COAT tAPPoN,
THIRD ANNUAL
Above:
Employees of
Reliable Coat and
Apron Supply, later
changed to Reliable
Linen, model their
product. Standing in
the middle of the
men holding the sign
is company founder,
Reuben Sandler.
Family
Legacies
28
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1990
"Max never forgot where he came
from," grandson Marty Jacob says.
Now 105 years old and the oldest con-
tainer business in the country, M. Jacob
and Sons has grown from a one-man horse
and wagon operation to one of the coun-
try's largest wholesale distributors of
empty glass and plastic bottles.
And it still is run by family. Marty, and
great-grandson, Joel, run the Farmington
Hills-based firm as president and vice
president. From three warehouses, more
than 200 customers purchase millions of
bottles annually from the company.
Marty Jacob credits the company's
success to his grandfather's ability to
plan and inspire each generation to make
its own contribution to the company's
growth.
Max turned the business over to his
sons by the time he was 45, entrusting
them to make their own changes and br-
ing new ideas to the company. On each
son's 21st birthday, he was admitted as
an equal partner.
Ben was president, the inside man;
William, Aubrey and Sam handled sales
— each supervising different divisions. Of
the four, only Ben's son, Marty, chose to
carry on the family business. The cousins
went to college, becoming doctors,
lawyers and other professionals.
Max's sons diversified the company,
securing accounts in addition to the
breweries. Later, grandson Marty, who
was heading warehouse sales, added
plastic containers to the glass line.
In 1982, great-grandson Joel added a
new division, Sprayco, which supplies
spray bottles and travel containers to dis-
count drug, grocery and hardware mass
merchandisers across the country.
"We are reminded of our ancestors
every day here," Joel Jacob says. "Every
time I make a sales call, I say I am from
M. Jacob and Sons, the bottle company.
You never forget your history."
1891
Samuel Salasnek, Opens
Retail Fish Store
Samuel Salasnek couldn't make a liv-
ing selling grain to storekeepers for their
horses, so he decided to try his hand at the
food business.
An immigrant who came from Austria
to America to prosper, Sam Salasnek and
his wife, Krendel, opened a retail fish
shop on Napoleon Street in Detroit. It was
open every day but Shabbat.
He purchased stocks of fish from two
small wholesalers, but soon found he was
not getting the quality product he needed,
nor the best price for his money. He knew
enough about fish to realize that fair
prices and top-notch fish would build his
business.
At the time, the Great Lakes were filled
with an abundance of fine, fresh water
fish. Fishermen came to the Great Lakes
from all over the world. They caught
white fish, lake trout, white bass, yellow
perch, herring, smelt and pike.
Sam Salasnek had an idea. He would go
directly to the fishermen. He hitched up
his horse and wagon and drove along the
Detroit River, purchasing fish from
yarious fishermen.
Eventually, he took that same horse
and wagon across the border 70 miles to a
site in Ontario. Quality and variety im-
proved.
Krendel tended the store, and raised
their nine children — four sons and five
daughters — while Sam built up his
sources of suppliers.
By 1910, with the addition of eldest son
Charles to the company, the Salasneks
entered the wholesale field. Their initial
success enabled the business to purchase
another horse and wagon.
By 1915, they modernized the company,