XXVI. WHOLESALE MERCHANDISING OF COFFEE…

XXVI. WHOLESALE MERCHANDISING OF COFFEE

How coffees are sold at wholesale--The wholesale salesman's place in merchandising--Some coffee costs analyzed--Handy coffee-selling chart--Terms and credits--About package coffees--Various types of coffee containers--Coffee package labels--Coffee package economies--Practical grocer helps--Coffee sampling--Premium method of sales promotion

Coffee is sold at wholesale in the United States chiefly by about 4,000 wholesale grocers, who handle also many other items of food; and by roasters, who make a specialty of preparing the green coffee for consumption, and who feature either bulk or trade-marked package goods.

Much the largest proportion of the wholesale coffee trade today is made up of roasted coffees, though some wholesalers still sell the green bean to retail distributers who do their own roasting. Most of the roasted coffee sold is ground; although in some parts of the United States there is at present a growing consumer demand for coffee in the bean. Of the coffee sold in trade-marked packages in 1919 in the United States, about seventy-five percent was ground ready for brewing.

The larger wholesale houses generally confine their operations to the section of the country in which they are located, but some of the biggest coffee-packing firms seek national distribution. In both cases, branch houses are usually established at strategic points to facilitate the serving of retail customers with freshly roasted coffee at all times.

In recent years, too, it has become a general practise for the home offices, or main headquarters, to advertise their product in magazines, newspapers, street cars, and by mail and on billboards; while the branches solicit trade in their territories by means of traveling salesmen, local newspaper advertisements, booklets, circulars, and demonstrations at food shows.

The Wholesale Salesman

The traveling salesman is probably the most effective agency in securing the retailer's orders for coffee. A good coffee salesman not only sells coffee, but he teaches his customer how he can best build up and hold his coffee trade. He acquaints the retailer with all the talking points about the coffee he handles, how to feature it in store displays and advertisements, how to stage demonstrations and to work up special sales.

If he is a good salesman, he does not permit the merchant to buy more coffee than he can dispose of while it is still fresh. And he shows the dealer the folly of handling too many brands of package coffees. If he sells coffee in bulk, the efficient salesman has also a sound working knowledge of blending principles, and is able to suggest the kinds of coffee to blend to suit the particular requirements of each grocer's trade. In short, he takes an intelligent interest in his customer's business, and co-operates with him in building up a local coffee trade.

Some Coffee Costs Analyzed

In estimating the price at which he must sell his coffee to make a fair profit, the wholesale coffee merchant has many items of expense to consider. To the cost of the green coffee he must add: the cost of transportation to his plant; the loss in shrinkage in roasting, which ranges from fifteen to twenty percent; packaging costs, if he is a packer; the items of expense in doing business, such as wages and salaries, advertising, buying and selling, freight, express, warehouse and cartage, postage and office supplies, telephone and telegraph, credit and collection; and the fixed overhead charges for interest, heat, light, power, insurance, taxes, repairs, equipment, depreciation, losses from bad debts, and miscellaneous items.[334] The average loss for bad debts among grocers in 1916 was 0.03 percent of the total sales, according to the director of business research, Harvard University, who estimated also that the common figure for credit and collection expense was 0.06 percent. The total cost of doing business has been estimated as ranging between twelve and twenty percent of the total annual sales, so that a bag of green coffee costing $16 in New York or New Orleans costs the coffee packer in the Middle West from $22.33 to $24.56, according to the expense of carrying on his business.

Terms and Credits

Wholesale coffee trade contract terms and credits are not dissimilar from those in other lines of commerce. The wholesaler helps the retailer finance his business to the extent of granting him thirty to sixty days in which to pay his bill, offering him a cash discount if the invoice is paid within ten days of date of sale. Until recent years, these terms were frequently abused, the customer demanding much longer credits and often taking a ten-day cash discount after thirty or more days had elapsed. This abuse was particularly prevalent from 1907 to 1913, when coffee prices were low and competition was especially keen.[335] In addition, the retailers often demanded special deliveries of supplies, which added to the wholesalers' costs; and some retailers refused to pay the cost of cartage from the cars to their stores.

With the coming of high prices after the close of the World War, the wholesalers showed a tendency to tighten up their credit and discount terms, the National Coffee Roasters Association especially recommending thirty days' credit, or at most sixty days, and a maximum cash discount rate of two percent.

Another trade abuse which has been corrected almost altogether was the practise of "selling coffee to be billed as shipped"; that is, the wholesaler held coffee on order, and billed only when delivered, even though several weeks or months had passed before shipment.

About Package Coffees

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the sale of coffee in packages has increased steadily until now (1922) this form of distribution competes strongly with bulk coffee sales. While bulk coffee is still preferred in some eastern sections of the United States, coffee packers are making deep inroads there, to the extent that practically all high and medium grade retailers feature package coffees, either under their own brand name, or that of a coffee specialty house.

The prime requisite for success in any package coffee is the composition of the blend. One of the leaders in the field, which we will call Y, is said to be composed of Bogota, Bourbon Santos, and Mexican. In March, 1922, it was being sold at retail in New York for 42 cents. A competing brand, which we will call Z, is said to be a blend of Bogota and Bourbon Santos. It was being sold at retail in New York, at the same period for the same price. Simultaneously, in the retail stores of a well known chain system, a bulk blend composed of sixty percent Bourbon Santos and forty percent Bogota was to be had loose for 29 cents.

The second important factor that contributes to package coffee success is the container. It must be of such a character as will best preserve the freshness--the flavor and the aroma of the coffee--until it reaches the consumer.

Package coffee has not yet won universal favor. Some of the arguments used against it are: that the price is generally higher than the same grade in bulk; that it leads to price-cutting by stores that can afford to sell it at about cost as a leader for other articles; that the margin of profit is frequently too close for some retailers: that when the market advances, some packers change their blends to keep down cost and to maintain the advertised price; and that, when packed ground, there is a rapid loss of flavor, aroma, and strength.

COFFEE-SELLING CHART

BY A.J. DANNEMILLER

Showing Prices to Be Obtained to Realize Certain Percents on Sales of Roasted Coffee

Cost Roasted & Packed 10% 11% 12% 13% 14% 15% 16% 17%

4 4.44 4.50 4.55 4.61 4.67 4.72 4.77 4.82 4-1/2 5.00 5.06 5.12 5.18 5.24 5.30 5.36 5.43 5 5.55 5.62 5.68 5.75 5.82 5.89 5.96 6.03 5-1/2 6.11 6.18 6.25 6.33 6.41 6.49 6.57 6.65 6 6.67 6.74 6.81 6.89 6.97 7.06 7.15 7.24 6-1/2 7.23 7.31 7.38 7.47 7.55 7.84 7.74 7.84 7 7.78 7.87 7.95 8.05 8.15 8.25 8.35 8.45 7-1/2 8.34 8.43 8.52 8.62 8.72 8.83 8.93 9.04 8 8.89 8.99 9.09 9.20 9.31 9.42 9.53 9.65 8-1/2 9.45 9.55 9.66 9.77 9.87 9.99 10.12 10.25 9 10.00 10.12 10.23 10.35 10.47 10.59 10.72 10.85 9-1/2 10.56 10.68 10.80 10.92 11.04 11.17 11.31 11.45 10 11.11 11.24 11.37 11.49 11.63 11.77 11.90 12.05 10-1/2 11.66 11.81 11.93 12.07 12.21 12.36 12.49 12.65 11 12.22 12.37 12.50 12.64 12.85 12.95 13.08 13.26 11-1/2 12.77 12.93 13.07 13.21 13.37 13.54 13.68 13.86 12 13.33 13.49 13.64 13.79 13.95 14.12 14.28 14.46 12-1/2 13.89 14.05 14.21 14.37 14.53 14.71 14.88 15.06 13 14.44 14.62 14.78 14.93 15.11 15.30 15.47 15.66 13-1/2 15.00 15.18 15.33 15.51 15.69 15.88 16.07 16.27 14 15.55 15.73 15.90 16.08 16.28 16.48 16.67 16.84 14-1/2 16.11 16.29 16.48 16.65 16.86 17.05 17.26 17.47 15 16.66 16.85 17.05 17.23 17.44 17.65 17.85 18.07 15-1/2 17.23 17.43 17.61 17.80 18.03 18.22 18.45 18.67 16 17.78 17.98 18.18 18.38 18.60 18.83 19.05 19.28 16-1/2 18.33 18.54 18.75 18.97 19.18 19.41 19.64 19.88 17 18.89 19.10 19.33 19.52 19.76 20.01 20.24 20.48 17-1/2 19.44 19.66 19.89 20.10 20.35 20.59 20.83 21.08 18 20.00 20.22 20.45 20.67 20.93 21.18 21.43 21.69 18-1/2 20.55 20.79 21.02 21.24 21.51 21.77 22.02 22.29 19 21.11 21.35 21.59 21.84 22.09 22.36 22.62 22.90 19-1/2 21.66 21.91 22.16 22.41 22.68 22.95 23.21 23.50 20 22.22 22.47 22.73 22.99 23.25 23.54 23.81 24.11 20-1/2 22.77 23.03 23.30 23.55 23.83 24.14 24.40 24.70 21 23.33 23.60 23.87 24.14 24.42 24.70 25.00 25.30 21-1/2 23.88 24.16 24.43 24.71 25.00 25.29 25.59 25.90 22 24.44 24.72 25.00 25.28 25.58 25.92 26.19 26.51 22-1/2 24.99 25.29 25.57 25.85 26.16 26.47 26.78 27.12 23 25.55 25.85 26.14 26.42 26.74 27.06 27.38 27.71 23-1/2 26.11 26.41 26.70 27.00 27.32 27.66 27.97 28.32 24 26.67 26.97 27.26 27.58 27.90 28.24 28.57 28.92 24-1/2 27.22 27.54 27.84 28.15 28.49 28.83 29.16 29.52 25 27.78 28.09 28.41 28.73 29.07 29.41 29.76 30.12

Cost Roasted & Packed 18% 19% 20% 21% 22% 23% 24% 25%

4 4.88 4.94 5.00 5.07 5.13 5.20 5.26 5.33 4-1/2 5.49 5.57 5.63 5.70 5.77 5.84 5.91 6.00 5 6.10 6.18 6.25 6.33 6.42 6.50 6.55 6.68 5-1/2 6.72 6.80 6.88 6.97 7.06 7.15 7.24 7.33 6 7.33 7.42 7.50 7.60 7.70 7.80 7.90 8.00 6-1/2 7.94 8.03 8.13 8.24 8.33 8.45 8.56 8.67 7 8.54 8.65 8.75 8.86 8.96 9.09 9.21 9.33 7-1/2 9.15 9.26 9.30 9.50 9.63 9.75 9.87 10.00 8 9.76 9.88 10.00 10.13 10.26 10.39 10.53 10.67 8-1/2 10.37 10.40 10.63 10.76 10.90 11.04 11.19 11.33 9 10.98 11.12 11.25 11.40 11.54 11.70 11.85 12.00 9-1/2 11.59 11.73 11.88 12.03 12.18 12.34 12.51 12.67 10 12.20 12.34 12.50 12.66 12.82 12.98 13.16 13.33 10-1/2 12.81 12.95 13.12 13.29 13.46 13.63 13.81 14.00 11 13.43 13.57 13.75 13.93 14.10 14.28 14.47 14.67 11-1/2 14.03 14.19 14.38 14.56 14.74 14.93 15.13 15.33 12 14.65 14.81 15.00 15.19 15.38 15.58 15.79 16.00 12-1/2 15.24 15.43 15.63 15.83 16.02 16.23 16.45 16.67 13 15.85 16.05 16.25 16.45 16.67 16.87 17.10 17.33 13-1/2 16.46 16.67 16.88 17.08 17.31 17.53 17.76 18.00 14 17.07 17.28 17.50 17.72 17.95 18.17 18.40 18.67 14-1/2 17.68 17.90 18.13 18.35 18.59 18.83 19.07 19.33 15 18.29 18.51 18.75 18.98 19.23 19.48 19.74 20.00 15-1/2 18.90 19.13 19.38 19.61 19.87 20.12 20.39 20.67 16 19.51 19.75 20.00 20.25 20.51 20.77 21.05 21.33 16-1/2 20.12 20.38 20.63 20.88 21.16 21.42 21.70 22.00 17 20.73 21.99 21.25 21.51 21.78 22.07 22.36 22.67 17-1/2 21.34 21.60 22.88 22.15 22.43 22.72 23.03 23.33 18 21.95 22.22 22.50 22.78 23.05 23.37 23.68 24.00 18-1/2 22.56 22.84 23.13 23.42 23.70 24.02 24.34 24.67 19 23.17 23.45 23.75 24.05 24.34 24.67 25.00 25.33 19-1/2 23.78 24.07 24.38 24.68 24.99 25.32 25.66 26.00 20 24.39 24.68 25.00 25.31 25.64 25.97 26.32 26.67 20-1/2 25.00 25.30 25.63 25.94 26.28 26.61 26.97 27.33 21 25.62 25.92 26.25 26.58 26.92 27.26 27.63 28.00 21-1/2 26.22 26.54 26.88 27.22 27.56 27.91 28.28 28.67 22 26.83 27.16 27.50 27.86 28.10 28.56 28.94 29.33 22-1/2 27.44 27.78 28.13 28.48 28.85 29.22 29.61 30.00 23 28.06 28.38 28.75 29.11 29.48 29.86 30.26 30.67 23-1/2 28.66 29.00 29.38 29.76 30.12 30.51 30.92 31.33 24 29.27 29.62 30.00 30.38 30.77 31.17 31.58 32.00 24-1/2 29.88 30.24 30.63 31.02 31.41 31.81 32.24 32.67 25 30.49 30.86 31.25 31.65 32.05 32.47 32.90 33.33

NOTE, FOR EXAMPLE: Coffee costing 13.50 per 100 pounds (see first column), to realize 17% on sales, must bring 16.27; which really represents 21% on cost

Friends of package coffees point to the saving in time in handling in the store; to the fact that the contents of a package are not contaminated by odors or dirt; that the blends are prepared by experts and are always uniform; that the coffee is always properly roasted; and, in the case of package ground coffee, properly ground; that the brand names are widely and consistently advertised; and that the retailer has the benefit of the packer's co-operation in building up sales campaigns, by means of booklets and local advertising.

Various Types of Coffee Containers

Five types of containers are used for packing coffee, namely, cardboard cartons, paper bags, fiber or paper cans, tin cans, and composite (tin and fiber) cans and packages. Fiber packages include paraffin-lined as well as those that have been chemically treated with other water-proof and flavor-retaining substances.

The carton is popular, because it takes up less room in storage and in shipment to the packing plant, and also because the label can be printed directly on the package. Another economy feature is its adaptability to the automatic packaging machine, which transforms it from a flat sheet into a wrapped and sealed package of coffee. Moisture-proof and flavor-retaining inner liners and outside wrappers are generally used to prevent rapid deterioration of the coffee's strength and aroma.

Paper bags are the least expensive containers to be obtained; and when lined with foil or prepared paper, they are considered to be satisfactory. Like the carton, the label can be printed directly on the bag. They also lend themselves to close packing in shipping cases.

