A Fruitcake Phenomenon
Hayden Crawford, a partner in Collin Street Bakery, shares the fascinating story of the nearly 130-year-old business, what makes its world-famous fruitcakes unique, and what’s next for the company.
How did Collin Street Bakery begin?
August Weidmann, a German immigrant who settled in Corsicana, Texas, founded it as a small bread and pastry bakery in 1896. A few years later, a local entrepreneur partnered with him, and they soon moved it to another location with a second-floor hotel and bigger production facility.
My business partner’s family, the McNutts, headed a group that bought it from them in the 1940s. In 1951, after many years in the regional bread business, the company moved out of that increasingly competitive industry and shifted its attention to fruitcake. The rest is history.
How did your fruitcakes become so popular?
In the 1890s, Corsicana became the largest oil producer in the world, enticing people and businesses to pour in. Among our hotel’s visitors were celebrities such as John Ringling, who bought our fruitcakes and gave them out as gifts when he traveled with his circus. Those recipients then contacted us for more, and our mail-order business—one of the first in the country—began, allowing people to order from practically anywhere in the world.
That was also possible because of the fruitcake itself: it’s dense, so it would last much longer than other foods at the time. We could even ship the product overseas; despite taking weeks, it’d still be fresh and tasty when it arrived.
Johnny Carson famously joked about fruitcake. What kind of effect did that have?
The jokes and skits on his show in the 1980s brought in an era of fruitcake negativity. Before then, Collin Street Bakery had a very strong corporate business. But in the years following, we saw such sales continually decline—no doubt because these companies were concerned about how their gift might be perceived.
Here’s how bad it got: even perception was going against us. We’d ask people, “Do you like fruitcake?” and most would say no. But when we asked those same folks whether they had ever tasted it, the answer would also be no. That stigma lasted for years. Luckily, with it a few generations behind us, corporate sales have since returned.
What makes your fruitcakes so special?
First, it’s a wonderful product. Almost a third of every one we produce is pecans, and the remainder is a delicious medley of glacé fruits, including pineapple, cherries, raisins, and papaya, that are bound together by a secret batter moistened with locally harvested clover and wildflower honey. In addition, each DeLuxe Fruitcake—our original product—is hand decorated, making them slightly different and one of a kind.
When did you begin expanding your offerings?
For the longest time, we had one item: our DeLuxe Fruitcake. But when the gags started, we wanted to create another option that had a different look since its appearance was apparently the issue. That led to the Texas Blonde, a pecan cake that has no red and green fruits on it, followed by an apricot pecan cake. More recently, we’ve branched out to all sorts of other products, including pies and cheesecakes.
How in demand are Collin Street Bakery’s fruitcakes today?
We produce about a million pounds per year and deliver them to all fifty states and around 190 countries—almost every single nation you can ship into. For many people, it has become a tradition through multiple generations. We even published a book of customer testimonials about how our DeLuxe Fruitcake or company has positively affected their families and holiday traditions.
We certainly have some amazing stories. A guy who worked at the South Pole ordered one to help his team celebrate the holidays. A Kilimanjaro climber arranged for his fruitcake to be delivered up the side of the mountain by a Sherpa. Another customer told us he smuggled his through the Berlin Wall so he could share it with friends on the other side. We count many celebrities as customers, too, including Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, singer Lyle Lovett, Vanna White, and Chuck Norris.
Does your fruitcake have any health benefits?
Despite having “fruit” in the name and being chock-full of it along with healthy nuts, people always wonder if it’s bad for you. It is cake, after all. But in recent years, we’ve gotten interesting feedback—bicyclists told us they eat our fruitcake because it’s a calorie-dense product that gives them long-lasting energy.
What’s next for Collin Street Bakery?
Based on those athletes’ feedback, we created a new item: energy bars. I’m excited to say that we’ve started rolling out our foods into grocery stores across the country, so keep an eye out for them! Overall, though, we’re still a family business making baked goods that mean so much to so many. That’s why we love coming to work every day.
For more info, visit collinstreet.com