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The article below appeared in a 1983 issue of McCormick's PEOPLE Magazine.  The photograph shows Jim Albrecht cooking at his home in the Cross Keys community in Baltimore. JimAlbrecht

Jim Albrecht

             “When I first went to work in a food development lab,” says Jim Albrecht, “it became apparent to me that anyone working in product development ought to know firsthand what goes on in a kitchen and in a grocery store.”

             Jim Albrecht, new vice President and General Manager of the McCormick-Stange Flavor Division, has put this principle to good use in his own kitchen, and by all accounts is a pretty good cook.  Jim’s culinary talents became apparent when he won second prize for a pecan pie recipe in MSFD’s C-Day Cook-Off earlier this year.

             Jim joined McCormick in December of last year bringing with him more than 24 years’ experience in the food technology field.  He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Food Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, a Ph.D in Food Science from the University of Illinois, and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Chicago.

             Jim comes to McCormick from the Nestle Company.  During his 13 years with them, he served in a variety of positions including Vice President – Research and Development for Libby, McNeill and Libby, a Nestle subsidiary; and Vice President – Product Development for the Nestle Company.  His most recent assignment was Vice President of their Flavor Ingredient Development Company.

             According to Jim the art of cooking has nothing to do with taste in the technical sense.  “Flavor is more than just what you taste with your tongue.  Flavor is a combination of the five senses – taste, smell, sight, texture, and sound.

             “Take celery, for example.  If it doesn’t crunch (which is nothing more than texture and sound) it doesn’t taste right, even though it still has all the same properties celery is supposed to have.”

             Texture especially, says Jim, is very important to us in the food we eat.  “Think of some of your favorite dishes and consider the different textures they offer, like Chinese food, Oreo cookies, lasagna, even the fast food hamburger.  Their varied textures are part of what makes eating an interesting and pleasurable experience for us.

            “The other important element in good cooking is great blends,” he adds.  “A great flavor sensation should be such a tight blend of ingredients or seasonings that you can’t pick it apart.  Take Coca Cola for example.  There are over 50 ingredients in Coca cola and most people can’t detect more than five.

            “Most food cooks achieve great blends by trial and error, which is nothing more than standing over the stove, adding a pinch of this and a dash of that, tasting it all the while until the flavor is just right.”

            As a bachelor, Jim enjoys the hassle-free life style of condominium living in Baltimore’s beautiful Cross Keys community.  When he entertains at home, Jim likes a casual atmosphere, a few good friends and, of course, good food.

            Tonight’s menu featured Jim’s own chili and go-withs, a light fruit salad with a sweet poppy seed dressing, and a delicious pecan pie served with fresh coffee.

            “The secret to my chili,” says Jim, “is the Italian sausage – mild or hot, depending on your preference.  That’s what makes the difference.”

            Jim also claims to have a notorious sweet tooth.  “But as much as I love desserts, I don’t often make them myself.  But I do make this pecan pie recipe which is quite simple.

            “Some years ago when I lived in Texas,” he explains, “my neighbors had a ranch with lots of pecan trees, and they used to bring me shelled pecans.  That’s when I started making pecan pie.

            “I also make my own sangria,” added Jim with a smile.  However, PEOPLE couldn’t persuade him to divulge his recipe.  “After all, I have to keep a few trade secrets to myself.”



When Hugh McCormick retired in December 1982 the article below appeared in McCormick's PEOPLE Magazine.  The photograph shows a delighted Hugh McCormick holding up a caricature of himself at his retirement party. HughMcCormick

Hugh McCormick

 “I wore many hats during my 40 years with the Company,” reflected Hugh McCormick as he spoke with PEOPLE editor Jean Ottey, appropriately enough in the 7th floor Tea House in the Light Street plant just across from his office on Friendship Court.

             “I was always treated impartially,” he emphasized, “which I felt was very important, even though it was the family business.  I was given a chance to do up to my ability just like anyone else.”

             In June of 1942 Hugh began his career at McCormick upon graduation from Johns Hopkins University.  But with the outbreak of World War II, Hugh was called to serve in the Navy just two months later.

             In 1946 after his discharge from the Service, Hugh returned to McCormick full-time at the building we know today as the Light Street plant in Baltimore.  He started out training in many different departments so that he could learn the operation from the ground up.  “In those days,” Hugh recalled, “part of C.P.’s (C.P. McCormick) philosophy was ‘if you’re going to amount to anything in this company, you’ve got to spend some time on the sales force.’”

             So for a year and six months, Hugh serviced the northwest Washington, D.C. area commuting back and forth from his Baltimore home.  “People just didn’t believe my name was really McCormick,” laughed Hugh as he remembered some customers in his old territory.  “I remember feeling, too, that I had to really live up to my name, I had to do it better than everybody else.  So, I scrubbed shelves and made my displays shine.  It was quite a burden, but I put it on myself,” he says as he shakes his head and laughs.

             Hugh was also an apprentice tea taster for a short time in the tea department under Grayson Luttrell.  “Tea was really big in those days,” he recalled, “and it took at least five years to really become a good tea taster,”

             Hugh also worked for a time in what was then known as the Bulk and Institutional Division (we now know it as the Food Service Division), and then in 1954 he became General Credit Manager, a job which he held for some 15 years.