Another popular type of container is the paper, or fiber, can which is made of fiber board with a slip cover. Fiber cans are also made with tin tops and bottoms, the metal parts supplying a measure of rigidity to the package. These composite packages are made round, square, oblong, or cylindrical.

Paraffined containers are characterized by an outer covering of glossy paraffin, and are made in various shapes. In some makes, the paraffin is forced into the pores of the paper base, making for added flavor-retaining and moisture-proof properties. In this type of package the label may also be printed direct on the package.

In recent years, vacuum packed coffee has won great favor, first in the West and latterly in the East. Tin cans are used. Vacuum sealing machines close the containers at the rate of forty to fifty a minute. Private tests by responsible coffee men are said to have shown that coffee in the bean or ground, when vacuum packed, retains its freshness for a longer period than when packed by any other method.

Labels

Coffee packers must give due attention to certain well defined laws bearing on package labels. Before the Federal Pure Food Act went into effect on January 1, 1907, many coffee labels bore the magic names of "Mocha" and "Java," when in fact neither of those two celebrated coffees were used in the blend. Even mixtures containing a large percentage of chicory, or other addition, were labeled "Pure Mocha and Java Coffee." The enactment of the pure food law ended this practise, making it compulsory that the label should state either the actual coffees used in the blend, or a brand name, together with the name of either the packer or the distributer. When chicory or other addition is used, the fact must be stated in clear type directly following the brand name. The reading matter on the label should contain facts only, and should not bear extravagant claims of superior quality or of methods of preparing or packing that have not been followed.

Coffee Packaging Economies

During the United States' participation in the World War, tin became practically unobtainable, and coffee packers turned to paper and fiber containers as substitutes in packaging nearly all grades. In this war period, commercial economy became a fetish in the business world; and coffee packers worked to save not only material, but shipping space, labor, and time. Paper and fiber containers proved to be not only practical but economical packages. Because of their war-time experience, many packers changed permanently to square and oblong containers. They found these containers could be packed "solid" in shipping cases, leaving no unfilled space between packages as is the case with cylindrical cans; also, smaller shipping cases could be used. As a further measure of economy, several packers changed from the square "knocked-down" paper or fiber carton to the oblong carton that is made up, filled, and sealed by automatic machinery from a flat, printed sheet of cardboard. This type of container is generally lined or wrapped with a moisture-proof and flavor-retaining paper.

There has been a tendency in recent years to standardize coffee packages as a means of working out packaging and shipping economies. One of the leading American proponents[336] of standardization said:

One of the first arguments raised against standardization is that it eliminates individuality, and individuality is one of the big guns covering the front line trenches in the war of competition. The folly of recommending that every one-pound coffee carton, for instance, should be of exactly the same size and shape is immediately apparent; but let us not confuse such unification with standardization.

Assuming that a pound of coffee may be safely contained in seventy-two cubic inches, we find that a carton three inches thick by four inches wide by six inches high will serve our purpose; and, as an illustration of extremes, a carton three inches thick by three inches wide by eight inches high, or one [carton] two inches thick by six inches wide by six inches high, will each have exactly the same cubical contents. In fact, there is an almost infinite variety of combinations of dimensions which will contain substantially seventy-two cubic inches.

As an example of how coffee packages can be standardized this authority cites the following sizes of flat-sheet containers and their respective dimensions and capacities:

THICK AND WIDE HIGH CONTENTS Size Inches Inches Cubic Ins. 1 lb. 2-5/8 by 4-1/2 6-1/4 73.83 1/2 lb. 2-1/4 by 3-1/8 5-1/4 36.91 1/4 lb. 1-9/16 by 2-5/8 4-1/2 18.46

The advantages claimed for these packages are that each is well proportioned and makes a good selling appearance; each bears a direct relation to the other two; and all may be handled with uniformly good results on the same set of standardized packaging machinery. One size of shipping case, instead of three, may be used to hold exactly the same number of pounds of coffee, regardless of whether shipped in one-pound, half-pound, or quarter-pound cartons. For smaller dealer assortments, any two, or all three sizes also exactly fit the following standard shipping cases:

For 36 lbs., 13-7/8" by 16-1/2" by 12-3/4" high For 54 lbs., 13-7/8" by 16-1/2" by 19-1/8" high

This standardization of packages and shipping containers results in a lower cost of containers and a smaller stock to carry, with attendant reductions in details in purchasing and billing departments, in inventories, and in many other overhead expense factors.

Practical Grocer Helps

Wholesale coffee merchandising does not properly end with the delivery of a shipment of coffee to a retailer. The progressive wholesaler knows that it is to his best interest to help that grocer sell his coffee as quickly as possible; to make a good profit on a quick turn-over; and to dispose of it before the coffee has deteriorated.

Practical co-operation between wholesaler and retailer is one of the most important factors in coffee merchandising. In these days of keen and unremitting competition, neither agency can stand alone for long. The progressive wholesaler does not sell a retailer a poorer quality of coffee for any particular grade than his trade calls for, and he does not load him up with more than can be disposed of while still fresh. He gauges the capacity and facilities of each retail customer, and then gives him practical help to keep the stock moving.

The packer of branded coffees helps by advertising to the consumer in magazines and newspapers, always featuring the name of his brands; and he supplies the grocer with educational pamphlets and booklets on the growing, preparation, and merits of coffee in general, with an added fillip about the desirability of his particular brand. Through his salesmen the packer shows the grocer how to display the coffee on the counter and in the window, and often supplies him with placards and cut-outs featuring his brand. He co-operates in staging special coffee demonstrations in the store; instructs the retailer in the importance of teaching his clerks how to talk and to sell coffee intelligently; and how to prepare advertising copy for his local newspaper, so as to get the fullest measure of profit from the wholesaler's national or sectional advertising.

Coffee Sampling

The sampling method of creating a demand for merchandise has been tried in the wholesale coffee trade, only to be abandoned by the majority of packers. With other and more satisfactory ways of creating consumer interest, promiscuous sampling was found to be too expensive, in view of the comparatively small returns. One indictment against sampling is that it does not make any more impression on the average person than does an advertisement that appears only once, and is then abandoned. Wideawake merchants have learned that the public's memory is exceedingly short; and that they must keep "hammering" with advertisements to establish and to maintain a demand for their products.

It would seem that the logical place for sampling is in the retailer's store, especially in connection with demonstrations. Many progressive grocers stimulate interest in their coffees by serving, on special demonstration days, small cups of freshly brewed coffee, giving the customer a small sample of the brand or blend used, to be taken home to see if the same pleasing results can be obtained there also. Generally this form of sampling, when properly conducted, has shown a larger percentage of returns than any other method.

Premium Method of Sales Promotion

For many years, the premium method of sales promotion has been an important factor in wholesale coffee merchandising, as well as in retail distribution. The premium system has been characterized as a form of advertising; and many coffee packers and wholesalers prefer to spend their advertising appropriations in that way rather than in transitory printed advertisements in newspapers and general magazines.

While certain forms of the system have been legislated out of existence in some states, friends of the plan claim that it is a true profit-sharing method which "blesses both him that gives and him that takes"; and that it is an advanced and legitimate means of promoting business, when properly conducted. They assert that it is a system of sales promotion whereby the advertising expense, plus a large percentage of the profits of the business stimulated thereby, is automatically returned to the dealer buyer, without increasing cost or lowering the quality of the product so advertised; that it eliminates advertising waste by producing a given volume of sales for a given expenditure of money; that it reduces the cost of advertising by prompting a continuous series of purchases at one advertising expense; that it promotes cash payments and discourages credit business. Premium users claim that the force of a printed advertisement is often spent in stimulating the first purchase; while to secure a premium, the purchaser must continue to buy the commodity carrying the premium, or trade with the giver of the premium until merchandise of a stipulated value or quantity has been purchased.

In general practise, the premium-giving coffee packer or wholesaler may either offer the retailer an inducement in the form of a desirable store fixture, household article, or item for his personal use; or he may offer it to the consumer through the retailer.

The methods of giving the premium are numerous. To the retailer he may give the article outright with each purchase of a stipulated quantity of his coffee; or he may offer it as a prize to the retail distributer selling the most coffee in a certain period in a specified territory. Frequently the premium is of such value that the wholesaler can not give it with any quantity of coffee a distributer can dispose of in a short time; so he issues coupons or certificates with each purchase, permitting the retailer to redeem the premium when he has saved the required number. Or, the retailer may get the premium with the first purchase by paying the difference in cash.

In giving premiums to consumers, the wholesaler follows the same general plan used with retailers, except that in most cases the coupons are packed with the coffee and are redeemable at the retailer's store. Sometimes, however, the consumer sends the coupons or certificates to the wholesaler, getting the premium direct from him. In another phase of the premium system, the retailer works independently of the wholesaler, buying and giving away his own premiums to promote or to hold trade for his store. This phase is explained in the chapter on retail coffee merchandising.

XXVII. RETAIL MERCHANDISING OF ROASTED COFFEE

How coffees are sold at retail--The place of the grocer, the tea and coffee dealer, the chain store, and the wagon-route distributer in the scheme of distribution--Starting in the retail coffee business--Small roasters for retail dealers--Model coffee departments--Creating a coffee trade--Meeting competition--Splitting nickels--Figuring costs and profits--A credit policy for retailers--Premiums

Coffee is sold at retail in the United States through seven distinct channels of trade; the independent retail grocers (about 350,000) handling about forty percent of the 1,300,000,000 pounds sold annually; and the other sixty percent being sold by chain stores, mail-order houses, house-to-house wagon-route distributers, specialty tea and coffee stores, department stores, and drug stores. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the independent grocers' monopoly in retail coffee-merchandising has been dwindling at a rate that has seriously alarmed those interests and their friends.

B.C. Casanas of New Orleans, addressing a convention of the National Association of Retail Grocers in the United States, in 1916, said that the wholesale coffee roasters of the country had invested in their business $60,000,000; and that $135,000,000 worth of roasted coffee was sold by them every year.

Considering the methods of merchandising, the seven retail distributing agencies may be grouped into three distinct classes. The first class would comprise the independent grocer, the chain store, the department store, the drug store, and the specialty store, all of which maintain stores where the consumer comes to buy. The second class takes in the mail-order house, which solicits orders and delivers its coffee by mail, and sometimes by freight or express. The third class covers the wagon-route dealer, who goes from house to house seeking trade, and delivers his coffee on order at regular periods direct to the consumer in the home. As an inducement to contracting for large quantities to be delivered in weekly or bi-weekly periods, the house-to-house dealer generally gives some household article, or the like, as a premium to establish good-will and to retain the trade of his customers.

New impetus was given to the method of selling coffee by mail when the parcel post system was adopted by the federal government in 1912; and since then this plan has become an important factor in retail coffee-merchandising. Generally, the mail-order houses confine their sales efforts to agricultural districts and small towns, soliciting trade by catalogs, by circular letters, and by advertisements in local newspapers, and in magazines which circulate chiefly among dwellers in rural districts.

The majority of wagon-route distributers depend upon the lure of their premiums, and on personal calls, to develop and to hold their coffee trade. The leading wagon-route companies, sometimes called "premium houses", maintain offices and plants in large cities adjacent to the territories to which they confine their sales efforts. At strategic points, they have district agents who engage the wagon men that do the actual soliciting of orders and that deliver the coffee. All wagon-route companies handle other products besides coffee, specializing in tea, spices, extracts, and such household goods as soap, perfumes, and other toilet requisites that promise a quick sale and frequent re-orders. Some of their competitors complain that they handle only the more profitable lines, leaving the independent local grocer to supply the housekeeper with the items on which the margin of profit is comparatively small.

Wagon-route coffee-retailing began to make itself felt seriously about the year 1900. At first, the premiums usually consisted of a cup and saucer with the first order, the customer being led to continue buying until at least a full set of dishes had been acquired. Later, the range of premiums was expanded; until today the wagon man offers several hundred different articles that can be used in the home or for personal wear or adornment. Practically all the leading wagon-route concerns favor the advance premium method; that is, a special canvasser induces a consumer to contract for a large quantity of coffee and other products in return for receiving the premium at once, though the coffee is delivered only as the customer wants it, generally two pounds every two weeks. The wagon man delivers the coffee, and is usually held responsible for the customer fulfilling the agreement, and is expected to secure repeat orders with other premiums.

The importance of the wagon-route plan of coffee-retailing is shown by the fact that in 1921 there were six hundred houses of this kind in the United States; and it was estimated that they distributed eight percent of the total amount of the coffee consumed in the country. The biggest company was capitalized at $16,000,000, and operated eleven hundred wagons. Most of the wagon-route concerns were operating in the central states, practically one-third of them covering the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa. Pennsylvania is also a wagon-route-dealer center.

The premium wagon-route distributers have an organization called the National Retail Tea and Coffee Merchants' Association. It is composed of 126 members--all of whom use premiums--who operate over two thousand wagons. The largest single wagon-route operator is the Jewel Tea Company of Chicago. The members of this organization claimed to have served more than 2,000,000 families in 1920.

In the chain-store system of merchandising we see the opposite extreme of coffee retailing. The wagon-route man features his delivery service; while in the chain-store plan, all customers must pay cash and carry home their parcels. Though the earliest established chain stores gave premiums, the practise has now been generally abandoned. Roasting, blending, and packing coffee in a large central plant, the chain-store operator advertises that he can sell coffee at a price lower than his competitors. As a rule, only one grade of coffee is offered for sale. While it is generally a good medium value, many consumers prefer better quality and go to the independent grocer for it. Others patronize the grocer because of his convenient delivery service, and because he gives credit on purchases. Chain-store organizations seem to be growing rapidly, however; the largest of the chains, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., reporting in 1921 that it had nearly five thousand branches throughout the country, which sell 40,000,000 pounds of coffee annually. This chain has a capitalization of $12,000,000, and in 1920 sold $225,000,000 worth of groceries, as compared with $154,718,124 in the preceding year. This company opens about five hundred new stores every year.

The chain-store men are organized in the National Chain Store Grocers Association, having thirty members, representing 12,000 stores, operating in eighteen states. It is estimated that there are fifty responsible chain-store grocery organizations in the United States, representing about 30,000 stores. The chain-store grocer turns his stock over from twelve to twenty-five times a year, sells for cash, makes no deliveries, and claims to save the consumer an average of fifteen percent in buying. These stores do business on a net margin not exceeding three percent on sales, as against the average retail grocer's thirty percent, while their average gross cost of doing business has been stated as between thirteen and one-half percent (lowest) and eighteen and one-half percent (highest).

According to Alfred H. Beckmann, secretary-treasurer of the National Chain Store Grocers' Association,[337] "Public appreciation of the chain grocery store is rapidly growing. Ten years ago it was estimated that chain stores in what is known as the Metropolitan district of New York did about 12-1/2 percent of the volume of business in their line, while today it is estimated at about fifty percent".

It is estimated that the fifty-odd chain store organizations in the United States distribute through their 30,000 stores 270,000,000 pounds of coffee a year, or about twenty percent of the total amount consumed in the United States.

Starting in the Retail Coffee Business

When taking up the retail merchandising of coffee, the practical grocer learns all he can about the popular grades to be had in the principal markets, and how the coffees are grown, roasted, blended, and ground. He also ascertains the best methods of brewing, testing out each grade and kind on his own table, if he does not have testing facilities in his store. He studies the relative trade values of different varieties of coffee, and the requirements of his particular clientele.

