Shirriff is the brand name of several food products first produced by the defunct Shirriff family food products company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Francis Shirriff founded a food extracts company in the 1880s.
The company would go on to develop a line of food products including marmalades, dessert toppings and jelly and pudding mixes.
The company remained a family business until the 1950s when it was sold to the owner of the Dominion Stores chain. Later, the firm was bought by Kelloggs of Canada. In 1988 and 1992, Kelloggs sold its interests. Many of the Shirriff brand products are still in production, although now by other companies: The J. M. Smucker Company, Lipton Teas and Infusions, and Dr. Oetker. The company's most well-known product was likely its "Good Morning Marmalade", the best-selling marmalade in Canada.
Francis Shirriff was also one of the founders of the Niagara Falls Wine Company, later known as Bright's and Vincor International.
History
Francis Adam Shirriff was born in Huntingdon, Quebec, the son of Scottish emigrant doctor Francis Walker Shirriff and Anna Macnider. He moved to Toronto in 1872 at the age of 24 and began working in the grocery business. In 1874, Shirriff started the Niagara Falls Wine Company with Thomas G. Bright.
In 1883, Shirriff founded his own business, the Imperial Extract Company, which sold essential oils and flavour extracts, beginning a long career in food production. The company exhibited at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition in 1885. Their exhibit was described by the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal as "One of the handsomest exhibits" and "This firm have made a specialty of fruit and flavoring extracts, and are also giving considerable attention to perfumery, of both which they made a handsome display." The company's address in the 1886 city directory was 48 Colborne Street, listed for essential oils and perfumery. The company won a Bronze Medal for their display at the 1887 show and displayed a new product of lemon juice.
Bright and Shirriff moved to Niagara Falls to concentrate on the wine business, while the Imperial Extract Co. continued its operations in Toronto. In 1889, the company is listed at 49 Front Street East, sharing space with Bright, listed for essential oils, flavouring extracts, and baking powder. Shirriff's sons Colin, Francis, and William joined the business in the following decades. The company moved to 54 Colborne, sharing space with Bright and the Niagara Falls Wine Company.
In 1903, Shiriff first made marmalade. In 1905, it displayed its marmalades at a booth at the Pure Food Show at Massey Hall. The Toronto Daily Star reported: "One of the most daintily dressed booths in the hall is that of Shirriffs marmalades and flavoring essence. The public is invited to sample the delicious shredded orange marmalade served with reception wafers. Numbers of people took advantage of the invitation yesterday afternoon and expressions of approval were frequent. It is absolutely pure, containing nothing but the finest fruit and granulated sugar." The company also showed its jelly powders and flavouring extracts.
By 1909, the company was prosperous enough to build its own factory at 8–12 Matilda Street at Steiner (now Carroll) Street, just north of Queen Street East in Toronto. The building, designed by architect Charles Herbert Acton Bond of Bond & Smith was built at a cost of $20,000. The factory housed both the Shirriff production line and the Niagara Falls Wine Company. In 1911, the Shirriffs sold their share of the Niagara Falls Wine Company. Thomas Bright also sold out in 1933.
As a youth, naturalist Charles Sauriol, worked at the Shirriff factory after school and during the summers. Sauriol wrote about his experience:
In the 1920s, Shirriff advertised nationally in newspapers, describing their marmalades as something traditional, artisanal, and above all genuinely Scottish. An advertisement in the Ottawa Citizen of 1929 had the following text:
At the time, Shirriff sold three types of marmalade: Seville Orange, Shredded Orange, and Pineapple. Prices ranged from a 12 oz. jar for 25¢ to four-pounds for 55¢.
In 1927, Shirriff introduced the "Flavour Bud", a dissolvable capsule of extract for making jelly. Shiriff introduced the "Lushus" brand of products using the "Flavour Bud." In 1930, Shirriff introduced its "Good Morning" Marmalade, a recipe of three citrus fruits: oranges, grapefruit and lemons.