             Having served 20 years in Naval Reserve, Hugh was always very interested in the Company’s military accounts.  With the retirement of Paul Frisch, he was appointed Manager of the Special Division which was responsible for the sale of McCormick products to commissaries and exchanges overseas.  In addition, he took over as President of Ampacco, Inc., the McCormick private label wholly-owned subsidiary.  “Dave Michels used to laugh,” said Hugh, ‘of all people to be handling private label accounts!’”  But Hugh enjoyed his work and was a diligent and well-liked manager.

             John McCormick is now filling Hugh’s shoes and will be in charge of all overseas and domestic government retail activities.  Gus Theobald will now be the new head of Ampacco.  “My taking retirement a little early allows the Company to restructure so that Ampacco will now become better coordinated with GPD,” said Hugh.

             Hugh and his wife Joy are viewing their new found free time with fervor.  Hugh is very active in his church which was originally founded by his uncle, Willoughby McCormick (also founder of McCormick & Company) and is looking forward to devoting more of his time there.  “Another priority, he says emphatically,” is to definitely play more golf!  Eventually we plan to build a home in Florida which we will enjoy during the winter months with our family.”


Prior to his retirement,  Bill Hart was Director of Global Business Solutions in charge of the SAP installation.  What follows is an abbreviated version of an article that appeared in a 2004 issue of McCormick's PEOPLE Magazine.   BillHart

Bill Hart

 To the current generation of McCormick employees, Bill Hart is a familiar face in data processing.  However, his first four years at McCormick were spent in production.  “I was hired in March 1971,” recalled Bill.  “I started at Light Street as an Expediter in Production Control.  I had to expedite bulk spice orders for the Industrial Division while working in the Retail Division.  Form there I went through several jobs in production that ultimately led to a job as a Time Utilization manager.  About two years later, I joined the newly formed Management Services Division and started my career in data processing.

             “Of course, by that time I was completely comfortable with our business systems but totally in the dark when it came to computer systems.  All that changed when I started managing a project team responsible for the installation of an Inventory Management System at Club House Foods.  Later, we also installed a Production Planning System at that facility and followed up with a Material Planning System, and a Sales Forecasting System.  At about the same time, I got mainframe experience by working on systems for Tubed Products, and helping with the installation of a mainframe-based payroll system.  I also took programming courses and stayed late at night working with second shift operators to learn more about the mainframe.

             “In the early ‘80s, I was put in charge of a project that called for the replacement of all of our critical systems.  Our intent was to put all of our data on one database and install new systems to handle all major aspects of our business.  Although costs exceeded budget, the project was successful.  Our systems lasted for more than 20 years.  But even though the database was the best available at the time, it had one major flaw – it lacked flexibility.  It was great for handling the routine, day-to-day transactions, but unable to easily analyze information.  We were therefore unable to extract information from the data that we needed to run our business.  We just had to wait for the technology to catch up to our needs.  And that is where SAP finally came to the rescue!”

             During the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Bill moved through various jobs in data processing, at one time in charge of datacenter operations and later in charge of telecommunications.  “I was fascinated by telecommunications,” said Bill.  “There again was a side of the business I knew nothing about, but I read everything I could and learned it in a fairly short time.”

             In 1988, the Company made the decision to close the Light Street Plant, and Bill was asked to manage the relocation of the data center to Hunt Valley.  The project involved coordinating the construction of a new facility and entering into long hours of negotiations with vendors and suppliers of computers and telecommunications equipment.  The results were highly successful.  Not only was the project on time, but it also was under budget by more than half a million dollars.

             Bill’s next big assignment took him overseas to England.  “I took part in an information technology assessment in England,” recalled Bill.  “I was then asked to implement the recommendations.  That effort took the better part of 18 months.

             “When I returned to the U.S., I assumed responsibility for the development of new applications.  Several years later, I went to France to help the management team work on the Euro conversion project.  Unfortunately, that project ended with the 9/11 attacks.  Safety concerns were foremost on the minds of management at the time, and I was asked to return home.  However, the project was far enough along so that the Euro conversion finished successfully without me.

             “Since returning from Europe, I have assumed responsibility for Computer Operations and, along with many others, focused on the SAP installation.  Fortunately, the biggest challenges faced in the SAP installation are now behind us.”


HankKaestner What follows is part of an article that appeared in THE WASHINGTON POST and the March 1985 issue of McCormick’s People Magazine -

SPICE TRADING   The Second Oldest Profession in the World

 

            The world map on the wall in Hank Kaestner’s office is riddled with little red pins – the footprints of a spice buyer.  From the volcanic hillsides of Indonesia, where cinnamon grows, to the clove forests of Zanzibar and the pepper plantations of Brazil, Kaestner has trotted across the globe for one of the world’s largest spice merchants, McCormick & Company.

             Kaestner’s is a demanding job that puts him in touch with back-country peasants, foreign exporters and their agents, global steamship lines, New York spice dealers, food science technicians and corporate executives.  It is not a job for just anyone.