An interesting analysis of some 250 grocery stores in the United States[338] made in 1919, showed that twenty-nine percent of the dealers bought all their coffee from wholesale grocers, forty-eight percent exclusively from roasters and specialty wholesalers, ten percent got over one-half of their coffee from wholesale grocers, and thirteen percent bought less than one-half from the wholesale grocery houses.

There are two fundamental plans on which a retailer builds a successful coffee business--by buying coffee already roasted, and by buying it green and roasting it in the store. Each plan has its advantages; but its practicability depends upon conditions in different localities.

Beyond acquiring a general talking knowledge about coffees, the retailer buying his stocks roasted in bulk or package form does not generally need the intimate knowledge of his goods required by the grocer who roasts his own coffee. If he grinds the coffee for his customers he must know the type of grind best suited to the way the coffee is to be brewed, and must be able to tell the best brewing method.

The practical grocer who makes up his own blend is acquainted with blending principles and methods. "While he can not expect to be as expert as the large wholesale blender, he should know that green coffees are generally classified by blenders in five great divisions; (1) Brazils, including Santos, Bourbon and flat bean, Rios, Victorias, and Bahias; (2) Washed milds, embracing, as of the most commercial value, Bogotas, Bucaramangas, Guatemalas, Mexicans, Costa Ricans, Maracaibos, and Meridas; (3) Unwashed milds, such as Maracaibos, Bucaramangas, La Guairas, and Mexicans; (4) Javas, Sumatras, and Padangs; (5) Mocha, and Harari."

It has been found by experience that a good assortment for the average retailer to carry consists of Santos, because of price; a natural unwashed Maracaibo or Bucaramanga, because of full body and general blending values; and a washed coffee, preferably a Bogota, which gives quality and character to a blend. In stocking up with these coffees, the practical merchant avoids Santos with a strong or Rioy flavor, bitter or "hidey" Maracaibos, and acidy or thin Bogotas.[339]

A grocer equipped with these coffees has the Santos for his low-priced seller. For his medium grade he blends Santos and Maracaibo, half-and-half. The next higher grade is made up of one-third each of the three coffees; while the best blend consists either of half-and-half Bogota and Maracaibo, or three-quarters Bogota and one-quarter Maracaibo.

The chief advantage of these three coffees is that they blend well in any way they are mixed; and the dealer with a little experience, and working with the two necessary ideas in mind--satisfactory coffee and price--can make up various combinations.

In view of the fact that the United States imports coffee from more than a hundred different sections of the world, and that there are wide variations in flavor among the coffees produced in each of the hundred, it is easy to understand that the blender has an almost unlimited supply from which to make up a blend with a distinctive individuality. Practically all coffee importers, and most wholesalers, are thoroughly acquainted with the relative trade values of the different coffees, and help their customers make up desirable blends.

Small Roasters for Retail Dealers

While the wholesale coffee roaster is obliged to instal a large and somewhat complex equipment, the retailer must use a small, compact, self-contained unit that does not take up much space in his store, and that is easily operated. Retail roasting machines are constructed on the same general principle as the wholesale roaster. The roasting cylinder is generally revolved by electric power, and the heat is derived from gas or gasoline fuel. Cooling is by air suction in a box attached to the roaster. The capacities of the machines range from ten to three hundred pounds, the operating cost running from approximately eight cents per hundred pounds for gas fuel and ten cents for electric power. The roasters cost from three hundred dollars for the smaller sizes, to fifteen hundred for the one-bag type; and to two thousand or three thousand dollars for the two-bag type.

One coffee-roaster-machinery manufacturer has recently brought out a gas-fired, electrically operated fifty-pound miniature coffee-roasting plant designed for retail stores, which comprises a roaster, a rotary cooler, and a stoning device, that sells for six hundred and fifty dollars.

Retail coffee roasting is similar to the wholesale operation. When the cylinder has become heated, the green coffee is run in and allowed to roast in the revolving cylinder for about half an hour. If the coffee is the average green kind, the full heat may be applied at once; but if old and dry, a lesser degree is used. When the roast begins to snap, the flame is turned lower to allow the beans to cook through evenly; and when nearly done, it is almost extinguished. During the operation, the roasterman, who may be the proprietor or a clerk delegated to the work, frequently "samples" the coffee by taking out a small quantity with his "trier" and comparing the color of the roast with a type sample. When the colors match exactly, the coffee is dumped automatically into the cooler box just below the cylinder opening; and when sufficiently cooled off, is ready for grinding to order.

A large number of retailers roast coffee in their stores; and the most successful find that besides being able to make a feature of freshly roasted coffee, they can save money and increase their sales. One progressive grocer found that he was able to get eighty-eight pounds of roasted coffee out of one hundred pounds of green coffee, as compared with the wholesaler's eighty-four pounds; that he could buy green coffee at a closer price than roasted; and that it cost him less for labor, fuel, overhead, and similar items, than it did the wholesale roaster to turn out a roast.[340]

A chain of coffee specialty stores in which the coffee is roasted fresh every day was started in California about the year 1916; and according to reports, it met with almost instant success. In this system, the proprietor buys the green coffee in large quantities, and it is roasted in each of his specialty stores, which are located in public markets, store windows, and alongside heavily traveled highways. The roasting machinery is invariably set up in front of the store where passers-by can easily see it in operation--and also smell the coffee roasting. Four years after starting the first store, there were fifty in operation along the Pacific Coast, doing an annual business of about $600,000, some units taking in more than $7,000 a month.

Model Coffee Departments

Authorities generally agree that a well laid out coffee department not only increases a grocer's coffee business, but speeds up sales in other departments as well. Coffee lovers, and they are legion in the United States, are inclined to "shop around" for a coffee that suits their taste; and when they have found the store that sells it, they buy their other groceries there also. Another argument advanced in favor of a coffee department is that coffee pays more money into the retailer's cash drawer than any other grocery item.[341]

Most successful retail coffee merchandisers establish the coffee department near the entrance to the store, where it can be seen through a window by passers-by, especially if there is an ornamental roasting and grinding equipment. It has been found that a department situated at the left of the entrance is almost certain to draw attention because people are inclined to glance in that direction first. Some merchants, having the space, erect attractive booths, designed somewhat like the familiar food-show booths, directly in front of the door, after the fashion of department stores when holding a special sale on a certain article. Such a booth is generally used for demonstration purposes, and is decorated with signs and possibly with bunting. A permanent department is usually less ornamental, but still attractive. In telling how he made a success of his department, one American grocer said that he was careful that his fixtures were not so ornamental as to draw attention from the goods. While the decorations were always attractive, they were subordinated sufficiently to form a background for his coffee display.

The most popular layout is the conventional counter system behind which the clerk stands to serve the customer on the other side. There are many advocates of the counter that is built into the shelving, believing that the closer the customers are brought to the coffee, the more they will be inclined to buy. This system also makes for cleanliness, doing away with the possibility of the runway behind the counter becoming a catch-all for dirt, torn paper, bits of wood, and the like.

The modern coffee department has counters divided into compartments having glass fronts. This type serves both as a storage place for coffee and for display purposes. The top of the counter is used for wrapping up parcels, etc., and also for displaying bulk and package coffees. In the well regulated store, the counter top is never used for storage, all stock being kept on shelves or in the counter's compartments. Good merchants find that cleanliness pays; and that a "littered up" store drives away desirable custom. The wise proprietor never allows a clerk to weigh out coffee after handling cheese, onions, and other odorous articles, without first thoroughly washing his hands. He knows that few food products in his store will more quickly absorb undesirable odors and flavors than coffee; and consequently he is careful to protect his coffee from contamination. In the better stores, the proprietor will either take charge of the coffee department himself, or will delegate a competent man who will do nothing else.

The wide-awake retail coffee roaster always features his roasting machine, which is generally highly ornamental and draws attention even when not in use. Some progressive merchants plan to roast coffee at noon time and at night, when homeward-bound passers-by are hungry and are particularly susceptible to the pungent aroma of roasting coffee. It is a quite common plan for the retail roaster to arrange the exhaust of the machine so that the full strength of the odor is blown into the street.

Creating a Coffee Trade

Because of steady sales and quick profits, there is keener competition in retail coffee-merchandising than in other food products. But, all things being equal, any intelligent person can create and hold a profitable trade if he follows approved business methods--and works. The best practise among coffee merchants shows that the prime essential is good coffee, freshly roasted and ground. After that comes intelligent and unremitting sales-promotion work.

The many ingenious trade-building plans worked out successfully by grocers in all parts of the country are too numerous to describe in a book of this character; but the methods cited in the following, all of which have been tested in actual working conditions, will serve to indicate the fundamentals of good retail coffee-sales promotion.

Among the chief sales-winning methods are demonstrations in the store, at local food shows, and at church socials, picnics or functions, judicious sampling either in person or by mail, personal canvassing from house to house, circularizing by mail, linking up window displays with current happenings, local newspaper and outdoor poster advertising, and selling coffee by telephone. Most of the foregoing plans are worked intermittently. The telephone, however, is a most important sales factor and should be employed constantly and consistently.[342] Many successful stores consider the telephone, properly used, the greatest single sales-help in retail coffee-merchandising.

One grocer had such faith in this method that he paid half the annual telephone rental for a large number of his best-paying customers. Another large merchandiser put in an individual telephone for each of his salesmen, who called up his regular customers each day to suggest articles for that day's order, always of course mentioning their "superior brand of coffee." Telephoning is the next step to personal contact; and if tactfully done, is considered to be even more advantageous, because of the time it saves both the customer and the store keeper.

Coffee demonstrations in stores are easily arranged, in most cases. The main consideration is fresh coffee of good quality served daintily and hot. Lacking a coffee urn, some grocers make their brews in large-size home-service coffee-making devices. Those most advanced in the correct method of brewing use the drip process. It is generally agreed that demonstrations should not be held too often. They not only cut into profits, but lose much of their advertising value. Food-show demonstrations require more elaborate equipment, consisting of a decorated booth, educational booklets, posters, and exhibits of different kinds of coffee, both green and roasted, whole bean and ground. Generally, coffee packers co-operate with retail demonstrators by supplying gratis the coffee to be brewed, if the names of their brands are suitably displayed. They supply also posters, signs, samples, and booklets for free distribution.

Window displays form one of the best means of advertising at the command of the average grocer, and one of the least expensive. A popular coffee display consists of a series of educational "windows," starting with green beans in the bags in which they are shipped from the growing country. Generally the bags, mats, or bundles are obtained from the wholesale house, and are filled almost to the top with some inexpensive stuffing, the green coffee being spread over the top to give the appearance of a full bag. Pictures showing how the coffee is grown, harvested, prepared, and shipped, are frequently used in such a display. The next exhibit consists of whole roasted coffee spread thickly over the window floor to create the impression of bulk, accompanied by a few pans of green coffee by way of contrast, and with pictures showing scenes in coffee roasting plants. A barrel, lined with blue paper, and lying on its side with roasted coffee beans spilling out, serves as a centerpiece for such a display. Following this, comes a coffee package window, accompanied by pictures showing how coffee is roasted, ground, and packed. This completes the series; but there are many variations that have proved successful as trade builders.

Meeting Competition

Since the advent of the wagon-route distributer and the chain store, the independent retail grocer has been faced with the problem of how to regain at least a fair measure of the coffee trade he has lost. The grocer is not only concerned about his profits on coffee sales, but on other goods as well; for a trade investigation has shown that a large percentage of the regular customers of the retailer are held to the store by their purchases of coffee and tea. This means that if coffees and teas are bought from the wagon-route distributer and the chain store, the balance of a family's order is "shopped around."

To meet this competition, the best authorities agree that the independent grocer should feature coffee in every practical way, such as soliciting coffee trade from each customer that enters the store; give up offering coffee on a price basis, and make up his own blends from good quality growths; perhaps make up his own brand and push it at every opportunity; display coffee artistically, with frequent changes of layouts; and have occasional store demonstrations. He should see that the coffee is roasted properly, and that it is always fresh; that the selling effort is not expended on the lowest-priced blend, but on a grade that can be recommended for cup merit. This should be a leader, but a lower-price coffee could be carried to suit the trade that buys on price. Persistent efforts should be made to educate the last-named class of customers to use the better grades, which in the end are cheaper and give better satisfaction. In short, the grocer should work consistently to establish a vogue for his leader blend on the basis of merit.

Profits and Costs

Because of its influence on other grocery items, coffee can often be sold at a close margin of profit, particularly if a competitor's store or wagons are cutting into a grocer's neighborhood trade. Twenty-five percent is recommended as a reasonable gross profit on coffee in most cases, although some grocers make less, and not a few make more; the range being usually from twenty to thirty-nine percent. The independent dealer should meet chain-store competition in coffee on a price basis, making a special on a superior grade and figuring to get not more than three cents profit per pound, like his competitor. A bag of roasted coffee will bring back three dollars gain, and the cash to pay for another--and the grocer has kept his customers, ninety percent of whom, theoretically, will have bought their other food supplies from him. As a matter of fact, in the last year of the World War retailers showed a tendency to demand cash on sales of all grocery items. This practise reduces the cost of operation and allows the storekeeper to reduce his prices. A large number of grocers charge a small percentage of the total sale for credit privileges, and five or ten cents for each delivery below a certain total value of the purchase price of the articles to be delivered. As a result, they have been able to meet chain-store competition. Collective buying has also been a factor in offsetting the inroads of the "chains."

Splitting Nickels

One of the reasons advanced for the loss of coffee trade by retail grocers is that they price their blends in "round numbers", that is 20, 25, 30, or 40 cents; while their competitors "split nickels", selling their product at 18, 23, 28, or 38 cents.

Most of the retail enterprises in other lines of trade have built up their business on the penny-change plan; and many coffee men believe this should become the universal merchandising method among retail distributers of coffee.[343]

One of the leading advocates of "splitting nickels" has worked out a chart to show how coffee should be priced to make predetermined profits. (See next page.)

TABLE SHOWING PROFIT PERCENTAGE ON SALES

If Your Coffee And You Sell At Costs 25c. 26c. 27c. 28c. 29c. 30c. 31c. 32c. 33c.

