NEW YORK — Marc Gold hoped he could combine his love of writing and sports into a career; and after college graduation, he worked for newspapers and had a fantasy of owning one. But, like his father, uncles, cousins and a brother, he took a different career path, joining the world-famous condiment company Gold Pure Food Products and was involved in all aspects of the business, including production, quality control, accounts receivable and payable Eventually he was the chief of all sales, shipping and public relations/publicity for decades.
He remembers the experience fondly.
Gold’s started as a modest horseradish business in 1932, founded by Marc’s paternal grandparents in their Brooklyn, NY apartment. There, Grandma Tillie Gold grated horseradish by hand, and Grandpa Hyman Gold spooned it into bottles which he then sold to neighborhood stores.
Eventually, Hyman and Tillie’s three boys helped their father deliver horseradish by bike and train. Marc’s father, Morris would wait for Grandpa Hyman inside the turnstiles so as not to spend the nickel “profit.” In later years, the three sons sold from a reconditioned taxicab.
Bolstered over the years by family members joining it in key positions, the Golds’ chrainchild grew into an international giant, producing and marketing several dozen different condiments. At its peak, Gold’s had 70 employees, and still owns the world’s largest root cellar.
Until 1994, the company moved among several Brooklyn locations before settling in Hempstead, Long Island.
Maybe Gold’s didn’t sell its world-famous chrain (horseradish) directly to Spain, but it undoubtedly appeared there, as the Gold’s product line did in France, England, Australia, Israel, South Africa, China, Mexico, Canada, all 50 US states and Puerto Rico
In addition to its horseradish, the company would go on to produce extra-hot and extra-sweet horseradish, varieties of mustard, wasabi sauce, ketchup, tartar sauce, duck sauce, cocktail sauce, Russian borscht, cabbage soup, schav and many other items in different sizes.
Along with his brother Steve (the other brother, Jason became a bankruptcy lawyer) and two cousins, Neil and Howard, Marc followed his father and two uncles into the business.
“We worked on the production lines, washing machines, trucking, advertising, shipping, selling, invoicing, and everything else involved in running a business.”
One occasion he remembers fondly is having the company’s Australian distributor respond to Marc’s request to chant “Ma Nishtana” (Passover’s Four Questions), which he did in unique Australian accent.
Israel was a longtime customer of Gold’s. In addition to duck sauce and borscht the Company made ketchup packets for the Israeli army, which sent inspectors to check out the plant, not just to make sure of kashruth concerns, but security. The army wanted to make sure that the factory was secure and that the products were made properly. They wanted to ascertain that nothing was being shipped that could be harmful.
China sales were never an obstacle but selling duck sauce to New York’s Chinatown was a challenge. In 1971, when he started working permanently for Gold’s, Marc was given a business card identifying him as “Head of the Chinese Condiment Division.” His assignment was to take orders, deliver the duck sauce and try to get paid. “Orders and deliveries weren’t much of a problem– but getting paid!” he recalls.
Marc attended elementary, junior High school, Brooklyn Tech and Long Island University, all in Brooklyn. He studied Hebrew at the Quonset huts from World War 2 on E. 108th street south of Seaview Avenue in Brooklyn called American Hebrew Center.
His fantasy was to own a newspaper, “But school always got in the way of dreams.”
He and his wife Rosalie have a daughter and son, and now live in Staten Island, NY, where he is a member of Congregation B’nai Israel.
Marc was inspired by his late father’s business philosophy: not only to give customers high quality and good taste, but to let them know “you’re the best”…in other words, perception also mattered.
Marc’s dad encouraged the company to post signs in Times Square over advertisements featuring such luminaries as Jackie Gleason and Alfred Hitchcock to emphasize the message.
Another promotional approach was the company’s distribution of bobblehead dolls representing New York Mets for 14 consecutive years. Stars such as Mike Piazza, John Franco, Johan Santana, Dwight Gooden, and Keith Hernandez led the parade.
The bobblehead dolls were given out to the first 20,000 fans who entered the ballpark. “The added plus was that I was able to give one to each of our buyers and major customers. It was a public relations coup.”
The opposite feeling came when Marc was outvoted in 2015 and the Gold family sold controlling interest to a Chicago-based investment company
The family giving up “really hurt,” Marc recalled. But now he’s accepted it, does consulting work, and gives zoom presentations on sports marketing and the upsides and downsides of a family business. Before the pandemic struck, he gave his presentations in person. He can be reached via this email for zoom presentations.
He’s considering writing a book about the company’s evolution, favorable and less so. When he considers how global customers have converted “compliments on your condiments” into big, long-term purchases, he no doubt will rate the experience as, well, Gold-en.
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Joel H. Cohen is a freelance writer based in New York City.
Great story! Write thAt book, Marc. I will read it. And bravo to author of this entertaining chrainstorm of a story!