Bick's Pickle

This article is about a brand of pickled cucumbers. For the condiments known as pickles in Britain and elsewhere, see Chutney. For other uses, see Pickles (disambiguation).

Bick's
Product typePickle
OwnerJ.M. Smucker
CountryU.S.
Introduced1951; 74 years ago (1951)
Websitebicks.ca

Bick's is a Canadian pickle producer originally based out of Scarborough, Ontario. The brand is now sold in Canada by U.S.-based The J.M. Smucker Co.

Bick's emerged in 1951 in the Toronto area when local farmers George and Lena Bick and their sons Walter and Thomas began to pickle the cucumbers produced on their Knollview farm.[1][2] Beginning as a small operation of 60,000 jars, the Bicks produced 12 million jars in 1960.[1] The business was sold in 1966 to Kraft Foods Canada and later became part of International Multifoods.[3]

Walter Bick, one of the founders of Bick's Pickle, died on October 17, 2011, at the age of 94. Walter left behind four children, thirteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.[4]

For 50 years, the plant was a large commercial operation in the Scarborough City Centre area. However, the pickling and brining operations moved to Delhi, Ontario, in 1998 and remaining production to Dunnville, Ontario, in 2001.[citation needed]

In 2004, The J.M. Smucker Company acquired Bick's after it merged with International Multifoods. In 2010, Smuckers announced the closure of both Ontario facilities and thus brought an end to Bick's production in Canada.[5] Since 2011, Bick's products are imported from the United States and marketed by the company's Markham, Ontario, based head office.[6]

The former plant at 333 Progress Avenue is now used by paperboard and recycling firm Atlantic Packaging.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Bick's". Practicallyedible.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  2. ^ "All About Bick's". Bick's. Archived from the original on April 12, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  3. ^ Kearney, Mark; Ray, Randy (2002). I Know That Name!: The People Behind Canada's Best Known Brand Names from Elizabeth Arden to Walter Zeller. Dundurn. ISBN 1550024078. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  4. ^ "Walter and Jeanny Bick's Obituary on Toronto Star". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "Bick's closure next month will "devastate" Dunnville: employees". The Hamilton Spectator. October 16, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  6. ^ Coffey, Reg (November 6, 2010). "Another Canadian Food Icon Lost". Cornwall Free News. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  7. ^ "Scarborough Centre Historic Context Statement" (PDF). City of Toronto. November 2021. p. 11–12. Retrieved March 30, 2024.