Farewell, Nutty Club

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

Rumours have been swirling for the past few days that Scott-Bathgate (Nutty Club) is shutting down and the Free Press now confirms that employees have been told that operations will cease at the end of January. Another iconic Winnipeg brand will disappear from the retail landscape.

Nutty Club is a brand name, the corporation behind it that is shutting down is Scott-Bathgate Ltd.. Here's a look back at its 120-year history.

Canadian Grocer magazine, April 1920

Scott-Bathgate was formed in 1903 as Scott-Bathgate and Co., brokers and commissioned agents. It was a partnership between long-time salesmen James L. Bathgate and Albert E. Scott. Several members of the Bathgate family worked there as well.

As commissioned agents, the company did not manufacture products of its own. Instead, it was contracted by manufacturers to sell their product lines in Western Canada. At one point, the list of products represented ranged from rat poison and cleaning cloths to jams and canned pies. One of the longest associated product lines was that of McCormick's Ltd., a biscuit and confectionery manufacturer based in London, Ontario.

March 27, 1943, Winnipeg Tribune

Scott and Bathgate hired architect J. H. G. Russell to design a new head office and warehouse building on Pioneer Avenue that is familiar today for its Nutty Club logos. It contains the corporate offices, a showroom floor to display product samples, and warehouse / packaging space.

Interestingly, the building was constructed in two identical halves. The first was constructed in 1905 and the second in 1907. The only hint that the structure was built this way is to look at the centre of the building to see the extra space between the window columns.

This wasn't uncommon for buildings to be built in stages, many around the Exchange District have had additional floors or adjacent buildings added to them over time. The fact that Scott-Bathgate built its expansion just two years after the original building opened indicates how successful the young company was.

The company grew even larger in 1912 when it incorporated to become the Scott-Bathgatge Company Ltd. with Scott as president, Bathgate as vice president, and dozens of salesmen who travelled the west.

K. Elder Collection, Winnipeg Firefighters Museum

The company was almost put out of business in February 1917 when a spectacular fire gutted its building. It caused $200,000 in damage, took 4.25 million gallons of water to put out, and was the first test of the fire department's new gasoline-powered water pumper. Four firefighters nearly lost their lives then the fourth floor of the building collapsed beneath them. They were found alive but badly bruised.

Rumours began to swirl about the nature of the fire.

The building was so large that the company leased out the unused portion of its warehouse to Owl Metal Company and the fire started in that portion of the building. During the war, Owl had a contract to make components for munitions and some speculated that "enemy agents" started the blaze to stop production. A subsequent inquest confirmed that it was likely sparks from the cargo elevator motor that ignited nearby debris.

October 4, 1953, Winnipeg Tribune

The man credited for making Scott-Bathgate a regional powerhouse is Joseph K. May.

May joined the company as a salesman in 1920. When Scott retired in 1932, he became vice president under Bathgate. Two years later, Bathgate left and he became president. In 1937, May bought a controlling interest in the company and decided to keep the Scott-Bathgate name.

In the early 1930s, spearheaded by May, Scott-Bathgate expanded its presence in the West by opening  four regional warehouses in Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. By the 1940s, it had sales offices in 23 different cities and towns.

May took great interest in mentoring his staff. He noted in a 1953 Tribune interview that the four branch managers and all of its company executives had started working for the firm before they were 19 years of age.

May also gave staff a greater stake in the company by selling them shares. By the 1940s, the company's 39 employees owned 70% of the company, including May's stenographer and four other women. A 1948 Tribune article noted that the head office was friendly and easy-going, "But it is underlined with the pride of possession and an alert and attentive attitude to promotion and goodwill" .

October 23, 1953, Winnipeg Tribune

The Nutty Club brand was introduced in the mid-1930s, around the same time May was leading the company's Western expansion. The name may have been based on the Nutty Club, a popular two-hour musical radio program produced in Chicago and carried on Winnipeg radio stations in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

As Scott-Bathgate was a wholesaler, not a retailer, it did not advertise Nutty Club directly to the public. The first mention of Nutty Club products being sold by a retailer come in January 1935 with the HBC grocery store listing packages of Nutty Club marshmallows.
 
A 1943 "advertorial"  celebrating the company's 40th anniversary noted that Nutty Club consisted of  candies and nuts (packaged in cellophane bags to keep them fresh), fruit cordial drinks, fountain syrups, crispy corn, popcorn, trimettes, and cake decorations. They also made Dan Dee brand pickles and plant seeds. Soon, the Food Club brand would be introduced with its mustards, dipping sauces, and pancake syrup.

Scott-Bathgate building in 1962, (U of M Archives, Winnipeg Building Index)

Joseph May died in 1971 while still president of Scott-Bathgate and by that time the glory days of Nutty Club were coming to an end.

There were a variety of reasons, including centralization within food manufacturing industry into national and international conglomerates that made Nutty Club a small, regional player. Also, its old-fashioned British-style candies in their clear bags may have seemed old fashioned to a new generation more familiar with American candy bars and snack foods.

A 1975 Tribune article about the candy industry in Winnipeg listed several local candy companies still in operation, including Cavalier, Morden's, and Progress Candy, that churned out millions of pounds of candies and chocolates per year. Large cookie manufacturers such as McCormicks and Paulins also had candy or chocolate bar production lines of their own.

The article noted that Nutty Club was not a candy manufacturer but a packager of candies it purchased in bulk from local candy companies.

By the early 2000s, Scott-Bathgate centralized its operations in the old Eaton's railside warehouse on Galt Avenue and in 2023 still lists sales branches in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Regina. It has continued to represent outside product lines like Walker's Toffee.

Nutty Club still packages a variety of candies, nuts, and baking decorations that are usually found at independent or small chain stores. Food Club products include mustard and dipping sauces.

The statement released by the company in December 2023 reads in part: “...the company can no longer sustainably operate the business without significant investments to increase its scale and scope, to compete with national distributors.”

Farewell, Nutty Club.

Related:
- For a great insight into the history of Canadian snack foods and candies, including Scott-Bathgate and other local producers, see Snacks: A Canadian Food History by Janis Thiessen.
- City of Winnipeg historic buildings report on the Scott-Bathgate Building, 149 Pioneer Avenue