Schrafft's

Shrafft's City Center campus (September 2016)
The Schrafft Center office complex in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the former factory that produced Schrafft's candies.(March 2008)

Schrafft's was a candy, chocolate and cake company based in Sullivan Square, Charlestown, Massachusetts. The famous Schrafft's neon sign is a significant landmark in Boston, although the former factory it sits above, constructed in 1928, has been redeveloped for business accommodation. Schrafft's later expanded to form a chain of Schrafft's restaurants in New York, and a collection of motor inns and restaurants along the eastern seaboard from New England to Florida during the 1950s and 1960s.

History

Schrafft's was founded as a candy company by William F. Schrafft in Boston, in 1861. Frank Shattuck took over in 1898, expanding the company to include restaurants. By 1915, they had nine stores in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, and one in Syracuse, NY as well as the facility in Boston. They had grown to 22 stores in 1923, 42 stores in 1934,[1] and 55 stores in 1968.[2]

Schrafft's sponsored the 1959 CBS telecast of The Wizard of Oz,[3] the first of the film's annual telecasts (it had been shown once before on television in 1956).

PET milk purchased Schrafft's in 1967, breaking the ice cream, restaurant and cake, and candy operations into separate companies. Only the ice cream line survives, having been purchased by the LeSauvage family, owners of several ice cream labels. The New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas features a Schrafft's Ice Cream parlor.

In 1968, in an attempt to broaden their customer base, Schrafft's commissioned a 60-second television commercial from pop artist Andy Warhol.

The company's former candy factory in Boston was turned into commercial office space. Located at 529 Main Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts, it is known as the Schrafft Center and owned by the Flatley Company. Among its tenants are Boston Interactive, Fitcorp, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Beacon Hospice, iCorps Technology, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Telemundo Boston, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

References

  1. ↑ Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the United States
  2. ↑ Time magazine October 25, 1968, "Schrafft's Gets With It"
  3. ↑ Wizard of Oz Holiday Broadcasts
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