             “Traveling sounds like a lot of fun, but it’s not always,” says Kaestner.  “on the last trip to Sulawesi (an island east of Borneo), we were eating fruit bat for dinner and the original chili dog – dog meat marinated with chili peppers.

             Endowed with an iron stomach and knowledge of a half-dozen languages, the 39-year-old Kaestner has been traveling for McCormick for 15 years.  His goal: to get information that will enable the Company to buy spices for the best price.

             Kaestner is a mover and shaker in the Baltimore spice trade, a business that recalls a storied past when peppercorns and cinnamon quills traveled in tiny ships borne on monsoon winds.

             Where Magellan once used the stars to find a westerly route to the Spice Islands, Kaestner might use AT&T long lines to purchase cinnamon from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.  And the uses for spices have shifted from the home kitchen to mass production as an industrialized society consumes more processed foods and meals away from home.

             Kaestner must keep track of political developments such as civil uprisings or changes in tariffs that may staunch the flow of a commodity.  He charts climatic changes and seasonal shifts in demand that can affect the price or availability of the 40 or so spices he purchases.

              “We have to know the cigarette industry in Indonesia in order to know the price and availability of cloves in the U.S. market,” he says.

             The reasoning behind the cigarette-clove connection illustrates the new complexity of the spice business.  More than three-quarters of the world’s cloves go into Indonesian cigarettes, which are 20 percent cloves and 80 percent tobacco.  In the past few years, Indonesian clove producers, trying to undersell their clove-growing competitors in Madagascar and Zanzibar, boosted domestic production, Kaestner says.  The result was a glut of cloves and a big drop in world prices.  This year the Indonesian crop is down, however, and the prices are rising.

             “That’s the sort of thing we have to keep track of,” Kaestner says.

             For the spice buyer, purchasing and gathering information make up a juggling game in which timing is all-important.  “Normally we don’t physically buy the goods and have them shipped as we come back from a trip,” Kaestner says.”   …(Exporters) think if the McCormick buyer is coming…we must be wanting to buy something.  So they jack up the prices while I am there….after we get back the prices drop off because the McCormick buyer left without buying.”  Then he buys.

             Once a deal has been struck with a buyer, the exporter contracts with a steamship line to ship the spices to New York and Baltimore.  The shipment may go to Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong or Tokyo, then to be placed in truck-sized containers for direct shipment through the Panama Canal to New York, Baltimore, or if the buyer is on the West Coast, to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

             After inspections by U.S. Customs and the Food and Drug Administration, the spices are trucked to the grinder (McCormick), where they are fumigated before unloading to prevent any kind of infestation from entering the plant.

             Finally, the spice is cleaned, ground, and packed into large containers for industrial users or small tins for the retail market.

             In spite of its modern-day transformation, the spice business retains a certain romanticism for its players.  For traders like Kaestner, spices are more than a job; they’re an avocation as well.

             For instance, Kaestner often travels for pleasure to the sites described in old spice lore.  In the state of Veracruz, Mexico, he has examined the ceremonial grounds of the Totonaca Indians, who harvested vanilla and traded it to the Aztecs, who in turn introduced the spice to Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conquistador credited with bringing vanilla to Europe.

             Spice trading, Kaestner likes to say, is “the second-oldest profession.”


On the right is a portion of an article that appeared in the March-April 1945 issue of Mc News (forerunner of
Tea Time Tales.)
 FROM THE JUNGLES OF THE SOLOMONS...TO THE SHORES OF BOUGAINVILLE

            This is how a 24-year-old Marine looks after 26 months in the South Pacific.  He’s PFC. Harry Snyder, and we wish we had a similar picture of him as he looked three years ago when he walked out of our stockroom to put on the uniform of the toughest fighting men in the world.  If we had such a picture, we’d put it up beside the other…and there’d be no need for words. 

            He doesn’t go in for many words, himself.  He mentions that he has seen “a little action” at Samoa, Guam, Guadalcanal, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Solomons and Bougainville.  Oh, yes – his outfit rated a unit citation for the Solomons job…great outfit…great guys.  Ask him what he did, and he says something casual about “forward observation.” 

            Know what that means? It means sweating it out in a foxhole as much as a mile ahead of the lines…on your own.  You are the eyes and ears of the artillery far behind…and a prize target for snipers.  You do your own thinking.  You’re alert and self-reliant…or you’re dead.
PFCHarrySnyder
HarrySnyder

            Some ten or twelve years later, in lighter mood, with garb to match, Harry is glad to be back at the old lemonade stand.  It is obvious, also, that his taste in casual wear doesn’t run to forest green.

             In the intervening years, Harry has gained extensive experience in the various manufacturing operations in the plant.  Now Supervisor of the Tea Blending and Filling and Extract Filling Departments, he is also a current member of our Factory Board.  All of which leaves him little time for modeling sports togs, although he’d like it known that he is available on weekends for lawn parties, table tennis, boating on the lake, etc.

On the left, is a portion of an article that appeared in the October 1962 issue of Tea Time Tales.


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