About Cumberland
Four generations of dedication to innovation and quality.Our family business launched with a simple solution to an everyday problem.
Like many businesses we started by solving a problem, the sugar bowl problem. Prior to Cumberland Packing Corp., Ben and his wife Betty Eisenstadt operated the Cumberland Cafeteria at the corner of Flushing Avenue and Cumberland Street across from the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Betty and and her husband, Ben Eisenstadt, proudly fed the shipbuilders and service members who would pass through “The Yard” prior to leaving port and joining the war effort. The Allied Nations prevailed and WWII came to an end. For Betty and Ben, that meant most of their customers vanished overnight. With many mouths to feed at home, and the sun setting on the Cumberland Cafeteria, they needed to find a new path.
Over an anxious, yet fateful lunch at the original location of the now shuttered Cooky’s restaurant empire, Cumberland Packing Corp was born. At the time, sugar service was simply a spoon and a bowl of sugar. Betty observed how unappealing and unsanitary sugar service could be for customers as flies would swirl around the bowl and diners would double dip. Simply put, the sugar bowl gave her the “heebie-jeebies.” Recalling that during his childhood Ben had worked in a factory packing tea bags, Betty looked up from the sugar bowl and said “since we’re putting tea into little bags, why don’t we do the same with sugar?”
Ben quickly got to work re-purposing tea packing machines, making them into the first sugar packet machines, in the very space that the Cumberland Cafeteria was located. We’re proud to have packed the original sugar packet on Cumberland Street, which is why our name remains Cumberland Packing Corp.
The first single-serve zero calorie sugar substitute packet.
After the first 6 years of being only available at restaurants and coffee shops, SweetʼN Low made its debut in grocery stores.
On December 19th, 1968, Louis Armstrong wrote a letter to our offices in Corona, NY expressing his love of our little pink packet.
“Dear SweetʼN Low Folks, I just want to tell you that SweetʼN Low picks me up and is just right for my diet. Since I use lots of it, I wonder if I could order direct from the company? I buy large orders. Anyway, let me know if I can buy maybe a carton or so, or something or other. Yea! Regards, Satchmo Louis Armstrong”
The first single serve turbinado sugar packet was launched.
Founder Allen Buhler perfects the concept, a healthier butter product. Soon after, Allen went into business with Cumberland Packing Corp., another family-run business and makers of world-famous SweetʼN Low and Sugar In The Raw.
Throughout the 1980s, a number of television commercials were developed to show consumers why our little pink packet was the #1 sugar substitute
The first “value priced” aspartame sweetener was launched. Touting itʼs “Same sweetener as Equal® at a Sweeter price” message.
The “little brown packets” make their debut at Starbucks as they rapidly expand locations and look for “better for you” offerings for their customers.
From the tropics to your table, encouraging consumers to have their sugar... in the raw, wherever they may be.
The first “value priced” sucralose sweetener was launched. Touting itʼs “Splendid alternative” messaging, offering a lower cost option to Splenda.
Our first line extension of the In The Raw family is launched with Stevia In The Raw, a zero calorie, plant-based sweetener in little green packets. The following year, our stevia based baking formulation is launched.
Monk Fruit In The Raw, zero-calorie sweetener is launched in little orange packets. In 2013, our monk fruit based baking formulation is launched.
Expanding beyond the sugar crystal, new liquid turbinado cane offers the same delicious taste but with better dissovlability in cold and hot beverages.
Sourced from Mexicoʼs blue agave plant, this raw and organic sweetener is a low glycemic alternative to sugar.
Rough cut cubes perfectly portioned to sweeten your morning coffee, afternoon tea, or whatever you like to sip.
A wholesome alternative to refined white sugar. Eco-social certified, USDA organic and non-GMO, itʼs the perfect choice for both you and the environment.
Our unique blend of organic stevia extract and organic cane sugar provides a truly delicious sweet taste for any sweetening occasion.
Organic and hand-harvested, this raw and unfiltered wildflower honey delivers all of the wondrous benefits of bee pollen.
Four all-natural ingredients, perfectly blended to look, taste, crunch, and bake just like sugar.
A smooth golden version of our beloved classic agave is launched.
A sweet & spicy version of our beloved agave is launched.
Born, raised, and still here in Brooklyn
While many things in our corner of Brooklyn have changed, we remain headquarted in the same building where it all began.
