When we left off at the P.J. Cray and family operation of the Cray Soda Company, the business relocated from 1615 Northampton Street to the former Vollert family dairy at 1552 Northampton Street in September 1944. Another major change was soon to occur in early 1945.
Milton Ziff, a Northampton resident with family ties to Holyoke, purchased the William C. Cray Soda Company. Mr Ziff was born on October 3, 1898, to Hyman and Ida (Feldman) Ziff. He was raised and educated in Northampton and had been employed by the Hampden Bottling Co. of Northampton for 10 years prior to the purchase of Cray Soda. Milton's wife, Marion, and son Jerrold, then age 14, joined in the business.
Although the building was badly damaged by a blaze on February 6, 1945, the business was back in operation 2 days later.
The bottling company featured its own Spring Rock sodas, heavily promoting its Ginger Ale and many flavored sodas. In 1947, the company introduced a grapefruit soda called Rummy, which could also be used as a mixer. It was also around this time that Milton Ziff's son, Jerrold, joined the business.
In the late 1940s, the very popular Nick's Nest restaurant in Holyoke purchased its beverages from the Cray Soda Company.
In 1952, the Cray Soda Co. purchased the business of the Holiday-Nesbitt Bottling Co. of Northampton. The sodas would be bottled in Holyoke, and the storage facilities would remain in Northampton.
To keep up with demand during the hot summer of 1955, the soda plant operated from 6 A.M. to 8 or 9 P. M. Sales were up 65 to 70 percent from the previous year. Two years later, the plant was in operation 24 hours a day with 5 additional employees. Delivery runs to customers increased from 2 weekly to daily, with 2 additional trucks in use.
In 1968, a nationwide glassmakers' strike impacted the soda industry. The strike lasted for several months, and Cray's stopped producing sodas in non-returnable glass bottles. At the time, soda bottles were non-returnable, so the supply of new empty bottles was curtailed. The company promoted its soda dispensing machines for parties. Each of the three-tap canisters would produce 105 cups of soda at a fraction of the cost of bottled sodas.
In 1971, the Holyoke Bottling Company, operated by the Werenski family at 37 High Street, ceased operations, leaving the Cray Soda Company as the only commercial bottler in Holyoke.
Customers would be able to shop for soda by the case, mixing and matching their favorite flavors, available in 7- and 12-ounce bottles and family-size bottles. The recipes for the variety of flavors were created by Marion and Milton Ziff.
This was truly a family business. When Milton Ziff died in 1978 at age 79, his wife, Marion Ziff, continued to make the soda and manage the books for another 7 years. Jeffrey Ziff, the son of Jerrold and Roslyn (Shapiro) Ziff, was an integral part of the business and the third generation of his family in the soda business.
The company stopped bottling due to high production costs, including the cost of glass bottles and paper labels. Cray's then carried bottled Polar sodas in the 1980s and focused on producing soda in tanks for use in dispensing machines. In 1991, the company averaged 100 tanks produced per day, more in the summer and fewer in the winter months. Many tanks were produced for bars and small restaurants.
Around 1996, the Ziff family sold their business to the Polar Soda Company. Two families had carried on the Cray Soda Company tradition for over 90 years.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Massachusetts; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Genealogy Records and Price & Lee, Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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