Adams Extract

Adams Flavors, Foods & Ingredients

Since 1888
Type	Private Company
Industry	Processed & Packaged goods
Founded	Battle Creek, Michigan (1888)
Headquarters	Gonzales, Texas, U.S.
Key people	Clay Ruple, President & CFO ; Sterling Crim, EVP & CMO ; Daniel Shannon, SVP Sales
Products	Spices, herbs, flavorings
Number of employees	140
Website	www.adamsextract.com

Adams Extract, owned by Adams Flavors, Foods & Ingredients LLC, operates a full-service spice and extract packaging and manufacturing facility in Gonzales, Texas. Best known for its Adams Best Vanilla, it also sells product under the Adams Spice, Adams Extract, Adams Reserve and Culinary Tonight brands. In addition, Adams spices, extract and seasoning blends are found in many private label brands around the country as well as being used to season many commercially produced meat and food products.

Founded in 1888, Adams is one of the oldest continuously operated companies in Texas and one of the oldest spice and extract companies in the United States.

John Anderson Adams, began making and selling extracts in Michigan in 1888. In 1905, he moved the family to Beeville, Texas. His wife was unhappy with the quality of the vanilla extract products available because she felt like they either baked or froze out. Mr. Adams decided to formulate one for her. When his wife tried the product, she was delighted and John replied, "Well, that's old man Adam's best." His vanilla extract became known as Adams Best Vanilla.

Mr. Adams, along with the help of his sons, Fred and Don, began to produce, package, and sell the vanilla extract door-to-door with a complete money back guarantee. After being the first to be awarded a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from University of Texas at Austin, Fred purchased the company from his father and relocated the production headquarters to Austin, Texas. In 1922, he built a two-story building downtown and continued production of the extracts and colors. Adams Extract is credited for having brought the Red Velvet Cake to kitchens across America during the time of the Great Depression by being one of the first to sell red food color and other flavor extracts with the use of point-of-sale posters and tear-off recipe cards. His son, John G. Adams, Sr., worked in the family business throughout his childhood, and after having received his BA in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin, he returned and helped expand the lines produced. In 1947, he designed and built the assorted food color 4-pack line that is still sold today.