Finding Out What Happened In 1882

It says it on every Breakstone's product.  Established 1882.

And it's a point of considerable bragging.  Kraft has said, "In 1882, two Lithuanian brothers, Joseph and Isaac Breakstone, opened a small dairy on New York's lower east side. Consistently delivering high quality, pure dairy products, their business prospered and expanded."  

That text is gone now from the Breakstone's website, but continues to be quoted in places like this and this.

Kraft hasn't exactly abandoned the claim.  Recently (in terms of the history of the product), Kraft employed Landor and Associates, a large brand consulting and design firm, to "help reestablish Breakstone’s as the market leader and reconnect the brand with its consumers."

Now, the very existence of Landor and Associates is a little bit unnerving.  Read this quote from their website while listening to this:  

It used to be: Build products first, build brands later. Our strategy is just the opposite: Start with your brand promise. Lead with it. Turn your brand into the driver of your business, not just another way of packaging it.

In fairness, Landor isn't the cause of the problem.  They're right when they observe, "In the escalating din of global choice and competition, brands are the most effective way of cutting through the racket to reach people's hearts and minds."  It's not the most honest way; it is, however, the most effective.


Landor's philosophy led it to emphasize a few particular Breakstone claims.  One that stands out:  heritage.  They cleaned up the Breakstone's containers.

A design for packaging was also created, inspired by the idea of a classic steakhouse with its heritage and esteemed reputation. Landor used red, a strong equity for Breakstone’s, as the hero, and removed all ribbons and flourishes from the previous design. 

The result was that two words grew in importance on the Breakstone's label:  Established 1882.


Incidentally, one might note that Kraft claims that Jacob and Isaac Breakstone founded the brand - not Sam Breakstone, just Jacob and Isaac.  But this article isn't about who.  It's about when.


When was Breakstone's established?  According to this exhaustively researched geneology by Rabbi Jeffrey Marx, it wasn't 1882.


Census, immigration, naturalization and marriage records, as well as business listings in New York and family histories show that Joseph came to the US sometime between 1878 and 1882.  The first record of him is his 1884 marriage certificate.  A little more is known about Isaac.  Most records agree that he came from Lithuania in 1882.  A family story states that Joe "met him at the pier."


Did Isaac hop off the boat and open a dairy with Joseph?  Records show a more circuitous route into the business.  Joesph was a peddler and set Isaac up peddling picture frames, and possibly Christian religious pictures.  Between 1882 and 1884, the brothers may have lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  A Joseph and Isaac Breckstein were listed as peddlers there.  By 1884, both men appear to be back in New York City (having, I imaging beaten Michael Scott's great-great grandfather out of a job with corporate).


In 1885, Joseph opens a grocery store at 27 Orchard Street in Manhattan.  Here it is today..  This is probably the first time Joe is involved at all with dairy, but Isaac continues to peddle dry goods.  In 1888, Isaac begins selling milk and dairy.  By 1889, Joseph has a store on Division Street in Manhattan.  Isaac opens a store at 602 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.  Here's the area just down the block today:

Johnny thought, `This place sure has changed in 120 years.

By 1896, all manner of Breakstone relatives are selling dairy all over the city.  It`s just that none of them are doing it together.  Joseph has a milk business on Division Street.  Isaac closes his Brooklyn store.  A cousin, Morris, had his own dairy store.  Another cousin, Hyman, sells dairy and eggs at yet another store.


It is only in 1897 that Joseph and Isaac, with the help of Morris, establish Breakstone Bros.  It is a general     grocery with some dairy products.  They apply to trademark their name in 1906.


But the records seem to state that there was no establishment by the Breakstone brothers of anything in 1882, except that they probably established that they enjoyed America a whole lot better than Lithuania.


Is the claim on the Breakstone`s label a lie?  I don't know exactly.  Something may have been established in 1882.  But the most exhaustive account says that nothing was.  One letter by a Breakstone relative mentions 1882 as the start of the business, but government records make that claim very unlikely. 


As a side note, if you tell the Federal Trade Commission about this, Kraft will basically have to change their packaging.  Oh, they'll get lawyers involved.  They'll make quite a lot of noise.

Yeah, we're bad-ass.

But they will change the packaging.  They'll have no choice.  The FTC will eventually force them.  And the world might get a step closer to hearing the truth about our food.. 

Look at them.  They are totally getting ready to weigh that duck ... or whatever it is.

None of this makes Breakstone's taste any different.  It doesn't affect the quality of the products in any way at all.  Yet it does subtly alter the public's assumptions about the product.  No longer would people think to themselves that, when they buy Breakstone's, they're buying the care and craftsmanship people showed in 1882.

But is there any reason for people to think that at all?  Is there any evidence that 1882 was a better year for care and craftsmanship than 1982?  Is there any reason why a local dairy producer's products are necessarily superior to a national producer?  Breakstone's was not established in 1882.  Kraft shouldn't say it was.  And, most importantly, consumers shouldn't care.