It’s the end for Nutty Club and Can-D-Man

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This article was published 14/12/2023 (831 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — 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.

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. 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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

» Winnipeg Free Press

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.

» Winnipeg Free Press