Welch's

Welch's

Type	Subsidiary of National Grape Cooperative Association
Industry	Beverages and Foods
Founded	1869 Vineland, New Jersey
Founder(s)	Thomas Bramwell Welch
Headquarters	Concord, Massachusetts
Products	Grape juice Grape soda Jams Jellies Fruit snacks Niagara Grape juice Strawberry soda
Parent	National Grape Cooperative Association Dr Pepper Snapple Group (soda) Promotion in Motion, Inc. (fruit snacks)
Website	Welchs.com

Welch Foods Inc. (Welch's) is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It is owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers.

Founded in Vineland, New Jersey in 1869, by Thomas Bramwell Welch, a Methodist, Welch's is the food processing and marketing arm of the National Grape Cooperative Association, which comprises 1,300 grape growers located in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Ontario, Canada. The oldest extant structure associated with the company is Welch Factory Building No. 1, located at Westfield, New York, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Welch's is particularly known for its grape juices, jams and jellies made from dark Concord grapes and its white Niagara grape juice. The company also manufactures and markets an array of other products, including refrigerated juices, frozen and shelf-stable concentrates, organic grape juice and dried fruit. Welch's has also licensed its name for a line of grape-flavored soft drinks since 1974. Welch's grape and strawberry soda flavors are currently licensed to the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Other popular products that use the Welch's name are the fruit snacks made by The Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc.

In the 1960s, Welch's was a major sponsor of the ABC primetime animated comedy series The Flintstones; its characters were prominently featured in Welch's TV commercials on that show, and on jars of Welch's grape jelly. In the early 1970s, The Archies cartoon characters were on the jars.

Welch's Grape Juice

The method of pasteurizing grape juice to halt the fermentation has been attributed to an American physician and dentist, Thomas Bramwell Welch in 1869. A strong supporter of the temperance movement, he produced a non-alcoholic wine to be used for church services in his hometown of Vineland, New Jersey. His fellow parishioners continued to prefer and use regular wine. His son, Charles E. Welch, who was also a dentist, eventually gave up his practice to promote grape juice. In 1893 he founded Welch's Grape Juice Company at Westfield, New York. The product was given to visitors at international exhibitions. The oldest extant structure associated with the company is Welch Factory Building No. 1, located at Westfield, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

As the temperance movement grew, so did the popularity of grape juice. In 1913, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan served grape juice instead of wine during a full-dress diplomatic function, and in 1914, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, forbade any alcoholic drinks on board of naval ships, actively replacing them with grape juice. During World War I, the company supplied "grapelade," a type of grape jam, to the military and advertised aggressively. Subsequent development of new grape products and sponsorship of radio and television programs made the company very successful.

Concord grapes being cooked down into grape juice for use in making jelly.

Commercials

Welch's has featured people in their television commercials such as:

• Brown, AltonAlton Brown
• Shyann McClure
• Tedford, TravisTravis Tedford

External links

• Welch's company homepage
• Welch's soft drink page
• National Grape Cooperative Association