Sweet and Low: A Family Story

Are you interested in how family dynamics effect business? How family business effects families? How individual lives become infected with the family business dynamics? Rich Cohen has written a stunning account of his family's quite well known business, the Cumberland Packing Company which makes Sweet n Low, Sugar in the Raw, NuSalts and Butter Buds.Rich is a grand storyteller and this is the story of his family. It's a colorful family that Rich traces from the Patriarch's childhood through his death. Rich paints a picture of each person's peculiarities as seen from various family members yet stays focused on the life of the business and sad life of how various family conflicts were managed and tore them apart. The author's mother was excluded from inheriting her share of the business or any family assets. How could this happen? How could a family with hundreds of millions in assets decide not to give one nickel to one of the upstanding and successful children? This is where Rich begins the story and as he writes in the end of the introduction "To be disinherited is to be set free." (p. xii)Through reading this manuscript, you will find yourself swept into the culture of this immigrant roots of the patriarch's family who was born in New York in 1906. You will learn the character of the family members and be taken through the critical decisions both in the business and the family up to the present day.Perhaps what's most interesting is the author's description of family dynamics. For example he writes "Betty (the wife of the patriarch) can marry well, support her mother and father, fill the world with children, and it's still not enough." He explains that as a child no matter what Betty in her family, it was not enough to raise the depression of the family circumstances and how this may have impacted her character.Shortly after Marvin, the oldest son began working in the factory, he was given half the shares of the company. But of course there are two kinds of stock (Class A - voting stock which is where the control and power is and Class B - non-voting or common stock). Of course Marvin was given non-voting stock that way Ben (the patriarch) could give without giving. "This distribution mimics the dynamics of the family. Map the stock and you map the love." (p. 78). Was this related to what happened in 1993 where Marvin was arrested and charged with tax evasion and criminal conspiracy?As a student and coach of family businesses for now close to twenty years. I can only say Halleluyah for an absolutely illuminating story of how families sometimes interact in business and how us professionals can help save or be a bridge for a healthy family and business.

Packets of Sweet and Low can be found on almost every restaurant table. The story of how these ubiquitous packets came to be is compelling. Rich Cohen is at his best when describes how his grandfather, a Brooklyn diner owner, thought up the idea of putting sugar and then later saccarine into a paper packet. The story of how he and his son built a business and the difficult things they had to do to hold onto it is absolutely fascinating. Anyone who has ever worked in a family business can relate to their story.However, where Rich Cohen lost me is in the sheer bitterness of his tone. (This is especially true if you listen to the Audio CD.) He is angry that his Grandmother disinherited his Mother and he takes every opportunity to score points against family members. It is as though he is carrying his mother's unsucessful law suit forward through this book. Granted a lot of these personal attacks are very funny. But in the end, one feels a little bit embarassed for Rich Cohen in the same way that one feels for participants in a Jerry Springer show.

I think that this book was wonderfully written and researched and I certainly would recommend it to anyone. There were however a few things about it which I didn't like so much, which, cumulatively, caused me to take a star away. First (and least significantly), I would have like it if the photos had captions because it was not always clear to me who I was looking at. Second (and also not significant), an index would have been nice. Third (but more troublesome) was the fact that the author went off on a number of loooong tangents that were really not all that essential to the telling of the story. These discursive portions seemed like padding to me. They included a history of Brooklyn, a history of sugar, a history of saccharine, a history of cyclamate and other divergences from the real story. I always found myself wanting these detours to end to get back to the purpose of the book. Fourth, based on the opening portions of the book, I thought that more of it would be about the whole disinheritance issue. Instead, that rolls around only at the very end of the book and the manner in which it happened--as well as the aftermath--were somewhat anticlimactic. Of course, facts are facts and you have to deal with them as they come, but nevertheless, I was a little disappointed by this portion of the book. Despite these shortcomings, I feel that the author is a very talented writer and that this book will be enjoyed by anyone wanting to read about a very interesting family history.

I thought this was a very good read. Now, towards the end, I couldn't quite get why the family was disinherited, just that they were. It certainly wasn't a Mommie Dearest sort of thing. There are two sides to most stories and I'm sure there was another side. Not just that the Cohens were hacked out of the will. I'm not saying it was justifiable. But, there are two sides to most things. On the other hand, the Sweet N Low folks did come off as corrupt to varying degrees throughout the book. And court documents would attest to this. Anywho, I found this to be a very good read, Rich Cohen has a gift for prose, and I am a Sweet N Low lover! I have bad reactions to the other artificial sweeteners out there and saccharine just passes through you. Ask any biochemist.

A fascinating insight into the families and personalities behind the world's 'sugar replacement' businesses. The book outlines the dark sides of money laundering, business fraud and the incredible entrepreneurial rise of Sweet and Low. A great read.