20c. 20% 23% 26% 28% 31% 33% 35% 37% 39% 20-1/2c. 18% 21% 24% 26% 29% 31% 33% 35% 37% 21c. 16% 19% 22% 25% 27% 30% 32% 34% 36% 21-1/2c. 14% 17% 20% 23% 25% 28% 30% 32% 34% 22c. 12% 15% 18% 21% 24% 26% 29% 31% 33% 22-1/2c. 10% 13% 16% 19% 22% 25% 27% 29% 31% 23c. 8% 11% 14% 17% 20% 23% 25% 28% 30% 23-1/2c. 6% 9% 13% 16% 19% 21% 24% 26% 28% 24c. 4% 7% 11% 14% 17% 20% 22% 25% 27% 24-1/2c. 2% 5% 9% 12% 15% 18% 21% 23% 25% 25c. 0% 3% 7% 10% 13% 16% 19% 21% 24% 25-1/2c. 2% 5% 8% 12% 15% 17% 20% 22% 26c. 0% 3% 7% 10% 13% 16% 18% 21% 26-1/2c. 1% 5% 8% 11% 14% 17% 19% 27c. 0% 3% 6% 10% 12% 15% 18% 27-1/2c. 1% 5% 8% 11% 14% 16% 28c. 0% 3% 6% 9% 12% 15%

Figuring Costs and Profits

While the cost of conducting a retail grocery business naturally varies according to local conditions and the size of the enterprise, an investigation among some 250 stores in small and large cities made in 1919 by the Bureau of Business Research, Harvard University, showed that the average cost was fourteen percent; that the net profit averaged two and three-tenths percent; and that stock was turned about seven times a year. Gross profits ran from ten and one-half percent to twenty-six and four-one-hundredths percent of the net sales, the most typical figure being sixteen and nine-tenths percent. Sales cost formed the largest single item of expense, varying from three and forty-one hundredths to nine and ninety-four hundredths percent, with the bulk of figures showing around one and eight-tenths percent.

According to advanced business practise the cost of doing business should be based on these fourteen points:

1. Charge interest on the net amount of the total investment at the beginning of the business year, exclusive of real estate.

2. Charge rental on real estate or buildings at a rate equal to that which would be received if renting or leasing to others.

3. Charge, in addition to what is paid for hired help, an amount equal to what the proprietor's services would be worth to others; also treat in like manner the services of any member of the family employed in the business and not on the regular payroll.

4. Charge depreciation on all goods carried over on which a less price may have to be made because of damage or any other cause.

5. Charge depreciation on buildings, tools, fixtures, or anything else suffering from age or wear and tear.

6. Charge donations and subscriptions paid.

7. Charge all fixed expenses, such as taxes, insurance, water, lights, fuel, etc.

8. Charge all incidental expenses, such as drayage, postage, office supplies, livery expenses of horses and wagons, telegrams and telephones, advertising, canvassing, etc.

9. Charge losses of every character, including goods stolen, or sent out and not charged, allowances made customers, all debts, etc.

10. Charge collection expense.

11. Charge any other expense not enumerated above.

12. When it is ascertained what the sum of all the foregoing items amounts to, prove it by the books, which will give the total expense for the year; divide this figure by the total of sales, and it will show the percent which it has cost to do business.

13. Take this percent and deduct it from the price of any article sold, then subtract from the remainder what it cost (invoice price and freight), and the result will show the net profit or loss on the article.

14. Go over the selling prices of the various articles and see what are profits; then get busy in putting your selling figures on a profitable basis and talk it over with your competitor as well.

A Credit Policy for Retailers

While the minor factors governing a credit policy for retailers vary with local conditions, the fundamental principles are alike everywhere, and should have the thoughtful consideration of all retail distributers of coffee. After a retail grocery store experience of twenty-five years, a past president of the National Association of Retail Grocers of the United States[344] found that a grocer should insist upon references and a thorough investigation of every new applicant for credit, refusing the privilege when the prospective customer hesitates to give the needed information; that he should arrange a date for periodical payments, explaining that this is necessary so that the storekeeper can arrange to meet his own bills, which will enable him to discount his invoices and to sell his goods cheaper; that statements of accounts should be sent out promptly and never a few days late; that he should insist on payment in full when due, requesting the customer to call if an extension of time is asked; that he should not let the customers decide when they will pay bills, bearing in mind that the possible loss of a few customers who do not pay promptly is offset by the advantages of cash when promised; that he should never abandon the hope of collecting an old account, but should try the method of sending statements only to the surest customers, sending a clerk for the collection of all other accounts; that he should personally examine all uncollected accounts every month, insisting on a reason for failure to pay; that he should study his customers and not trust those who give a bad impression; that he should have the courage to say "No" when necessary; not to be satisfied with merely a financial rating on a credit applicant, but to ascertain his general reputation and character; and to help to eliminate the "dead beats" by giving careful attention to all requests received from other retailers for credit information.

Premiums for Retailers

House-to-house dealers are the largest users of premiums among coffee distributers. Most of them operate under what is known as the advance-premium method.

The plan followed by house-to-house dealers until about 1910 was to issue checks redeemable in premiums after a certain amount of tea, coffee, or other products had been purchased. This practise has not been entirely abandoned; but in most instances, the premium is now handed to the consumer in advance of the initial purchase, in consideration of the buyer's promise to use a stipulated quantity of tea, coffee, or other merchandise. The driver of the wagon generally carries a portfolio illustrating numerous premium items redeemable through the purchase of varying amounts of merchandise.

Many retail coffee stores also employ premiums, using both the old-style and "advance" methods. This type of store, however, is being supplanted by the chain grocery store.

Some independent retail grocers use premiums to a limited extent. These usually carry a small line of premiums, featuring a piece of kitchenware, or other inexpensive item, with bulk coffee.

It is significant that one of the largest chain-store organizations in the United States--the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company--uses few premiums today, although its business was founded on the premium idea.

Trading stamps, which are sold to grocers and other merchants by firms making a specialty of this form of premium-giving are little used nowadays. The average retail grocer is antagonistic to trading stamps, as a result of the methods of certain unscrupulous stamp-dealers. Legislation against trading stamps is in effect in many states.

XXVIII. A SHORT HISTORY OF COFFEE ADVERTISING

Early coffee advertising--The first coffee advertisement in 1587 was frank propaganda for the legitimate use of coffee--The first printed advertisement in English--The first newspaper advertisement--Early advertisements in colonial America--Evolution of advertising--Package coffee advertising--Advertising to the trade--Advertising by means of newspapers, magazines, billboards, electric signs, motion pictures, demonstrations, and by samples--Advertising for retailers--Advertising by government propaganda--The Joint Coffee Trade publicity campaign in the United States--Coffee advertising efficiency

In a work of this character the chapter on advertising must of necessity be in story form. It may tell what has been accomplished in advertising coffee, and perhaps point the way to greater achievement. In so far as possible, the story is supplemented by illustrations, which here tell the story even better than words.

Advertising to the trade or the consumer calls for expert advice. There are successful trade journalists who are competent to supply such advertising counsel; and new-comers in the field should consult them first. These men are in the best position to suggest the means for successful accomplishment. They know the men who are best qualified to render assistance for all media, and are glad to recommend those who can be most helpful.

Jarvis A. Wood has said that advertising is causing another to know, to remember, and to do. If we agree with this excellent definition, then the first coffee advertisers were the early physicians and writers who told their fellows something about the berry and the beverage made from it.

Rhazes and Avicenna told the story in Latin, and appear to have recommended a coffee decoction as a stomachic, as far back as the tenth century. Many other early physicians refer to it. Thus it was that coffee was solemnly introduced to the consumer as a medicine. The first step made by the berry from the cabinets of the curious, where it was known as an exotic seed, was into the apothecaries' shops, where it was sold and advertised as a drug. Next, the coffee drink was advertised and sold by lemonade venders; then by the proprietors of the coffee houses and cafes; and finally the coffee merchant sold and advertised the green and roasted bean.

Rauwolf told the Germans about it in 1582; Abd-al-Kadir wrote his famous Argument in favor of the legitimate use of coffee in Arabic about 1587; Alpini carried the news to Italy in 1592; English travelers wrote about the beverage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; French Orientalists described it about the same time; and America learned about it long before the green beans were offered for sale in Boston in 1670.

Because of its frank propaganda character, Abd-al-Kadir's manuscript may rightly be called the earliest advertisement for coffee. The author was a lawyer-theologian, a follower of Mahomet, and as such was eager to convince his contemporaries that coffee drinking was not incompatible with the prophet's law.

Soon the news of the day became the advertising of the morrow. In 1652 appeared the first printed advertisement for coffee in English. It was in the form of a shop-bill, or handbill, issued by Pasqua Rosee from the first London coffee house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill; and the original is preserved in the British Museum.

It is pictured on page 55, chapter X, and is worthy of close examination. It reads:

The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink

First publiquely made and sold in England, by Pasqua Rosee.

The Grain or Berry called Coffee, groweth upon little Trees, only in the Deserts of Arabia.

It is brought from thence, and drunk generally throughout all the Grand Seigniors Dominions.

It is a simple innocent thing, composed into a Drink, by being dryed in an Oven, and ground to Powder, and boiled up with Spring water, and about half a pint of it to be drunk, fasting an hour before, and not Eating an hour after, and to be taken as hot as possibly can be endured; the which will never fetch the skin off the mouth, or raise any Blisters, by reason of that Heat.

The Turks drink at meals and other times, is usually Water, and their Dyet consists much of Fruit, the Crudities whereof are very much corrected by this Drink.

The quality of this Drink is cold and Dry; and though it be a Dryer, yet It neither heats, nor inflames more then _hot Posset_.

It so closeth the Orifice of the Stomack, and fortifies the heat within, that it's very good to help digestion, and therefore of great use to be taken about 3 or 4 a Clock afternoon, as well as in the morning.

It much quickens the Spirits, and makes the Heart Lightsome. It is good against sore Eys, and the better if you hold your Head over it, and take in the Steem that way.

It suppresseth Fumes exceedingly, and therefore good against the Head-ach, and will very much stop any Defluxion of Rheums, that distil from the Head upon the Stomack, and so prevent and help Consumptions; and the Cough of the Lungs.

It is excellent to prevent and cure the Dropsy, Gout, and Scurvy.

It is known by experience to be better than any other Drying Drink for People in years, or Children that have any running humors upon them, as the Kings Evil,&c.

It is very good to prevent Mis-carryings in _Child-bearing Women_.

It is a most excellent Remedy against the Spleen, Hypocondriack Winds, or the like.

It will prevent Drowsiness, and make one fit for business, if one have occasion to Watch; and therefore you are not to Drink of it after Supper, unless you intend to be watchful, for it will hinder sleep for 3 or 4 hours.

It is observed that in Turkey, where this is generally drunk, that they are not trobled with the Stone, Gout, Dropsie, or Scurvey, and that their Skins are exceedingly cleer and white.

It is neither Laxative nor Restringent.

Made and sold in St. Michaels Alley in Cornhill, by Pasqua Rosee, at the Signe of his own Head.

The noteworthy thing about this advertisement is, that in comparison with the best copy of today, it has high merit. For this early advertisement seems to have embodied in it superbly well those qualifications which modern advertising experts agree are essential requirements for success--measured in terms of sales to the consumer. We shall return to it later.

The first newspaper advertisement for coffee appeared in the form of a "reader" in the issue of The Publick Adviser, London, for the week of Tuesday, May 19, to Tuesday, May 26, 1657. The Publick Adviser was a weekly pamphlet partaking of the nature of a commercial news-letter. The advertisement was sandwiched between a reader advertising a doctor of physick and one for an "artificer," the latter being a ladies' hair-dresser. It was as follows:

In Bartholomew Lane on the back side of the Old Exchange, the drink called Coffee, (which is a very wholesom and Physical drink, having many excellent vertues, closes the Orifice of the Stomack, fortifies the heat within, helpeth Digestion, quickneth the Spirits, maketh the heart lightsom, is good against Eye-sores, Coughs, or Colds, Rhumes, Consumptions, Head-ach, Dropsie, Gout, Scurvy, Kings Evil, and many others is to be sold both in the morning, and at three of the clock in the afternoon.)

About the time that Pascal opened the first coffee house in Paris in 1672, the Paris shop-keepers began to advertise coffee by broadsides. A good example is the following,[345] the text of which closely resembles the original by Pasqua Rosee:

The most excellent Virtue of the Berry called Coffee.

Coffee is a Berry which only grows in the desert of Arabia, from whence it is transported into all the Dominions of the Grand Seigniour, which being drunk dries up all the cold and moist humours, disperses the wind, fortifies the Liver, eases the dropsie by its purifying quality, 'tis a Sovereign medicine against the itch, and corruptions of the blood, refreshes the heart, and the vital beating thereof, it relieves those that have pains in their Stomach, and cannot eat; It is good also against the indispositions of the brain, cold, moist, and heavy, the steam which rises out of it is good against the Rheums of the eyes, and drumming in the ears: 'Tis excellent also against the shortness of the breath, against Rheums which trouble the Liver, and the pains of the Spleen; It is an extraordinary ease against the Worms: After having eat or drunk too much: Nothing is better for those that eat much Fruit.

The daily use hereof in a little while will manifest the aforesaid effect to those, that being indisposed shall use it from time to time.

The following are typical London trade advertisements of 1662 and 1663. The first is from the Kingdom's Intelligencer of June 5, 1662, and reads as follows:

At the Exchange Ally from Cornhill into Lumber Street neer the Conduit, at the Musick-Room belonging to the Palsgrave's Hall, is sold by retayle the right coffee powder; likewise that termed the Turkey Berry, well cleansed at 30d. per pound ... the East India berry (so called) of the best sorts at 20d. per pound, of which at present in divers places there is very bad, which the ignorant for cheapness do buy, and is the chief cause of the now bad coffee drunk in many plaies (sic).

The Intelligencer for December 21, 1663, contained the following advertisement:

There is a Parcel of Coffee-Berry to be put to publique sale upon Wednesday, the 23, instant, at 6 a clock in the evening at the Globe Coffee-house at the end of St. Bartholomew Lane, over against the North Gate of the Royall Exchange.... And if any desire to be further informed they may repair to Mr. Brigg, Publique Notary at the said Globe Coffee-house.

Dufour's treatise on The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, published in Lyons, 1684, was generally regarded as propaganda for the beverage; and, indeed, it proved an excellent advertisement, being quickly translated into English and several other languages.

In 1691 we find advertised in the Livre Commode of Paris a portable coffee-making outfit to fit the pocket.

The first coffee periodical, The New and Curious Coffee House, was issued at Leipzig by Theophilo Georgi in 1707, being a kind of house organ for what was, perhaps, the first kaffee-klatsch; the publisher-proprietor, however, admitted that the idea of making his coffee salon a resort for the literati was obtained from Italy.

In chapter X we have described a number of broadsides, handbills, and pamphlets having to do with the introduction of the coffee drink into London between 1652 and 1675. The advertising student would do well to refer to them because they serve to show how completely the true merits of the beverage were lost sight of by those who urged its more fantastic claims. It is interesting to note, however, that this early copy was of a high order of typographical excellence; indeed, the display letter used for the word coffee is often like that found in copy in the United States two hundred and fifty years after. Also, it should be noted that "apt 'illustration's' artful aid" was first employed in 1674. Again, note this curious contrast. Two hundred and sixty-nine years ago all the resources of advertising were being laid under contribution to make propaganda for coffee as the great cure for many ailments of which nowadays the enemies of coffee would have us believe coffee is the cause! Those who have possessed themselves of the facts about coffee know that both arguments are equally fantastic.

Coffee was mentioned in shop-keepers' announcements appearing in the Boston News Letter as early as 1714, and in other newspapers of the colonies during the eighteenth century, usually being offered for sale at retail with strange companions. In 1748 "tea, coffee, indigo, nutmegs, sugar, etc.," were advertised for sale at a shop in Dock Square, Boston. The following advertisement from the Columbian Centinel, Boston, April 26, 1794, is typical:

GROCERIES AT NO. 44 CORNHILL Norton and Holyoke Respectfully inform their friends and the publick, that they have for sale, at their Shop, No. 44 Cornhill, formerly the Post-Office.

