Accession GA163 - Dare Foods Limited fonds.

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Dare Foods Limited fonds.

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  • Source of title proper: Title from content of the fonds.

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Accession

Reference code

SCA188-GA163

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Physical description

12.1 m of textual records and other material.

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Name of creator

(1889-Present)

Administrative history

Dare Foods Limited is a family-owned business based in Kitchener, Ontario. It manufactures cookies, crackers, candies and fine breads at its seven plants in Ontario, Quebec and South Carolina. Dare candies are made in Toronto and Milton, Ontario.

In 1889, Charles H. Doerr opened a grocery store on the corner of Breithaupt and Gzowski (now Weber) Streets in Berlin (now Kitchener, Ontario) that by 1892 had become a biscuit-manufacturing operation. In 1919 a larger bakery was built in Kitchener to replace the original plant and at the same time a line of candies was added. In 1942 the Kitchener plant was destroyed by a fire and in 1943 a smaller wartime replacement was constructed on a former flying field on the outskirts of Kitchener. A new office building was constructed in Kitchener in 1952. In 2003 a new Kitchener office building was constructed to preserve and highlight the original 1952 yellow-brick structure.

The company now known as Dare Foods Limited was originally known as the C.H. Doerr Co. When Charles H. Doerr died in 1941 his grandson, Carl M. Doerr, became President of the company and began an expansion program that introduced Dare products in more than 40 countries. In 1945 the company and family name was changed from “Doerr” to “Dare” creating The Dare Company, Limited, later renamed Dare Foods Limited. With the help of his sons Bryan and Graham, Carl Dare continued to guide Dare Foods Ltd. until 2002. In Nov. 2002 Fred Jacques was appointed as President, the first non-family member to head the company in 111 years. Bryan and Graham Dare remain co-chairmen of the company’s Board of Directors.

The business history of Dare Foods is complex: it has formed, acquired, merged and dissolved other companies and its own divisions over the years. One of Carl M. Doerr’s first expansion acquisitions was The Howe Candy Company in Hamilton, Ontario. Other acquisitions include Saratoga Products, St. Jacobs Canning Company, Mother Dell’s Bakeries, Dairy Maid Chocolates, Bremner Biscuit Co., Saputo/Culinar CFS.

In 1960 a sales office was opened in Montreal, establishing Les Aliments Dare Limitée, Dare’s selling and distributing organization in the Province of Quebec. The Western Division was established in 1962 with the opening of a bakery and sales office in North Surrey, Vancouver, B.C., serving British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

In 1954 The Dare Company, Limited was the first Canadian cookie company to use the new recloseable tin tie packages that had been used successfully in the coffee industry and which have become standard packaging in the cookie industry in Canada.

Custodial history

Scope and content

Fonds consists of records generated in the course of business by Dare Foods Limited and its subsidiary companies. It includes financial statements; account books; minutes; correspondence; letters patent; legal records; share registers; biscuit, cracker and candy formulas; architectural drawings; biscuit, cracker and candy packaging samples; price lists; photographs; television, radio and print advertisements; publications; artifacts; manuals; the records of J.R. Worthington; internal newsletters; and newspaper clippings. Fonds also contains the records of The Almer Company Limited and Sunbeam Shoes, companies acquired privately by Carl Dare.

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Physical condition

Includes 4.5 m of textual records; 1892 photographs; 4 maps; 6 architectural drawings; 22 technical drawings; 1 plan; 11 film reels; 8 audio reels; 5 audio discs; 18 audio cassettes; 66 videocassettes; 1 CD-ROM; 22 artifacts.

Immediate source of acquisition

Acquired from Dare Foods Limited and the Dare family in 2004.

Arrangement

Fonds is divided into 46 series.

  • 1. Day Books and Payroll Journal
  • 2. Minutes and Certificate of Shares
  • 3. Financial Statements
  • 4. Accounting Records
  • 5. Legal Records
  • 6. The Howe Candy Company Limited
  • 7. J.R. Worthington
  • 8. Dare Foods (Canning Division) Limited
  • 9. Major Foods Limited
  • 10. Dare Foods (Potato Chip Division) Limited
  • 11. Dare Archway Franchise
  • 12. The Almer Company Limited
  • 13. Mother Dell's Bakeries Limited
  • 14. Dairy Maid Chocolates Limited
  • 15. Scrapbook
  • 16. Western Division
  • 17. Biscuit Division
  • 18. Magazines and Advertising
  • 19. Dare Foods Limited Manuals
  • 20. Sunbeam Shoes Limited
  • 21. Packaging
  • 22. Product Photographs and Packaging
  • 23. Sales Department Records
  • 24. National Sales Meeting 1989
  • 25. Promotional Display Contests
  • 26. Radio Advertisements
  • 27. Television Advertisements
  • 28. Price Pages and Lists
  • 29. Old Price Pages
  • 30. Product Information Sheets
  • 31. Photographs
  • 32. Moving Images and Sound Recordings
  • 33. Signs
  • 34. Artifacts
  • 35. Centennial Celebrations
  • 36. Builders and Boosters
  • 37. Quebec National Meeting
  • 38. Dare Cookie News
  • 39. Dare Candy News
  • 40. Newspaper Clippings
  • 41. The Dare Story
  • 42. Candy Division
  • 43. Ingredient Listings
  • 44. Big V Drug Stores Anniversary Books
  • 45. Share Transfers
  • 46. Southland Plant

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Description by Charlotte Woodley, 2004-2005.

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