Jane Parker fruit cakes re-enter national market

Jane Parker once symbolized premium-quality baked goods, sold exclusively at A&P supermarkets across America. The Jane Parker label began “retiring” in the 1980s and ’90s, however, long before A&P drew its last breath in 2015.

 

Usage of the Jane Parker brand was acquired at auction in 2017 by brothers Chris and Alex Ronacher, owners and operators of an online candy sales business in New York City, located in the Borough of Queens. 

The Ronachers formed Jane Parker Baked Goods LLC and are taking it one step at a time to build an online presence for the new Jane Parker. Their first products out of the chute were the traditional Jane Parker fruit cakes, made from the original A&P recipe.

 

Garland Pollard, publisher/editor of BrandlandUSA, said that A&P’s Jane Parker fruit cakes, introduced in the 1930s, “were beloved and packed, far more than others, with fruit and nuts.” Non-cake ingredients included raisins, orange peel, red cherries, glazed pineapple, tangy citron and pecans.

Pollard estimated that the re-launch of the Jane Parker brand cost “less than $100,000, a bargain for such an iconic piece of American food history.”

“The cakes were so important to the overall image of A&P that they were advertised as specialty products in magazines. They echoed the spice trade and clipper ship image of A&P, which was once the nation’s largest grocer,” Pollard said.

The advertising copy read: “Sugar ‘n spice, ‘n’ everything nice! – that’s what Jane Parker Fruit Cakes are made of! No place is too far to go, no price too high to pay for the rare fruits, nuts, sugars and spices that make Jane Parker Fruit Cakes such festive favorites…such a welcome addition to the Holiday menu.”

 

Back in 2009, Pollard reminded his readers that A&P had actually reintroduced its Jane Parker fruit cakes as part of the company’s 150th anniversary observance. 

“The cake’s last sales were in 2014,” he said, and they were mainly marketed by online outlets, since there were fewer than 300 A&P stores that were still standing when the company shut down in 2015. 

Lori Fogg, a food writer living in Johnstown, Pa., has sampled the new Jane Parker fruit cakes. She said they are “perfect for those who enjoy a walk down memory lane and a moist, tender, enjoyable fruit cake.” 

Pollard suggested that other entrepreneurs might want to sift through the collection of other A&P store brands that were “thrown out like week-old fish.” 

Most notable of the A&P graveyard brands is probably “Ann Page.” 

She was purely fictional, like Jane Parker, but you could find her just about everywhere in the A&P store – on countless items including spices, peanut butter, jellies and jams, condiments, mayonnaise, salad dressing, pasta and noodles and baked beans.

 

But there were also many more A&P store brands, and Pollard has rounded up an extensive list. Here goes: 

“Red Circle Coffee, Sail cleaners and detergents, Sultana cocoa, Cap’n John’s seafood items, Sparkle gelatin, Cheeri-Aid drink packets, White House evaporated milk, Our Own and Nectar teabags, Ahoy liquid dishwashing detergent, Yukon Club beverages, Iona canned fruits and vegetables, Worthmore candies, Crestview small/medium eggs, Wildmere large eggs, Sunnybrook extra large eggs and butter, Sunnyfield pancake mix and flour, Penguin ice cream, Marvel bread and ice cream, Allgood bacon, Dexo shortening, Dexola vegetable oil, Nutley margarine and Super Right meats.”

 

Do any of these product names tickle your fancy? They might be available almost “just for the asking.”