A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF GROCERIES among which are the following articles: Teas, Spices, Coffee, Cotton, Indigo, Starch, Chocolate, Raisins, Figs, Almonds, and Olives; West India Rum, best French Brandy, excellent Cherry Wine, pure as imported, etc., etc., all which they will sell as low as any store in Boston.

Any article not liked will be taken again, and the money returned.

It appears that the first advertisement dealing with coffee alone was published in the New York Daily Advertiser for February 9, 1790; and this was primarily an advertisement of a wholesale coffee roasting factory rather than an advertisement of coffee per se.

This advertisement, and a later one published in Loudon's New York Packet for January 1, 1791, also of a coffee manufactory, are reproduced herewith.

Not until package coffee began to come into vogue in the sixties was there any change in the stereotyped business-card form followed by all dealers in coffee. And even then the monotony was varied only by inserting the brand name, such as "Osborn's Celebrated Prepared Java Coffee. Put up only by Lewis A. Osborn"; "Government coffee in tin foil pound papers put out by Taber & Place's Rubia Mills."

Evolution of Coffee Advertising

Real progress in coffee advertising, as in publicity for other lines of trade and industry, began in the United States. Here too, it has been brought to its lowest degradation and to its highest efficiency. The entire process has taken something less than fifty years.

The first step forward was the picture handbill. The handbill, or dodger, had been common enough in England and on the Continent, where, for upward of two hundred years it had served as an advertising medium, in company with the more robust broadside, and in competition with the pamphlet and newspaper. It remained for America, however, to glorify the handbill by means of colored pictures; and one of the earliest and best specimens of the picture handbill is the Arbuckle circular here illustrated.

Soon the handbill copy began to appear in the newspapers, but mostly without the illustrations. Later newspaper developments were to introduce more of the picture element, decorative border, and design. The ideas of European artists were freely drawn upon, but put to so utilitarian uses that their originators would scarce have recognized them.

In the Ladies Home Journal for December, 1888, the Great London Tea Company, Boston, an early mail-order house, advertised, "We have made a specialty since 1877 of giving premiums to those who buy tea and coffee in large quantities." In the same issue, there was an advertisement of Seal Brand and Crusade Brand coffee by Chase & Sanborn, Boston. Dilworth Bros., Pittsburgh, were also among the early users of magazine space.

The menace of the cereal coffee-substitute evil had grown to such proportions at the beginning of the twentieth century, that the coffee men began to be concerned about it. Misleading and untruthful "substitute" copy was freely accepted by nearly all media. The package labels were as bad, if not worse. With the advent of the pure food law of 1906, the cereal label abuse was reformed; but not until the "truth in advertising" movement became a power to be reckoned with, nearly ten years later, were the coffee men granted a substantial measure of protection in the magazines and newspapers. Meanwhile, many coffee men, lacking organization and a knowledge of the facts about coffee, unwittingly played into the hands of the substitute-fakers by publishing unfortunate defensive copy which made confusion worse confounded in the consumer's mind.

At one time there were nearly one hundred coffee-substitute concerns engaged in a bitter, untruthful campaign directed against coffee. The most conspicuous offender employed the principle of auto-suggestion and found a goodly number of pseudo-physicians and bright advertising minds that were quite willing to prostitute their finest talents to aid him in attacking an honorable business.

In one year $1,765,000 was spent in traducing the national beverage. The burden of the cereal-faker's song was that coffee was the cause of all the ills that flesh is heir to, and that by stopping its use for ten days and substituting his panacea, these ills would vanish.

Of course, there were many people (but they were the minority) who knew that the caffein content of coffee was a pure, safe stimulant that did not destroy the nerve cells like such false stimulants as alcohol, morphine, etc.; and that while too much could be ingested from abuse of any beverage containing it, nature always effected a cure when the abuse was stopped.

However, there was undoubtedly created in the public mind a suspicion, that threatened to develop into a prejudice, and that affected otherwise sane and normal people, that perhaps coffee was not good for them.

Then came the winter of the coffee men's discontent. Floundering about in a veritable slough of cereal slush, without secure foothold or a true sense of direction, coffee advertising went miserably astray when its writers began to assure the public that their brands were guiltless of the crimes charged in the cereal men's indictment. In this, of course, they unwittingly aided and abetted the cereal fakers. For example, one roaster-packer advertised, "The harmful ingredient in coffee is the tannin-bearing chaff, which our roasting and grinding process completely removes." Scientific research has since proved the fallacy of this idea.

Another roaster said, "if coffee works havoc with your nerves and digestion, it is because you are not using a fresh roasted, thoroughly cleaned, correctly cured coffee. Our method of preparing gives you the strength and aroma without its nerve-destroying qualities." A well known coffee packer advertised, "Our coffee is free from the dust and bitter tannin--the only injurious property in coffee." Still another packer informed the consumer that "by a very special steel cutting process" he sliced the coffee beans "so that the little cells containing the volatile oil (the food product) are not broken."

A prominent Chicago packer put out a new brand of coffee which he claimed was "non-intoxicating," "poisonless," and the "only pure coffee." A New Yorker, not to be out-done, brought out a coffee that he said contained all the stimulative properties of the original coffee berries, but with every trace of acid removed, every undesirable element eliminated. "Also," he added for good measure, "this coffee may be used freely without harming the digestive organs or impairing the nervous system."

And one package-coffee man became so exercised over cereal competition that he brought out a grain "coffee" of his own, which he actually advertised as "the nearest approach to coffee ever put on the market, having all the merits without any objectionable features, strengthening without stimulating, satisfying without shattering the nerves."

And so history again repeated itself in America. Five hundred years after the first religious persecution of the drink in Arabia, we find it being persecuted by commercial zealots in the United States. And even in the house of its friends, coffee was being stabbed in the back. The coffee merchants themselves presented the spectacle of "knocking" it by inference and innuendo.

Something had to be done. As cereal drinks, standing on their own feet, the coffee "substitutes" would have attracted little notice. It was only by trading on the allegation that they were substitutes for coffee that they made any headway. The original offender sold his product as "coffee," which was an untruth, as he later admitted there was not a bean of coffee in it. He boldly advertised: "Blank coffee for persons who can't digest ordinary coffee."

When it became no longer possible to perpetrate an untruth on the package label, there still remained the newspapers and billboards. For years before fake-advertising laws and an outraged public opinion made recourse to these no longer possible, it was a common practise to use the newspapers and billboards to promote the idea that here was a different coffee; and in this way to create a demand for a package, which, when purchased, was found to tell a different story.

As late as 1911, one of our most respected New York dailies was carrying an advertisement calling the product "coffee," although fairness demands it be recorded that the coffee part of the announcement was stricken out when The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal called the attention of the publisher to its misleading character. This trade paper, from its start, had been urging the coffee men to organize for defense. The agitation bore fruit at last, first in the starting of the National Coffee Roasters Association, and later in the inception of the movement that resulted in the international advertising campaign for coffee now in progress in the United States.

Meanwhile, the cereal coffee-substitute had been thoroughly discredited by governmental analysis, although even today newspaper publishers are to be found here and there who are willing to "take a chance" with public opinion and who will admit to their advertising columns such misleading statements for the substitute, as "it has a coffee-like flavor."

In the United States today, coffee advertising has reached a high plane of copy excellence. Our coffee advertisers lead all nations. The educational work started by The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, fostered by the National Coffee Roasters Association, and developed by the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee, has laid low many of the bugaboos raised by the cereal sinners. The coffee men, however, have left considerable room for improvement. There are still some who are given to making exaggerated claims in their publicity, who make reflections upon competitors in a way to destroy public confidence in coffee, and who display an ignorance of, or a lack of confidence in, their product by continuing to claim that their brands do not contain what they assert are injurious or worthless constituents. It is to be hoped that in time these abuses will yield to the further enlightening influence of the trade press, and of the organizations that are continually working for trade betterment.

Before the international coffee campaign started in 1919, the National Coffee Roasters Association promoted two national coffee weeks, one in 1914 and another in 1915, wherein excellent groundwork was done for the big joint coffee trade propaganda that followed. Some original research also was done along lines of proper grinding and correct coffee brewing. A better-coffee-making committee, under the direction of Edward Aborn of New York, rendered yeoman's service to the cause. Much educational work was done in schools and colleges, among newspaper editors, and in the trade. This campaign was the first co-operative publicity for coffee. Among other things, it put a nation-wide emphasis on iced coffee as a delectable summer drink and, for the first time, stressed the correct making of the beverage by drip and filtration methods instead of by boiling, which had long been one of the most crying evils of the business.

Package Coffee Advertising

Coffee advertising began to take on a distinctive character with the introduction of Ariosa by John Arbuckle in 1873. Some of the early publicity for this pioneer package coffee appears typographically crude, judged by modern standards; but the copy itself has all the needful punch, and many of the arguments are just as applicable today as they were a half-century ago. Take the handbill copy illustrated. It was done in three colors, and the argument was new and most convincing. The reverse side copy is also extremely effective. Note the expert-roaster argument and coffee-making directions; some of these may still be found in current coffee advertising.

Most of the original Arbuckle advertising was by means of circulars or broadsides, although some newspaper space was employed. Premiums were first used by John Arbuckle as an advertising sales adjunct, and they proved a big factor in putting Ariosa on the map. Mr. Arbuckle created the kind of word-of-mouth publicity for his goods that is the most difficult achievement in the business of advertising. It caused so deep and lasting an impression, that in some sections it has persisted through at least five decades. The advertising moral is: Get people to talk your brand.

Since the death of its founder, the Arbuckle copy has been changed to fit modern conditions. That it has kept pace with all the forward movements in business and advertising is evident from the specimens which help to illustrate this chapter. A significant change is to be noted in the fact that, for the first time in its history, "the greatest coffee business in the world" has adopted a policy of advertising to the trade as well as to the consumer, thus giving its publicity a well rounded character which it formerly lacked.

The evolution of other notable package coffees is also shown by illustration. Several concerns blazed new trails that have since been picked up and followed by competing brands.

Among the many long-established advertised package-coffee successes may be mentioned:

Arbuckle's Yuban and Ariosa; McLaughlin's XXXX; Chase & Sanborn's Seal Brand; Dwinell-Wright's White House; Weir's Red Ribbon; B. Fischer & Company's Hotel Astor; Brownell & Field's Autocrat; Bour's Old Master; Scull's Boscul; Seeman Brothers' White Rose; Blanke's Faust; Baker's Barrington Hall; Woolson Spice Company's Golden Sun; International Coffee Company's Old Homestead; Kroneberger's Old Reserve; Western Grocer Company's Chocolate Cream; Leggett's Nabob; Clossett & Dever's Golden West; R.C. Williams' Royal Scarlet; Merchants Coffee Company's Alameda; Widlar Company's C.W. brand; Meyer Bros.' Old Judge; Nash-Smith Tea and Coffee Company's Wedding Breakfast; J.A. Folger & Company's Golden Gate; Ennis Hanley Blackburn Coffee Company's Golden Wedding; M.J. Brandenstein & Company's M.J.B.; Hills Brothers' Red Can, the Young & Griffin Coffee Company's Franco-American, and the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company's Maxwell House.

It was estimated that the amount of money spent by the larger coffee roasters upon all forms of publicity in the United States in 1920 was about $3,000,000.

Charts prepared by Charles Coolidge Parlin of the division of commercial research of the Curtis Publishing Company, and checked by the Publishers' Information Bureau, show the advertising for coffee and for coffee substitutes in thirty leading publications from 1911 to 1920; and compare the advertising for coffee and coffee substitutes in 1920 with a chart of per capita consumption. It should be noted that the figures exclude all other forms of advertising, such as newspapers, bill-posting, street-car signs, electric signs, and so forth.

Experience has proven that a package coffee, to be successful, must have back of it expert knowledge on buying, blending, roasting, and packing, as well as an efficient sales force. These things are essential: (1) a quality product; (2) a good trade-mark name and label; (3) an efficient package. With these, an intelligently planned and carefully executed advertising and sales campaign will spell success. Such a campaign comprehends advertising directed to the dealer and to the consumer. It may include all the approved forms of publicity, such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, electric signs, motion pictures, demonstrations, and samples. One phase of trade advertising which should not be overlooked is dealer helps. The extent to which the roaster-packer, or the promoter of a new package coffee, should utilize the various advertising media or go into dealer helps must, of course, depend upon the size of the advertising appropriation.

Many roaster-packers supply grocers handling their coffee with dealer helps in the shape of weather-proof metal signs for outside display, display racks, store and window display signs, cut-outs, blotters, consumer booklets, newspaper electros, stereopticon slides, moving pictures, demonstrations, samples, etc. Dealer selling schemes based on points have also been found helpful in promoting sales.

Advertising to the Trade

Until a comparatively recent date, the green coffee importer, selling the roasting trade, has not realized the need of advertising. He has inclined to the belief that he did not need to advertise, because, in most instances, green coffee is not sold by the mark; and, to a certain extent, price has been the determining factor.

During late years, however, many green coffee firms have come to realize that there is a good-will element that enters into the equation which can be fostered by the intelligent use of advertising space in the coffee roaster's trade journal. Also, a few importers are now featuring trade marks in their advertising, thus building up a tangible trade-mark asset in addition to good will.

For a number of years the green coffee trade used the business card type of advertisement; but some are now utilizing a more up-to-date style of copy, as typified by the advertisements of Leon Israel & Brothers and W.R. Grace & Company. Specimens of other green coffee advertising of the better kind are here reproduced.

Advertising campaigns in behalf of package coffees can not be fully effective without the proper use of trade publications. Advertising in the dealer's paper has many advantages. It is good missionary work for the salesman. It creates confidence in the mind of the dealer. It is an excellent means for demonstrating to the retailer that he is being considered in the scheme of distribution--that no attempt is being made to force the goods upon him through consumer advertising alone. Trade-paper advertising also offers the packer the opportunity to acquaint the dealer with the selling points in favor of the brand advertised, thus saving the time of the salesman. An increasing number of coffee packers are now using the advertising columns of trade papers, and some typical advertisements are reproduced herewith.

Advertising by Various Mediums

Billboard and other outdoor advertising, also car cards, are being used to a considerable extent for coffee publicity. Painted outdoor signs have been the back-bone of one middle-west roaster's campaign for a number of years. Both car cards and billboards are growing in popularity because they enable the coffee packer to reproduce his package in its natural colors and permit also of striking displays. Such firms as Arbuckle Brothers, New York; Dayton Spice Mills, Dayton, Ohio; W.F. MCLaughlin & Company, Chicago; the Puhl-Webb Company, Chicago; the Bour Company, Toledo; B. Fischer & Company, New York; and the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, Nashville and New York, are consistent users of this character of advertising. Electric signs also have proved effective for coffee advertising. Reproductions of some characteristic outdoor and car-card advertisements are to be found in these pages.

