History of The Great American Tea Company
The Great American Tea Company was established in October of 1856 at 31 & 33 Vesey Street in New York City, near the World Trade Center. By the 1930’s the company had moved to 102 Warren Street, also in New York City, and had 35 branches, one of which was located at 332 W. Main Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Great American was a national distributor of high quality tea, coffee, and grocery products. The company sought to provide these products at the lowest possible prices. Great American had no advertising expense, and because of this, customers could receive “ad goods” of their own selection. These ad goods, or premiums, were paid for through credits given to customers with their purchases.
One of the early premiums offered in the late 1800’s, was a 13 piece toilet set. Customers could choose either the “Gold Band Moss Rose” or “Maroon Band and Gold” decorations when placing an order for $30 worth of teas and coffees. A trade card from that time states:
“We take pleasure in informing our numerous customers and friends that we have just received from the manufacturers a large lot of very fine Toilet Sets made expressly for us. These Sets are the very finest made and are decorated in the very highest style of the art, in fact, we will not attempt to describe them, and they have only to be seen to be appreciated. We guarantee you will never regret sending a $30 order to secure one of these elegant Sets.
“Now’s your time to send in your $30 orders and secure one of the Beautiful Toilet Sets”
“Be particular to state whether you want the ‘Gold Band Moss Rose’ or Maroon Band and Gold’ Toilet Set.”
One of the famous brand coffees Great American distributed in the late 1800’s was the Somoja special blend. It was touted as a breakfast coffee and stated as a “rare treat.” It was packed in “absolute air-tight, trademark bags,” which were supposed to “preserve the strength and flavor for any length of time.”
During the early years, as most tea companies did, Great American imported its stock from the Far East, receiving teas and coffees by steamers and rail. Their customers knew the Great American Tea Company as the Grand Reliable Old Tea House, which had by then become a byword among the tea and coffee drinking community in every household in the land.
Great American prided itself that in order to give their customers the full benefit of their large capital and long experience in the business; they would give them goods at prices that were not weighed down by the half-dozen profits of middlemen.
Some of the teas available in the early years were Oolongs, Japans, English Breakfast, Y’ng Hysons, Imperials, Gunpowders, and Mixed. Great American rated its teas and coffees with the following price scale: “Good” coffee ran 16 cents and 18 cents a pound; “Delicious” coffees were 20 and 25 cents a pound; “Good” teas were 30 and 35 cents a pound; and “Excellent” teas were 40 and 50 cents a pound.
In the 1930’s, The Great American Tea Company produced a monthly newsletter for its customers titled “Test Kitchen News.” Each issue of the newsletter included an article by Grace King, Great American’s Home Service Director, and a collection of recipes and dinner menus. King’s articles would introduce new products being offered, provide cooking and household tips, announce recipe contests, and let customers know about new premiums being offered.
In November of 1934, Great American held a contest to name their newest product. The contest committee announced the winner of the New Name Contest was Mrs. T. C. Jennings of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. She won a $50 cash prize. The Golden Key Sandwich Filling, which was Great American’s newest product, was now called Golden Key Ever Readynaise, which they thought was a “very excellent, descriptive name for its many uses in sandwiches and salads.”
In September of 1934, Great American began the celebration of its 75th anniversary. To commemorate the anniversary, the company offered a seven piece dessert set with a $3 order of merchandise. A half dozen bread and butter plates were offered with a $2 order. This was a milk glass set, and all the customer needed to do was ask their service salesman for a coupon.
Tow dinnerware patterns that were given as premiums by the Great American Tea Company were Orange Poppy and Wildfire, produced by the Hall China Company of East Liverpool, Ohio. Great American commissioned Hall to produce these pieces to generate a premium that was attractive and pleasing to its customers. Credits were given for amounts of good purchased, and customers could select pieces to sets that were offered during weekly visits.
The first pattern commissioned by Great American was Orange Poppy. Production began in 1933 and continued until 1940, although Orange Poppy remained in open stock until 1953. Great American introduced its second premium patter, Wildfire, in 1940. This set was the replacement dinnerware service for the Orange Poppy pattern. Production of Wildfire continued through the 1950’s. Both sets utilized different Hall dinnerware blank styles. Orange Poppy was produced on Hall’s C-style dinnerware, although a few pieces of the D-style show up from time to time with this decal. Wildfire was produced exclusively on Hall’s D-style dinnerware. Accessory pieces to these two sets shared some commonality. Both sets utilized the S-lid shaped coffee pot, the Boston and Streamline teapots (though there are only a couple of Wildfire Streamline teapots known to exist), the French fluted baker, salad bowl, cake plate, handled shakers, Radiance jug, and pie baker. Other items were exclusive to each pattern, and Wildfire was a smaller service than Orange Poppy.
Tin ware was waning as a useful item during the years Wildfire was being produced, which accounts for the lack of accessory tin pieces available. In Wildfire, the two tin items known to be produced were the coffee dispenser and the round canister set. Orange Poppy, on the other hand, was being produced during the height of the tin ware fashion. Bread box, cake saver, oval tray, canister sets (round and square), round shakers, match safe, step-on trash can, soap flake dispenser, coffee dispenser, and sifter can all be found with the Orange Poppy decal. These items were commissioned through various metal ware companies, such as Club Aluminum, Continental Can, Enterprise Aluminum, Ohio Art Company, and Decoware. These tin items were also offered as premium through Great American along with the china items during the production of the dinnerware and kitchenware. The tin ware in Orange Poppy was available beginning in 1935. Each month a different piece was offered to Great American’s route customers.
Great American Tea Company was founded as an importer of teas, coffees, and spices and grew over the years to include grocery, household items, bake ware, cookware, and personal hygiene items. It is surmised that Great American was most likely bought out by one of the larger grocery chains sometime in the 1960’s, as many independent companies were during that time frame. It became harder to compete with chain stores that had locations in most towns as well as convenient in-store shopping that started to become the trend during the 1960’s. This era was the beginning of the mall shopping that housewives found easier to work with their lifestyle as more and more women began to enter the work force. Route goods sales had become a thing of the past, and thus the end of the personal, one-on-one customer/business relationship.
History compiled November, 1999
Steve Cagle & Dave Periord