Sexton Foods - John Sexton & Co Established

John Sexton & Co Established

In 1883, at the age of 25, John Sexton invested his entire life savings of $400 and formed a corporation with George A. Hitchcock named Hitchcock & Sexton Company which opened a small office at 5 Wabash in downtown Chicago. Within a year, Hitchcock & Sexton moved to 20 State Street (Street & Lake) which was owned by John DeKoven.

As business increased, Hitchcock & Sexton opened 3 more retail stores in the Chicago area including one in Joliet. This made Hitchcock & Sexton one of the first retail coffee and tea chain proprietors in the United States. In 1886, Hitchcock sold Sexton his interest in the business and renamed the company John Sexton & Co. To help run the business, John Sexton recruited his sisters Mary (Barton), Sarah (O'Leary), Brigid "Bea" (Mulligan)- who later married widower Francis Upton, his younger brother James J. Sexton to move to Chicago from Dundas, Ontario. Each sister ran one of his retail stores and lived above it with their families. In addition to family, John Sexton relied on recruiting high quality employees by offering attractive wages, sales commissions and fair dealing.

As word spread of Sexton’s quality products, fair dealings and unconditional guarantee, restaurant and hotel customers came to the Sexton retail stores to buy spices, tea and coffee. Sexton also added dried and canned goods to his stores. In addition, John Sexton began to call on the Chicago restaurants and hotels directly. In addition, he hired salesmen and delivery drivers to service on the wholesale accounts. He also purchased horses and wagons to make deliveries. By 1888, Sexton decided to close his four retail stores and focus solely on his Chicago wholesale customers. Sexton expanded the 20 State Street (201 N. State Street on the corner of State & Lake Streets) store by renting the rest of the building

In 1890, John Sexton established an institutional department to call on hospitals, colleges, schools, railroad dining cars and orphanages around the country. These institutional customers required consistent quality products that were available in sufficient quantity all year long. Sexton developed an extensive product line as well as a distribution network based in Chicago. To call on the institutional market throughout the country, Sexton recruited commission based salesmen in the major urban markets of Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Washington DC.

In addition to the major urban markets, Sexton recruited regional commission based salesmen to call on customers who required quality groceries in large quantity to feed their clients or work force but were far from major metropolitan areas. For instance, regional Sexton salesmen called on lumbermen, ranchers, miners and grain farmers who had large work forces to feed. These salesmen would also call on hotels, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools and orphanages. To further establish the Sexton brand, he advertised in specific hospital and institutional dietician publications. The most effective marketing for Sexton was at professional trade conventions where Sexton Quality Foods would sponsor a tasting booth featuring its products. Institutional customers could sample Sexton Products and Sexton salesmen could develop contacts and sales leads. This proved enormously successful since no other grocery company at the time was effectively servicing this huge market. The1893 Chicago’s World Fair provided a chance to show case Sexton’s ability to deliver quality food in large quantity to meet the demand of the huge influx of tourist into Chicago.

In 1898, John Sexton & Co. was incorporated. The company directors were John Sexton President, Dan E. Upton (cousin) Vice President, Harold R. White, Secretary and William M. O'Leary (nephew) Treasurer.

As John Sexton & Co. grew, the Sexton name became synonymous with quality products, fair dealings, uniform consistent food quality and unconditional guarantee. A bronze plaque hung in the building lobby that read "All who come here to buy or sell fairly are always welcome."

Some of the original brand names used by Sexton included: Calumet, LaSalle, Pride of the West, Pyramid and Edelweiss. The most lasting innovation pioneered by John Sexton & Co. was the 1 gallon #10 can. Hail as the perfect restaurant pack size, the #10 can was sanitary, economical and revolutionized kitchen storage since the can was easy to lift, easy to open, stacked well and did not require refrigeration. The #10 can is still the industry standard.

At the end of 1907, John Sexton & Co. had 125 employees in Chicago, a large Chicago customer base serviced by a city sales force, a national customer based serviced by a regional sales force and a strong rural mail order trade. Sexton had out grown the State Street location. John Sexton & Co. moved 4 blocks west to the corner of Lake and Franklin Streets (236 W. Lake Street). In 1908, Sexton Quality Foods leased the entire six-story building for a term of 10 years that expired April 1918. Prior to moving in, electric service and elevators were installed. A side note in Chicago real estate history, in 1885, J.B. Clow & Sons, a cast iron pipe manufacturer entered into a 99-year ground lease with land owner John Peacock at a rate of $3,000 per year with 4% annual increases. That same year, J.B. Clow & Sons constructed a six-story office building. In 1908, J.B. Clow & Sons relocated to a larger building at Harrison and the River and leased the building to John Sexton & Co. By 1909, John Peacocok's widow sold the ground to George L. Thatcher for $173,000. John Sexton & Co. organized the building into sales, warehouse, manufacturing and laboratory. At the new location, Sexton expanded into the manufacture of pickles, relishes, spices and preserves. Company horses were stabled at a livery one-mile west of the building.