Motion pictures are a comparatively new development in coffee advertising. One of the first coffee roasters to adopt this plan of publicity was S.H. Holstad & Company, Minneapolis. The film used depicted the cultivation and preparation of coffee for the market, also the complete roasting and packaging operations. The A.J. Deer Company, manufacturers of coffee mills and roasters, Hornell, N.Y., was another pioneer in the use of coffee films. Jabez Burns & Sons, coffee-machinery manufacturers, followed with an educational coffee picture. The National Packaging Machinery Company, of Boston, is another concern that has utilized films for advertising purposes, showing its machines in operation in a coffee-packing plant. Many roasters made use of the coffee film produced by the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee.

In using advertising films, it is customary for the roaster to arrange for a showing at one or more theaters. The advertising in the local papers features the coffee brands, also the name of the local dealer, the latter being furnished with tickets which he distributes among his retail customers. There are several concerns making a business of supplying commercial films and of getting distribution for them.

Another form of theater publicity is that of the advertising slide--stereopticon views thrown upon the screen between feature pictures. Many packers find these are effective for cultivating the dealer, it being customary to show the brand name, together with that of the local distributer.

Advertising for Retailers

When retailers analyze the people to whom they sell coffee, they usually find three types. First, there is the woman who thinks she is an expert judge of coffee, but who is unable to find anything to suit her cultivated taste. Then there is the new housewife, possibly a bride of a few months, who knows very little about coffee, but wants to find a good blend that both she and her husband will like. The third is the most acceptable class, the satisfied people who have found coffee that delights them, day after day.

W. Harry Longe, a Texas retailer, has prepared the following "ready made" copy appeals for the three classes. To "Mrs. Know-it-all-about-Coffee," this style has been found effective:

IMPROVE THE COFFEE AND YOU IMPROVE THE MEAL

The corner of the table that holds the coffee urn is the balancing point of your dinner. If the coffee is a "little off" for some reason or other--probably it's the coffee's own fault--things don't seem as good as they might; but when it is "up to taste" the meal is a pleasure from start to finish. If the "balancing point" is giving you trouble, let ANY BLEND Coffee properly regulate it for you. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.

ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

For the good lady who is anxious to find a suitable blend of coffee, and who desires information, this is a good appeal:

A SUCCESSFUL SELECTION

Of the coffee that goes into the every-morning cup will arrive on the day when ANY BLEND is first purchased. Many homes have been without such a success now for a long time, but, of course, they didn't know of ANY BLEND--and even now it is hard to really know ANY BLEND till you try it. That is why we seem to insist that you ask for an introduction by ordering a pound.

ANY BLEND TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

Taking both classes and dealing with them alike:

"BLENDED TO BALANCE"

Is a good descriptive phrase of ANY BLEND coffee, for care is taken in the preparation that the strength does not overpower the flavor. The aim of the blender is to get an acceptable and delightful drinking quality. He has been more than successful, as you will see when you try ANY BLEND, 35 cents, three pounds for $1.

ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

The satisfied class, of course, is not averse to making a change, and it is well, occasionally, for the dealer to let his own satisfied customers know he still believes in his goods. The argument might take this form:

A SERVICE THAT SAVES

Is the serving of ANY BLEND, when coffee is desired. ANY BLEND saves many things. It saves worry, for it is always uniform in flavor and strength. It saves time, for when you order ANY BLEND we grind it just as fine or just as coarse as your percolator or pot demands. ANY BLEND also saves expense, because there is no waste, as you know just how much to use, every time, to make a certain number of cups. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.

ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

Again, possible new customers may listen to this appeal:

TO PROVE YOUR APPROVAL

Of ANY BLEND coffee, you are asked to try just one pound. We know you will like it, for it is blended and roasted and ground as an exceptional coffee should be, with the care that a good coffee demands. Prove to yourself that you approve of this method of preparing coffee. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.

ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

In some households the cook is permitted to do the ordering, and usually the cook does not read the daily papers with an eye for coffee ads. To reach this individual through her mistress:

CAN YOU NAME YOUR COFFEE?

Or is it one of those many unknown brands that comes from the store at the order of your cook? Let the cook do the ordering, for you are lucky if you have one you can rely upon, but tell her you prefer ANY BLEND to the No-Name Blend you may now be using. ANY BLEND has one distinct advantage over all others; It Is freshly roasted. Tell the kitchen-lady, now, to order ANY BLEND.

ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY

Advertising by Government Propaganda

Advertising coffee by government propaganda has been indulged in with more or less success by the British government in behalf of certain of its colonial possessions; by the French and the Dutch; by Porto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Brazil. The markets most cultivated have been Italy, France, England, Russia, Japan, and the United States.

Great Britain began the development of coffee cultivation in its colonies in 1730. Parliament first reduced the inland duties. In many ways it has since sought to encourage British-grown coffee, building up a favoritism for it that is still reflected in Mincing Lane quotations. The Netherlands government did the same thing for Java and Sumatra; and France rendered a similar service to her own colonies.

Since Porto Rico became a part of the United States, several attempts have been made by the island government and the planters to popularize Porto Rico coffee in the United States. Scott Truxtun opened a government agency in New York in 1905. Acting upon the counsel and advice of the author, he prosecuted for several years a vigorous campaign in behalf of the Porto Rico Planters' Protective Association. The method followed for coffee was to appoint official brokers, and to certify the genuineness of the product. Owing to insufficient funds and the number of different products for which publicity was sought, the coffee campaign was only moderately successful.

Mortimer Remington, formerly with the J. Walter Thompson Company, a New York advertising agency, was appointed in 1912 commercial agent for the Porto Rico Association, composed of island producers and merchants. Some effective advertising in behalf of Porto Rico coffee was done in the metropolitan district, where a number of high-class grocers were prevailed upon to stock the product, which was packed under seal of the association. As before, however, the other products handled--including cigars, grape-fruit, pineapples, etc.--handicapped the work on coffee, and the enterprise was abandoned. Subsequent efforts by the Washington government to assist the Porto Ricans in evolving a practical plan to extend their coffee market in the United States came to naught because of too much "politics."

Beginning with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, the government of Guatemala started a propaganda for its coffee in the United States; as the European market, which had up till then absorbed seventy-five percent of its product, was closed to it, owing to the World War. E.H. O'Brien, a coffee broker of San Francisco, directed the publicity. Some full pages were used in newspapers, but the main efforts were directed at the coffee-roasting trade. The campaign, so far as it went, was highly successful.

Costa Rica also gave special encouragement to coffee-trade interests that offered to expand the United States market for Costa Rica coffee during the World War.

For many years Colombia has been talking of making propaganda here for its coffee, but thus far nothing of a constructive character has been done.

Sao Paulo began in 1908 to make propaganda for its coffee by subsidizing companies and individuals in consuming countries to promote consumption of the Brazil product. A contract was entered into between the state of Sao Paulo and the coffee firms of E. Johnston & Company and Joseph Travers & Son, of London, to exploit Brazil coffee in the United Kingdom. Similar contracts were made with coffee firms in other European countries, notably in Italy and France. The subsidies were for five years and took the form of cash and coffee. The English company was known as the "State of Sao Paulo (Brazil) Pure Coffee Company, Ltd." Fifty thousand pounds sterling was granted this enterprise, which roasted and packed a brand known as "Fazenda;" promoted demonstrations at grocers' expositions; and advertised in somewhat limited fashion. The general effect upon the consumption of coffee in England was negligible, however, although at one time some five thousand grocers were said to have stocked the Fazenda brand. A feature of this propaganda was the use of the Tricolator (an American device since better known in the United States) to insure correct making of the beverage, Brazil also made propaganda for its coffee in Japan, in 1915, as part of certain undertakings involving the immigration of Japanese laborers to Brazil.

The Comite Francais du Cafe was formed in Paris in July, 1921, to co-operate with Brazil in an enterprise designed to increase the consumption of coffee in France.

The chief fault in most of the coffee propagandas here and abroad has been the doubtful practise of subsidizing particular coffee concerns instead of spending the funds in a manner designed to distribute the benefits among the trade as a whole. This mistake, and local politics in the producing countries, have made for ultimate failure. A notable exception is the latest propaganda for Brazil coffee in the United States, where all the various interests, the the Sao Paulo government, the growers, exporters, importers, roasters, jobbers, and dealers, have co-operated in a plan of campaign to advertise coffee per se, and not to secure special privilege to any individual, house, or group.

Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Campaign

Twenty years ago the author began an agitation for co-operative advertising, by the coffee trade. He suggested as a slogan, "Tell the truth about coffee;" and it is gratifying to find that many of his original ideas have been embodied in the present joint coffee trade publicity campaign, now in its fourth year.

The coffee roasters at first were slow to respond to the co-operative advertising suggestion, because in those days competition was more unenlightened than now, and therefore more ruthless. It needed organization to bring the trade to a better understanding of the benefits certain to be shared by all when their individual interests were pooled in a common cause. Leaders of the best thought in the trade, however, were quick to realize that only by united effort was it possible to achieve real progress; and when it was suggested that the first step was to organize the roasting trade, the idea took so firm a hold that it only needed some one to start it to bring together in one combination the keenest minds in the business.

The coffee roasters organized their national association in 1911. The author of this work urged that co-operative advertising based upon scientific research should be done by the roasters themselves independently of the growers; but it was found impracticable to unite diverging interests on such an issue, and so the leaders of the movement bent all their energies toward promoting a campaign that would be backed jointly by growers and distributers, since both would receive equal benefit from any resulting increase in consumption. Brazil, the source of nearly three-quarters of the world's coffee, was the logical ally; and an appeal was made to the planters of that country. A party of ten leading United States roasters and importers visited Brazil in 1912 at the invitation of the federal government.

In Brazil, as in the United States, progress resulted from organization. The planters of the state of Sao Paulo, who produce more than one-half of all coffee used in the United States, were the first to appreciate the propaganda idea. After their attempts to interest the national government failed, the Sao Paulo coffee men founded the Sociedade Promotora da Defesa do cafe (Society to Promote the Defense of Coffee), and persuaded their state legislature to pass a law taxing every bag of coffee shipped from the plantations of that state in a period of four years. This tax, amounting to one hundred reis per bag of 132 pounds, or about two and one-half cents United States money at even exchange rates, is collected by the railroads from the shippers, and turned over to the Sociedade.

The Brazilian Society sent to the United States a special envoy, Theodore Langgaard de Menezes, to conclude arrangements; and on March 4, 1918, in New York, the pact was signed whereby Sao Paulo was to contribute to the publicity campaign in the United States approximately $960,000 at the rate of $240,000 a year for four years; and the members of the trade in the United States were to contribute altogether $150,000[346]. The success of the negotiations was due to the skilful management of Ross W. Weir in the United States, and to the superior salesmanship of Louis R. Gray, the Arbuckle representative in Brazil.

Supervision of the advertising in the United States was delegated to five men, representing both the importing and roasting branches of the trade, and designated as the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee of the United States. Three of these committeemen, Ross W. Weir, of New York; F.J. Ach, of Dayton, Ohio; and George S. Wright, of Boston, are roasters; and two, William Bayne, Jr., and C.H. Stoffregen, both of New York, are importers and jobbers, or green-coffee men. The committee organized with Mr. Weir as chairman, Mr. Wright as treasurer, and Mr. Stoffregen as secretary. At the invitation of the committee, C.W. Brand of Cleveland, then president of the National Coffee Roasters Association, attended committee meetings, and assisted in determining the policies of the campaign. Headquarters were established at 74 Wall Street, in the heart of the New York coffee district, with Felix Coste as secretary-manager, and Allan P. Ames as publicity director. N.W. Ayer & Son, advertising agents of Philadelphia, who had engineered the plan of campaign from the start of the movement in the National Coffee Roasters Association, handle the advertising account.

Sao Paulo's contribution to the advertising fund is sent in monthly instalments to the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee under an agreement that it shall be expended only for magazine and newspaper space.

Supplementing this Brazilian contribution, is the fund raised by voluntary subscriptions from the coffee trade of the United States on the basis of one cent per bag handled annually. This American fund is used for the expenses of administration, for educational advertising outside of magazine and newspaper space, and for various kinds of trade promotion and dealer stimulation.

The first advertising appeared in April, 1919, in 306 leading newspapers in 182 large cities, with a total circulation of more than 16,000,000. The cities chosen represented all the centers of wholesale coffee distribution.

Magazine advertising began in June of the same year, using twenty-one periodicals, all of national circulation. This list has been changed from time to time to meet the special needs of the campaign.

More than fifty grocery-trade magazines have carried the committee's dealer advertising, although not all of these have been used continuously. Every part of the country was represented on the trade-paper list.

Full pages have been run each month in nine of the leading national medical journals. These advertisements were written by a physician of national reputation. Under the caption, "The Case for Coffee," these advertisements have discussed the properties of coffee from the physiological standpoint, and have asked the doctors to judge it fairly.

From the start the committee's advertising has been broadly educational. The properties of coffee have been discussed; charges against coffee have been answered. The housekeeper has been told how to get the best results from the coffee she buys; hotel and restaurant proprietors have been reminded that many of them owe their prosperity largely to a reputation for serving good coffee; new uses have been exploited for coffee, as a flavoring agent for desserts and other sweets; employers have been taught the important service good coffee may render in increasing the comfort and efficiency of their working forces.

Magazine and newspaper advertising is only the nucleus of the campaign. The effect of such "white space" publicity is increased by simultaneous efforts to "merchandise" the campaign, to stimulate the interest of the wholesale and retail trade, to encourage private-brand advertising, and to reach the consumer by other kinds of publicity recognized as essential factors in a well rounded national advertising effort. These activities may be summarized as follows:

INFORMATION SERVICE. This department answers inquiries and supplies material for household editors, and for newspaper and magazine writers. Through a national clipping service, it keeps in touch with all published matter relating to coffee. Its special duty is to answer attacks on coffee and the coffee trade. Merchants and dealers make it a practise, when they find misleading articles or editorials in their local newspapers, to send clippings to the committee's headquarters to be handled there as the situation warrants.

SCIENTIFIC COFFEE RESEARCH. Twenty-two thousand, five hundred dollars of the American fund have been appropriated thus far for scientific coffee research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The reports of this research will be distributed to the coffee trade throughout the country, and should prove valuable in all branches of coffee merchandising. The findings will be distributed by the committee to schools and colleges, and to consumers through national advertising.

THE COFFEE CLUB. This organization was established for the purpose of educating the consumer through constructive team work by the roasters' and jobbers' salesman and the retail dealer. Under this plan, the committee has distributed 50,000 transparent signs for dealers' windows, and 5,000 bronze coffee-club buttons for coffee salesmen. By reference to the Coffee Club in national magazine and newspaper advertising, the retailer is given a chance to tie up with the campaign. Membership in the club is limited to those who are contributing to the publicity fund, and to their salesmen and customers. The club publishes a monthly bulletin in newspaper form, giving the news of the campaign. This has a circulation of 27,000 among wholesalers, salesman, and dealers.

BOOKLETS. The committee has published six booklets, which have reached a total circulation of more than one and a half million copies. These booklets are sold at cost to the coffee trade. The committee reports that, on an average, one hundred requests for them are received daily at its office from consumers in different parts of the country, and that the booklets are the means of a constant campaign of education in American homes and schools.

BRAND ADVERTISING. The committee is constantly making efforts to increase the amount of private advertising by coffee roasters, and it estimates that brand advertising has increased at least three hundred percent since the national campaign began. Reproductions of the committee's advertisements, proofs of advertising electrotypes, and copy suggestions are circulated in advance to all roasters and to a large number of retailers, by means of the monthly organ, The Coffee Club.

