Sour economics ends Nutty Club’s sweet Winnipeg history
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2023 (962 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
No ifs and buts… it’s the end for Winnipeg’s famous brand of candies and nuts, and it won’t be a very merry Christmas for the people working at Nutty Club.
Scott-Bathgate, the 120-year-old east Exchange District confectionery manufacturer and distributor of the instantly recognizable Can-D-Man logoed Nutty Club products, announced Wednesday it will wind down its operations in an “orderly and controlled manner” by the end of January.
“The competitive environment has evolved to the point where the company can no longer sustainably operate the business without significant investments to increase its scale and scope, to compete with national distributors,” reads a statement released Wednesday evening.
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Scott-Bathgate, the Exchange District confectionery manufacturer of Can-D-Man logoed Nutty Club products announced it will wind down operations by the end of January.
Employees have been given notice and offers of severance based on their years of service, and vendors are being notified, the statement added.
Scott-Bathgate plans to work through its inventory and “fill as many customer orders as possible over the coming weeks.”
In an online post, Chief Will-Yum Gas Bar, a company based in Williams Lake, B.C., told customers it had received its final shipment of Nutty Club candy earlier in December.
“Come on out to the store while supplies last,” the post read.
Quinton Pinchbeck, the gas bar’s manager, said he’d placed his last order after hearing from a sales representative that Nutty Club would be ceasing production.
“In a nostalgia way, it’s kind of sad,” Pinchbeck said. “It’s one of those things you remember from when you were a kid.”
And memory-laden pink popcorn and candy-coated peanuts were in Pinchbeck’s last order, but he couldn’t get other items, including some of Nutty Club’s specialty mints.
“Whatever is… left in stock is what’s available to be purchased,” he said. “That’s my understanding.”
Several retailers the Free Press spoke to Wednesday, including managers at Food Fare and Co-op in Winnipeg who recently received their usual orders, weren’t aware the company was shutting down.
“I’m not really that surprised, but it is very sad,” said Shelley Patterson, owner of Regina-based Dessart Sweets.
The ice cream and candy shop has sold Nutty Club products for years. Over time, fewer items were available, and their cost increased, Patterson said.
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Scott-Bathgate’s designated historic building at 149 Pioneer Ave.
She still gets customers asking for “midget mix,” she added, referring to the multi-flavoured, sugar-coated jellies.
“Nutty Club is one of those iconic Winnipeg brands,” said local historian Christian Cassidy. “It’s kind of that old-fashioned candy that you can’t really buy anymore.”
Nutty Club and Scott-Bathgate are remnants of a once-booming candy manufacturing industry in the city, Cassidy said.
Cavalier Candies and Mordens’ of Winnipeg continue to produce their popular treats, but Galpern Candy ceased operations in 1973 after 66 years in business, and Progress Candy, founded in 1933, changed its name in 2000 and closed sometime after.
Centralization of candy production took some businesses out of Winnipeg, Cassidy said.
“Just kind of one by one, they all kind of fell by the wayside,” he said.
Nutty Club’s red-and-white peppermint stick mascot, the Can-D-Man, is featured prominently on snack bags and Scott-Bathgate’s designated historic building at 149 Pioneer Ave.
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“I think there’s a lot of goodwill towards the Nutty Club,” Cassidy said, adding the brand reminds him of childhood road trips, passing around bags of candy in the back seat.
“It’s the type of candies that parents would like and kids would like,” he said. “They’re not really the candy of today — (that’s) more chocolate bars and Skittles.”
The end of the Nutty Club brand is sad, Cassidy added. It’s the loss of a well-established brand and of local jobs, he noted.
Businessmen A.E. Scott and James Loughrin Bathgate founded Scott-Bathgate Ltd. in 1903 in Winnipeg. The pair were southern Ontarians with backgrounds in wholesale firm management who had recently moved to Manitoba, and their partnership began as a commission agency marketing sweet treats out of office space on Princess Street.
Two years later, they would purchase the five-story brick-and-stone warehouse at 149 Pioneer, and doubled its size through renovations in 1907. In 1917, the building was heavily damaged by fire but repaired quickly.
It wasn’t until the 1930s when the company began packaging retail products and the Nutty Club brand was born, complete with the signage on the landmark building still visible today.
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Nutty Club’s red-and-white peppermint stick mascot, the Can-D-Man, is featured prominently on snack bags and Scott-Bathgate’s building.
With the Nutty Club came the “Food Club” line of grocery products — Manitobans may fondly remember the red-and-white stripe design on everything from smoked oysters to food colouring.
Getting into the candy business proved lucrative, and over the decades, Scott-Bathgate purchased 130 and 132 Portage Ave. East and 80 Lombard Ave. The company purchased 130 Galt Ave. (the former T. Eaton’s Company Warehouse) in the late 1960s, and it has remained the hub for roasting nuts and packaging candy since.
There are now Scott-Bathgate warehouses in Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Delta, B.C., and product is sold directly to stores from B.C. to Ontario. The company also serves as a manufacturing agent for other brands, including Walkers Toffee and Simpkins.
The Pioneer Avenue Nutty Club warehouse (formally named the Scott-Bathgate Building) was added to Winnipeg’s historical buildings list in 2017.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
malak.abas@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabby is a big fan of people, writing and learning. She joined the Free Press business beat in 2021.
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020.
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