episode, The Return of the King, achieving significant online participation, while driving a double digit sales increase.
In 2001, at the Dare Foods plant in Spartanburg, S.C., handpacking a multipack premium cracker for club stores was a challenge. At first, the company brought in 10 or more temps to assist in the handpacking process, but as volume got higher, they could not keep up with the demand. BluePrint Automation, Inc., in Colonial Heights, Va. offered Dare a solution that rectified the multipack as well as handled their other packaging needs.
Dare needed to create a premium cracker multipack by inserting two slugs of one variety and two slugs of another variety in a container at one time. The old system could only run one variety at a time. BluePrint provided a system that helped design Work in Progress (WIP) totes to allow for bulk packing of one variety of cracker for storage in WIP containiners. When running multipack, BluePrint would alternately load from reintroduced WIP totes and from current production. The case also packed individual slugs in large food service cases and cartooned the slugs in master shipper cases.
Dare had previously been unable to find a company who could offer the packaging design help, as well as a unique, cost effective and uncomplicated solution in a compact footprint. "It's tripled our output;' says Jeff Wilson, plant manager at Dare Foods. "Now we're able to run the variety pack online as opposed to having it as an offline operation. We were able to increase flexibility and better respond to our customers' needs." Dare is also able to use the same BluePrint system for its 12 pack and 48-count pack The company was also able to remove two people from the packing process. "That certainly justified us purchasing the equipment," Wilson adds. Once Dare Foods partnered with BluePrint Automation, all needs were satisfied.
In 1954 The Dare Company, Limited was the first Canadian cookie company to use the new re-closeable tin tie packages that had been used successfully in the coffee industry and which have become standard packaging in the cookie industry in Canada.
History
Operations and Ownership
In 1889, Charles H. Doerr opened a grocery store on the corner of Breithaupt and Gzowski (now Weber) Streets in Berlin (now Kitchener, Ontario) that by 1892 had become a biscuit-manufacturing operation.
In 1919 a larger bakery was built in Kitchener to replace the original plant and at the same time a line of candies was added. In 1942 the Kitchener plant was destroyed by a fire and in 1943 a smaller wartime replacement was constructed on a former flying field on the outskirts of Kitchener. A new office building was constructed in Kitchener in 1952.
In 2003 a new Kitchener office building was constructed to preserve and highlight the original 1952 yellow-brick structure. The company now known as Dare Foods Limited was originally known as the C.H. Doerr Co. When Charles H. Doerr died in 1941 his grandson, Carl M. Doerr, became President of the company and began an expansion program that introduced Dare products in more than 40 countries.
In 1945 the company and family name was changed from “Doerr” to “Dare” creating The Dare Company, Limited, later renamed Dare Foods Limited. With the help of his sons Bryan and Graham, Carl Dare continued to guide Dare Foods Ltd. until 2002. In Nov. 2002 Fred Jacques was appointed as President, the first non-family member to head the company in 111 years. Bryan and Graham Dare remain co-chairmen of the company’s Board of Directors.
Business History
The business history of Dare Foods is complex: it has formed, acquired, merged and dissolved other companies and its own divisions over the years. One of Carl M. Doerr’s first expansion acquisitions was The Howe Candy Company in Hamilton, Ontario. Other acquisitions include Saratoga Products, St. Jacobs Canning Company, Mother Dell’s Bakeries, Dairy Maid Chocolates, Bremner Biscuit Co., Saputo/ Culinar CFS.
In 1960 a sales office was opened in Montreal, establishing Les Aliments Dare Limitée, Dare’s selling and distributing organization in the Province of Quebec. The Western Division was established in 1962 with the opening of a bakery and sales office in North Surrey, Vancouver, B.C., serving British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
In 1954 The Dare Company, Limited was the first Canadian cookie company to use the new re-closeable tin tie packages that had been used successfully in the coffee industry and which have become standard packaging in the cookie industry in Canada.
Company Timeline
The following is a chronological story of Dare Foods Limited:
TODAY- Dare Foods continues over one hundred years of dedication to producing innovative, high quality food products. From seven factories in Canada and the U.S., its cookies, crackers, candies and fine breads are sold throughout North America, in Mexico, Sweden, the Far East and over 25 other countries around the world.
2003 - In response to growing consumer concerns over nut-based food allergies, Dare becomes one of North America's first major food manufacturers to declare all of its manufacturing facilities "peanut free" (for details, click HERE) 2002 - Dare is chosen as exclusive supplier of cookies for the Girl Guides of Canada.
2001- Dare acquires the cookie and "fine bread" (i.e. melba toast) business of Culinar, Inc. of Montreal, Quebec, adding to its line such popular chocolate-coated cookie favourites as Whippet, Wagon Wheels and Viva Puffs and becoming Canada's number one supplier of melba toast and other fine breads, sold under the Grissol brand name.
1999- Dare acquires the 134-year-old Bremner Biscuit Company of Denver, Colorado, adding the famous Bremner Wafers to its line of specialty cracker products in the U.S.
1994- Determined to grow as a truly North American food company, Dare constructs a new cracker bakery on a 33-acre green-field site in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
1989- A fully-automated soft candy plant is built in Milton, Ontario. Soon, Dare introduces its highly-successful range of RealFruit Gummie candies, which bring sophisticated European tastes in soft candy to North America for the first time.
1982- Dare's flagship cracker brand, Breton, is introduced with extraordinary success! Within a few years, Breton and its companion brands, Cabaret and Vivant, are available across North America - in all 10 provinces of Canada and 48 states of the United States.
1956 - Now a well-established name in all parts of Canada, Dare introduces its quality cookie products to U.S. consumers.
1954- Taking an idea from coffee packaging, Dare Foods introduces chocolate chip cookies in a bag sealed with a "tin tie" strip, allowing consumers to reseal the bag without sacrificing freshness. It's an immediate success and becomes the standard packaging for cookies in Canada.
1945- The company and family name is legally changed to "Dare" to ease pronunciation outside of the local community as the company starts to expand distribution to all regions of Canada.
1933- Carl Doerr joins the company and progressively learns the business from his grandfather, Charles. With the passing of the founder in 1941, Carl takes over leadership of the company.
1919- Now a manufacturing business distributing throughout the region, the C. H. Doerr Company incorporates & expands its baking and candy-making facilities.
1892- Charles H Doerr begins a tradition of favourites by producing & selling cookies and candies from his small grocery store in Kitchener (then, Berlin), Ontario, Canada. It's not long before these quality products replace sales of general merchandise in the Doerr store.
Archives – University of Waterloo – Fonds
Fonds consists of records generated in the course of business by Dare Foods Limited and its subsidiary companies. It includes financial statements; account books; minutes; correspondence; letters patent; legal records; share registers; biscuit, cracker and candy formulas; architectural drawings; biscuit, cracker and candy packaging samples; price lists; photographs; television, radio and print advertisements; publications; artifacts; manuals; the records of J.R. Worthington; internal newsletters; and newspaper clippings. Fonds also contains the records of The Almer Company Limited and Sunbeam Shoes, companies acquired privately by Carl Dare. Includes 4.5 m. of textual records ; 1892 photographs ; 4 maps ; 6 architectural drawings ; 22 technical drawings ; 1 plan ; 11 film reels ; 8 audio reels ; 5 audio discs ; 18 audio cassettes ; 66 videocassettes ; 1 CD-ROM ; 22 artifacts.
References
MKS: Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), UWaterloo.Com. 07 Oct. 2007.