COFFEE WEEK. During the week of March 29 to April 4, 1920, the committee organized and financed the third national coffee week, which was observed by retailers throughout the country. The feature of this week was a window-trimming contest for which prizes of $2,000 were distributed among several hundred grocers. The contest resulted in displays of coffee in nearly 10,000 grocery windows, and greatly increased the sale and consumption of coffee during this period.

MOTION PICTURES. The United States fund financed the production and distribution of a coffee motion picture, 128 prints of which were sold to roasters, who exhibited them throughout the country. This picture was shown during coffee week to more than six hundred theater audiences, and it remains in the possession of the trade as an active advertising medium.

NEW USES FOR COFFEE. An important factor in increasing consumption has been the promotion of new uses for coffee. In winter, this has taken the form or recipes and suggestions for coffee as a flavoring agent; and in warm weather, there has been a publicity drive for iced coffee.

Propaganda Results

The joint coffee trade publicity campaign is progressive. New features are being developed, and plans are laid well in advance. It is expected that the reports of the scientific research will furnish fresh material for both direct and indirect advertising.

One of the interesting prospects is a school exhibit, demand for which has been revealed by requests from a large number of teachers, principals, and school superintendents. Efforts to increase the popularity of a product as widely used as coffee suggest almost unlimited opportunities.

The campaign has brought into co-operation producers in one country, and manufacturers and distributers in another country, several thousand miles apart. Its international character, and also the fact that it deals with a product of almost universal use, may account for the attention this campaign has received, not only in the United States, but in every country where advertising is a business factor.

This kind of coffee publicity has given the consumer a better knowledge of coffee, and broken down much of the prejudice against coffee that rested upon popular misunderstanding of its physiological effects.

As best evidence of its sincere wish to give the public the whole truth about coffee, the committee points to the fact that a portion of its funds is being used to finance the scientific investigation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Felix Coste, the secretary-manager of the campaign, spends much of his time traveling about the country and addressing gatherings of coffee wholesalers and dealers. By this means, and by continuous circularization and correspondence, the trade is kept constantly in touch with the developments of the campaign.

Although Brazil is the only coffee-producing country at present co-operating, the advertising has treated all coffees alike. Efforts are being made to have the coffee growers of other countries contribute on a basis proportionate to the benefit they derive. Support from all the coffee countries on the same scale as that on which the producers of Sao Paulo are contributing would almost double the size of the fund.

Coffee Advertising Efficiency

Reverting to the original advertisement for coffee in English, when we compare it with the latest examples of advertising art, it is of the same order of merit. But Pasqua Rosee had no advertising experts to advise him and no precedents to follow. Pasqua Rosee was a native of Smyrna, who was brought to London by a Mr. Edwards, a dealer in Turkish merchandise, to whom he acted as a sort of personal servant. One of his principal duties was the preparation of Mr. Edwards' morning drink of Turkish coffee.

"But the novelty thereof," history tells us, "drawing too much company to him, he [Mr. Edwards] allowed his said servant, with another of his son-in-law, to sell it publicly." So it came about that Pasqua Rosee set up a coffee house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill.

And since Pasqua Rosee's idea, naturally, was to acquaint the London public with the virtues and delectable qualities of the product of which his prospective customers were naturally uniformed, he put into his advertisement those facts and arguments which he felt would be most likely to attract attention, to excite interest, and to convince. If the reader will glance at Rosee's advertisement, which is reproduced on page 55, he will be struck with the well-nigh irresistible charm of his unaffected, straightforward bid for patronage. Having no advertising fetishes to warp his judgment, he told an interesting story in a natural manner, carrying conviction. It matters not that some of the virtues attributed to the drink have since been disallowed. He believed them to be true. Few there were in those days who knew the real "truth about coffee."

Even his typography, unstudied from the standpoint of modern "display," is attractive, appropriate, and exceedingly pleasant to the eye. And since at that time there was no cereal substitute or other bugaboos to contend against, and to hinder him from doing the simple, obvious thing in advertising, he did that very thing--and did it exceedingly well.

In fact, in the historic advertisement, Pasqua Rosee set an example and established a copy standard which had a very beneficial effect on all the coffee advertising of that early date. This will be evident from a glance at the accompanying exhibits of other early advertisements. It was not until the days of so-called "modern" advertising that coffee publicity reached low-water mark in efficiency and value. In these dark days most coffee advertisers ignored the principles discovered and applied in other lines of grocery merchandising. Instead of telling their public how good their product was, they actually followed the opposite course, and warned the public against the dangers of coffee drinking! Instead of saying to the public, "Coffee has many virtues, and our brand is one of the best examples," their text said in effect, "Coffee has many deleterious properties; some, or most, of which have been eliminated in our particular brand."

They were, for the most part, apostles of negation.

Hopeful signs, however, are multiplying that this condition of things in the coffee industry has passed, and that the practise of telling the coffee story with certitude will soon become general.

We may well applaud the publicity work of all coffee advertisers who follow where Pasqua Rosee led--those who tell the public how good coffee is to drink and how much good it does you if you drink it. Considering the advertising and typographical resources available to the modern advertiser, it certainly should be possible for this message to be conveyed to the public with at least some of the charm of the first coffee message.

One of the most notable examples of how to advertise coffee well is that set by Yuban coffee. Unquestionably, Yuban is doing in a thoroughly up-to-date and appropriate fashion what Pasqua Rosee started out to do in 1652.

The effect on those who give only a superficial glance at a Yuban advertisement is to arouse a keen desire to enjoy a cup of Yuban coffee. To induce such a state of mind is, of course, the object of all good advertising.

Yuban advertisements have utilized two vital principles in influencing the minds of consumers. In the first place, they have made a cup of coffee seem to be a very delectable drink. In the second place, they have made the serving of a cup of coffee seem to be of the greatest social value.

One does not see in a Yuban advertisement any reference to the "removal of caffein", or to Yuban's "freedom from defects common to other coffees." There is no reference to the ill effects of drinking ordinary coffee. Yuban wastes no valuable space in unselling coffee. Instead, the whole intent, effectively carried out, is to paint an enticing picture by descriptive phraseology, typographic "manner", and illustrative treatment.

Until Yuban came, those of us in the coffee trade who had given the matter thought had often wondered why, with the wealth of material available to writers of coffee advertisements, so little had been done to make the product alluring--why so little had been done to give atmosphere to the product. So many interesting things may be said about the history of coffee; the spread of the industry through various countries; how Brazil came to be the coffee-producing country of the world; how coffee is cultivated, harvested, and shipped; how it is stored, roasted, handled, delivered--in short, the entire process by which coffee reaches the breakfast table from the plantations of the tropics. Yuban made effective use of this material.

Simply to tell these things in an interesting, natural, convincing way makes coffee appear as a healthful, delicious drink; whereas the negative, defensive sort of advertising, that plays into the hands of the substitutes, puts coffee in the wrong light.

When one reads Yuban advertisements, they are seen to be an entirely acceptable and appropriate presentation of coffee merit and thoroughly in accord with the principles of good advertising, as exemplified in all other lines of trade. The wonder grows why so many coffee advertisers have been content to remain in the defensive, controversial position into which the alarmist coffee-substitute advertising has jockeyed them.

The Yuban advertisements are not without their faults; errors of historical facts can be found in them; definitions are sometimes mixed; some of the drawings might be better; but, in the main, the copy is convincing and praiseworthy.

In Yuban advertisements the things that have been so long left undone have now been done in a masterful way. If we refer to the accompanying illustrations, we can see how effectively the public is being led to realize and believe in:

1. The intrinsic desirability of coffee--the actual pleasure to be derived from the act of partaking of it.

2. That it is delightful medium for social intercourse--part of the essential equipment for an intimate chat or more general assemblage of friends.

3. That its proper service is a badge of social distinction--the mark of a successful hostess.

These three thoughts, dominant in Yuban advertising, should be woven into the fabric of all coffee advertising. For with these three thoughts, Arbuckle Brothers have blazed the trail for the right thing in coffee advertising.

The Yuban case has been so largely dwelt upon here because it sets so bright and shining an example. Much that is praiseworthy in it and more along the same lines is true of White House, Hotel Astor, and Seal Brand; but the copy shown will illustrate this better than any comment.

XXIX. THE COFFEE TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES

The coffee business started by Dorothy Jones of Boston--Some early sales--Taxes imposed by Congress in war and peace--The first coffee plantation-machine, coffee-roaster, coffee-grinder, and coffee-pot patents--Early trade marks for coffee--Beginnings of the coffee urn, the coffee container, and the soluble-coffee business--Statistics of distribution of coffee-roasting establishments in the trade from the eighteenth century to the twentieth

It appears from the best evidence obtainable that the coffee trade of the United States was started by a woman, one Dorothy Jones of Boston. At least, Dorothy Jones was the first person in the colonies to whom a license was issued, in 1670, to sell coffee. It is not clear whether she sold the product in the green bean, roasted, "garbled" (ground), or "ungarbled".

Soon after the introduction of the coffee drink into the New England, New York, and Pennsylvania colonies, trading began in the raw product. William Penn bought his green coffee supplies in the New York market in 1683, paying for them at the rate of $4.68 a pound. Benjamin Franklin engaged in the retail coffee business in Philadelphia, in 1740, as a kind of side line to his printing business.

"Tea, coffee, indigo, nutmegs, sugar etc." were being advertised for sale in 1748 at a shop in Boston, "under the vendue-room in Dock-Square." Coffee was also to be had in that year at the shop of Ebenezer Lowell in King Street, and at the Sign of the Four Sugar Loaves near the head of Long Wharf.

During the sway of the coffee houses, coffee fell from $4.68 a pound to 40 cents a pound in 1750, and to 22 cents a pound just before the Revolution. As the war came on, however, dealers began to force up prices on a dwindling market. The situation became so serious that in January, 1776, the Philadelphia Commission of Inspection issued a fair-price list, setting an arbitrary price of eleven pence per pound on coffee in bag lots. Persons found violating this price were to be "exposed to public view as sordid vultures preying on the vitals of the country."

Despite this threat, J. Peters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, wrote to a Philadelphia friend, "I cannot purchase any coffee without taking, too, one bill a tierce of Claret & Sour, and at L6.8 per gall.... I have been trying day for day, & never could get a grain of Coffee so as to sell it at the limited price these six weeks. It may be bought, but at 25/ per lb."

The important part played by the coffee houses of colonial America, beginning with the establishment of the London coffee house in Boston, in 1689, the King's Arms in New York in 1696, and Ye coffee house in Philadelphia in 1700, has been related.

"Females" of ye olde Boston, staging in 1777 a "coffee party" which rivaled in a small way the famous Tea Party in 1773, personally chastised a profiteer hoarder of foodstuffs, and confiscated some of his stock, according to a letter from Abigail Adams to her distinguished husband, later second president of the United States.

Writing at Boston, under date of July 31, 1777, Abigail wrote to John, then attending the Continental Congress at Philadelphia:

There is a great scarcity of sugar and coffee, articles which the female part of the state is very loath to give up, especially whilst they consider the great scarcity occasioned by the merchants having secreted a large quantity. It is rumored that an eminent stingy merchant, who is a bachelor, had a hogshead of coffee in his store, which he refused to sell under 6 shillings per pound.

A number of females--some say a hundred, some say more--assembled with a cart and trunk, marched down to the warehouse, and demanded the keys.

Upon his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys, and they then opened the warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into a trunk, and drove off. A large concourse of men stood amazed, silent spectators of the whole transaction.

In 1783-84 the Congress of the United States considered the imposition of a duty on "seven classes of goods consumed by the rich or in general use; liquors, sugars, teas, coffees, cocoa, molasses and pepper; the tax to be determined by the yearly imports."

At that time there was being imported twelve times as much Bohea tea as of all others, but tea consumption was only one-twelfth pound per capita. Total tea imports were 325,000 pounds. "Low as was the importation of tea", says John Bach McMaster, "that of coffee was lower still by a third. Indeed, it was scarcely used outside of the great cities." The average annual coffee imports at that period were 200.000 pounds.

Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts introduced chicory into the United States in 1785.

The first import duty, of two and one-half cents a pound, was levied on coffee by the United States in 1789. The principal sources of supply up to that time were the Dutch East Indies, Arabia, Haiti, and Jamaica; and most of the business was in the hands of Dutch and English traders.

What is thought to be the first wholesale coffee-roasting plant in America began operations at 4 Great Dock (now Pearl) Street, New York, early in 1790. In that same year the first American advertisement for coffee appeared in the New York Daily Advertiser. A second "coffee manufactory" started up at 232 Queen (also Pearl) Street, New York, late in 1790.

In the same year, 1790, the government increased the import duty on coffee to four cents a pound. In 1794 the tax was raised to five cents a pound.

In George Washington's household account book for 1793 appears an entry showing a purchase of coffee from Benjamin Dorsay, a Philadelphia grocer, for eight dollars. The quantity is not given.

About 1804 Captain Joseph Ropes in the ship Recovery, of Salem, Mass., brought from Mocha the first cargo of coffee and other East Indian produce in an American bottom.

The first cargo of Brazil coffee, consisting of 1,522 bags, was received at Salem, Mass., per ship Marquis de Someruelas in 1809. Brazil's total production that year was less than 30,000 bags; but by 1871 more than 2,000,000 bags were exported.

Java coffee could be bought on the Amsterdam market in 1810 for 42 to 46 cents. By 1812, there had been an advance to $1.08 per pound. Holland, not Brazil, ruled the world's coffee markets in those days.

When the war of 1812 made necessary more revenue, imports of coffee were taxed ten cents a pound. A war-time fever of speculation in tea and coffee followed, and by 1814 prices to the consumer had advanced to such an extent (coffee was 45 cents a pound) that the citizens of Philadelphia formed a non-consumption association, each member pledging himself "not to pay more than 25 cents a pound for coffee and not to consume tea that wasn't already in the country."

The coffee duty was reduced in 1816 to five cents a pound; in 1830, to two cents; in 1831, to one cent; and in 1832 coffee was placed on the free list. It remained there until 1861, when a duty of four cents a pound was again imposed as a war-revenue measure. This was increased to five cents in 1862. It was reduced to three cents in 1871; and the duty was repealed in 1872. Coffee has remained on the free list ever since.

The manufacture of machinery required in the coffee business began in the eighteenth century. The first coffee-grinder patent in the United States was issued to Thomas Bruff, Sr., in 1798. The first United States patent on an improvement on a roaster was issued to Peregrine Williamson of Baltimore in 1820. The first United States patent on a coffee-plantation machine, a coffee huller, was granted to Nathan Reed of Belfast, Me., in 1822. The first United States coffee-maker patent was issued to Lewis Martelley of New York, in 1825.

Charles Parker, of Meriden, Conn., began work on the original Parker coffee mill in 1828.

A complete English coffee roasting and grinding plant was installed in New York City by James Wild in 1833-34.

About 1840, Central America began making shipments of coffee to the United States.

James Carter, of Boston, was granted (1846) a United States patent on an improved form of cylindrical coffee roaster, which subsequently was largely adopted by the trade in the United States, being popularly known as the Carter "pull-out".

The Geo. L. Squier Manufacturing Co. of Buffalo began in 1857 the manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery. Marcus Mason invented his first pulper in 1860; but the manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery under the firm name of Marcus Mason & Co. did not begin in the United States until 1873.

The first paper-bag factory in the United States to make bags for loose coffee, began operations in Brooklyn in 1862.

The first ground-coffee package was put on the New York market about 1860-63 by Lewis A. Osborn. It was known as Osborn's Celebrated Prepared Java Coffee and was later exploited by Thomas Reid as Osborn's Old Government Java.

In 1864, Jabez Burns was granted a patent on the Burns roaster which was to revolutionize the coffee-roasting business.

In 1865, John Arbuckle brought out in Pittsburgh the first roasted coffee in individual packages "like peanuts", the forerunner of the Ariosa package.

In 1869, B.G. Arnold started the first big speculation in coffee and for ten years thereafter he was absolute dictator of the American coffee trade.

In 1869, three United States patents on a copper coffee urn lined with block tin were granted to Elie Moneuse and L. Duparquet of New York.

In 1870, John Gulick Baker, one of the founders of the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania, was granted a United States patent on a coffee grinder which subsequently became one of the most popular store mills.

The first trade mark registered for coffee or coffee essence bears the number 425, with date August 22, 1871, first use 1870, and is in the name of Butler, Earhart & Co., Columbus, Ohio. The words "essence of coffee" appeared on the label. The next coffee mark was registered by Butler, Earhart & Co., October 3, 1871, number 455, first use, 1870. It consists of the word "Buckeye" with a branch of the buckeye (horse-chestnut) tree.

The next registration for coffee was in the name of John Ashcroft of Brooklyn. It is numbered 533, and the date is November 28, 1871. It consists of an anchor and chain enclosing a star. Ashcroft registered also a design of a coffee pot with the words "Mocha Steam", January 2, 1872.

Today there are nearly three thousand registered trade-mark names used for coffee on file in the United States Patent Office in Washington.

In 1873, Ariosa, the first successful national brand of package coffee, was launched in Pittsburg by John Arbuckle.

In the same year, 1873, the first United States patent on a coffee substitute was issued to E. Dugdale of Griffin, Ga.

In 1878, Chase & Sanborn, the Boston coffee roasters, were the first to pack and to ship roasted coffee in sealed cans. A lead seal was used for the large packages of bulk coffee; the smaller sizes being sealed by the label, which was made to cover the body of the can and to reach up over the slip cover, so as to make a sealed package, to open which the label must be broken.

In 1878, Jabez Burns, the coffee-machinery man, founded the Spice Mill, the first publication in America devoted to the coffee and spice trades.

In 1879, Charles Halstead brought out the first metal coffee pot with a china interior.

In 1880, Henry E. Smyser, of Philadelphia, invented a package-making-and-filling machine for coffee, the forerunner of the weighing-and-packing machine, the control of which later on by John Arbuckle led to the coffee-sugar war with the Havemeyers. Smyser was superintendent at the plant of the Weikel & Smith Spice Company, Philadelphia. Other patents on weighing and package-making machines were granted him in 1884, 1888, and 1891. In 1892, he began to assign his patents to Arbuckle Brothers, some fifteen in all being granted him from 1892 to 1898. He died in 1899.

The year 1880 was notable for the many failures in the American coffee trade, as a result of syndicate planting and speculative buying of coffees in Brazil, Mexico, and Central America.

In 1881, Steele & Price, of Chicago, were the first to introduce to the trade all-paper cans, made of strawboard, for coffee.

In 1881, the New York Coffee Exchange was incorporated, beginning business the year following at Beaver and Pearl Streets. In 1885, the property of the Exchange was transferred to the Coffee Exchange of the City of New York, incorporated by special charter.

In 1884, the Chicago Liquid Sack Company brought out the first combination paper and tin-end containers for coffee.

The year 1887-88 was marked by a big boom in coffee, the total sales on the Coffee Exchange amounting to 47,868,750 bags. Between July 1886 and June 1887 prices advanced 1,485 points.

In 1888, the Engelberg Huller Company of Syracuse, New York, began the manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery.

In 1891, the New England Automatic Weighing Machine Company, Boston, Mass. began the manufacture of machines to weigh coffee into cartons and other packages; and in 1894, installed in the Chase & Sanborn plant at Boston the first automatic weighing machine in the coffee trade. The New England concern was subsequently (1901) succeeded by the Automatic Weighing Machine Company of Newark, N.J.

In 1893, the first direct-flame gas coffee roaster in America (Tupholme's English machine) was installed by F.T. Holmes at the plant of the Potter-Parlin Company, New York.

In 1893, Cirilo Mingo, of New Orleans, was granted a United States patent on a method of aging green coffee to give it the characteristics of green coffee stored in a confined space for a long period. The operation consisted in placing layers of green coffee between dry and wet empty coffee bags, and permitting the beans to absorb eight to ten percent of the moisture in a period extending from six to sixteen hours. This was one of the earliest efforts to mature and age green coffee in the United States.

In 1894, the business of the Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Norfolk Downs, Mass., had its start in Quincy, Mass. where the first pneumatic weighing machine was installed by the Purity Dried Fruits Cleansing Company. In 1895, the Electric Scale Company was organized to build the machines, the subsequent development of this line of packaging machinery for coffee being directed by the Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Ltd., which succeeded it.

In 1895, Adolph Kraut introduced the German-made grease-proof lined paper bags for coffee to the American coffee trade. That same year, Thomas M. Royal, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture in the United States of a fancy duplex-lined paper bag for coffee.

In 1896, natural gas was first used in the United States as a fuel for roasting coffee.

In 1897, Joseph Lambert, Vermont, first introduced to the coffee trade a self-contained coffee roasting outfit without the brick setting required until then.

In 1897, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania was the first regularly to employ an electric motor to drive a coffee mill.

The overproduction of coffee began to be so serious a question by 1898, that J.D. Olavarria, a distinguished Venzuelan, proposed a plan for the restriction of coffee cultivation and the regulation of coffee exports from countries suffering from overproduction. In this same year, the bears forced Rio 7's down to four and one-half cents on the New York Coffee Exchange.

In 1898, Edward Norton, of New York, was granted a United States patent on a vacuum process for canning foods, subsequently applied to coffee. Others followed. Hills Brothers, of San Francisco, were the first to pack coffee in a vacuum, under the Norton patents, in 1900. M.J. Brandenstein & Company, of San Francisco, began to pack coffee in vacuum cans in 1914. Vacuum sealing machines to pack coffee under the Norton patents are now made by the Perfect Vacuum Canning Company of New York.

About 1899, Dr. Sartori Kato of Tokio, who had invented a soluble tea in Japan, came to Chicago and produced a soluble coffee (introduced to the consumer in 1901) on which he was granted a patent in 1903. In 1906, G. Washington of New York, an American chemist living in Guatemala City, produced a refined soluble coffee which was put on the United States market three years later. The full story of soluble coffee in America is told in chapter XXXI. (See page 538.)

The first gear-driven electric coffee mill was introduced to the trade by the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania in 1900.

In 1901, there appeared in New York the first issue of The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, devoted to the interests of the tea and coffee trades.

In 1900-01, Santos permanently displaced Rio as the world's largest source of supply.

In 1901, the American Can Company began the manufacture and sale of tin coffee cans in the United States. In this year Landers, Frary & Clark's Universal coffee percolator was granted a United States patent; and Joseph Lambert, of Marshall, Mich., brought out one of the earliest machines to employ gas as a fuel for the indirect roasting of coffee. It was in 1901, also, that F.T. Holmes joined the Huntley Manufacturing Company, of Silver Creek, N.Y., which began to build the Monitor gas-fired direct-flame coffee roasters.

In 1902, the Coles Manufacturing Company (Braun Company, successor) and Henry Troemner, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture and sale of gear-driven electric coffee grinders.

As a result of the agitation for some way to deal with the overproduction of coffee, the Pan-American Congress, meeting in Mexico City in 1902, called an international coffee congress for New York in the fall of that same year. It met from October 1 to October 30; but at the close, the problem seemed no nearer solution than at the beginning. In 1906, Brazil produced its record-breaking crop of 20,000,000 bags, and the state of Sao Paulo inaugurated a plan to valorize coffee.

In 1902, the first fancy duplex paper bag made by machinery from a roll of paper was produced by the Union Bag & Paper Corporation. It was of sulphite fiber inside, and glassine outside; a style afterward reversed, so as to have the glassine the inner tube.

In 1902, the Jagenberg Machine Company, Inc. (absorbed by the Pneumatic Scale Corporation in 1921) began the introduction to the trade of the United States of a line of German-made automatic packaging-and-labeling machines for coffee. Subsequently, the Johnson Automatic Sealer Company, Battle Creek, Mich., became well known as manufacturers of a line of automatic adjustable carton-sealing, wax-wrapping machines, package conveyors, and automatic scales. Among other automatic weighers that have figured in the development of the coffee business, mention should be made of The National Packaging Machinery Company's Scott machine, of E.D. Anderson's Triumph, and of Hoepner's Unit System.

In 1903, as a result of overproduction in Brazil, Santos 4's dropped to three and fifty-five hundredths cents on the New York Coffee Exchange, the lowest price ever recorded for coffee.

In 1903, also, there was granted the first United States patent on an electric coffee-roaster, the patentee being George C. Lester of New York.

In 1904, green coffee prices on the New York Coffee Exchange were forced up to eleven and eighty-five hundredths cents by a speculative clique led by D.J. Sully.

In 1905, the A.J. Deer Co., Buffalo, N. Y. (now of Hornell, N.Y.) began the sale of its Royal electric coffee mills direct to dealers on the instalment plan, revolutionizing the former practise of selling coffee mills through hardware jobbers.

In 1905, F.A. Cauchois introduced to the trade his Private Estate coffee maker, a filtration device employing Japanese filter paper. Finley Acker, of Philadelphia, obtained a patent the same year on a side-perforation percolator employing "porous or bibulous paper" as a filtering medium.

In 1906, H.D. Kelly, of Kansas City, was granted a United States patent on an urn coffee machine employing a coffee extractor in which the ground coffee was continually agitated before percolation by a vacuum process.

In 1907, P.E. Edtbauer (Mrs. E. Edtbauer), of Chicago, was granted a United States patent on a duplex automatic weighing machine, the first simple, fast, accurate and moderate-priced machine for weighing coffee. Eight others followed up to 1920.

In 1907, the new Pure Food and Drugs Act came into force in the United States, making it obligatory to label all coffees correctly and causing many trade practises to be altered or thrown into the discard. The most important rulings that followed are referred to in more detail in chapter XXIII, telling how green coffees are bought and sold.

In 1908, the Porto Rico coffee planters, presented a memorial to the Congress asking for a protective tariff of six cents a pound on all foreign coffees. Hawaii and the Philippines, also were to have benefited by the protection asked for. The Congress failed to grant the planters' prayer. This appeal for protection was repeated in 1921, when the Congress was asked to place a duty of five cents a pound on all foreign coffees.

In 1908, J.C. Prims, of Battle Creek, Mich. was granted a United States patent on a corrugated cylinder improvement for a gas and coal coffee roaster of fifty to one hundred and thirty pounds capacity designed for retail stores. This machine was acquired the year following by the A.J. Deer Company, and was re-introduced to the trade as the Royal roaster.

In 1908, Brazil's valorization-of-coffee enterprise was saved from disaster by a combination of bankers and the Brazil Government. A loan of $75,000,000 was placed, through Hermann Sielcken of New York, with banking houses in England, Germany, France, Belgium, and America. The complete story of this undertaking is told in chapter XXXI.

In 1909, Ludwig Roselius brought to America from Germany the caffein-free coffee which for several years had been manufactured and sold in Bremen under the Myer, Roselius, and Wimmer patent. In 1910, the product was first sold here by Merck & Company under the name of Dekafa, later Dekofa, and in 1914, by the Kaffee Hag Corporation as Kaffee Hag.

In 1911 all-fiber parchment-lined Damptite cans for coffee were introduced to the trade by the American Can Company.

As a result of preliminary meetings of Mississippi Valley coffee roasters held in St. Louis in May and June, 1911, when the Coffee Roasters Traffic and Pure Food Association was organized, a national association under the same name was started in Chicago, November 16-17, 1911. The complete story of the growth of this most important coffee trade organization in the United States is told in the next chapter.

In 1912, the United States government, after having examined into the valorization enterprise, brought suit against Hermann Sielcken, et al., to force the sale of valorized coffee stocks held in this country under the valorization agreement.

In October, 1914, the first national coffee week to advertise coffee was promoted by the National Coffee Roasters Association.

Merchants Coffee House Memorial

On May 23, 1914, the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association unveiled a bronze memorial tablet set in the wall of the nine-story office building occupied by the Federal Refining Company on the southeast corner of Wall and Water Streets, the former site of the Merchants' coffee house. This is the building where The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal had its offices for nine years before moving to 79 Wall Street.

Seth Low, introduced by William Bayne, Jr., president of the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association, gave an interesting sketch of the history of the coffee house. Abram Wakeman, secretary of the association, spoke, followed by Wilberforce Eames, of the American history division of the New York Public Library.

After the flag that veiled the memorial tablet had been drawn aside, attention was called to a bronze chest which was hermetically sealed, and in which had been placed papers and other documents reflecting the life of New York today. The chest was given over to the keeping of the New York Historical Society, with the understanding that it was not to be opened until 1974, which will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the union of the Colonies.

It was from the Merchants' coffee house that the letter of May 23, 1774, was written in reply to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston. The letter suggested a "Congress of Deputies" from the Colonies, and called for a "virtuous and spirited Union." The coffee house is consequently regarded as the birthplace of the Union.

Recent Activities

A second national coffee week was held in October, 1915, under the auspices of the National Coffee Roasters' Association.

In 1916, the Coffee Exchange of the City of New York changed its name to the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, to admit of sugar trading.

In 1916, the National Paper Can Company of Milwaukee first introduced to the trade its new hermetically sealed all-paper can for coffee.

In 1916, Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., was granted two United States patents on cutting rolls to cut and not grind or crush corn, wheat, or coffee. This idea was incorporated in the Ideal steel cut coffee mill subsequently marketed by the B.F. Gump Company, Chicago.

In 1918, the World War caused the United States government to place coffee importers, brokers, jobbers, roasters, and wholesalers under a war-time licensing system to control imports and prices.

In 1918, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on an irregular grind of coffee consisting of coarsely grinding ten percent of the product and finely grinding ninety percent.

The most notable event of the year 1919 was the inauguration by the Brazil planters, in co-operation with an American joint coffee trade publicity committee, of the million-dollar campaign to advertise coffee in the United States.

In 1919, as a result of frost damage, and of an orgy of speculation in Brazil, prices for green coffee on the New York Exchange were forced to the highest levels since 1870; and a new high record was established for futures, twenty-four and sixty-five hundredths cents for July contracts.

In 1919, Floyd W. Robison, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on a process for aging green coffee by treating it with micro-organisms, the product being known as Cultured coffee.

In the spring of 1920, there was held the third national coffee week, this time under the auspices of the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee.