Vol. 4, No. 6, June 2007
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Sweet Storm
Salt water taffy born of errant waves
Ocean City’s caramel corn may come with or without a cover, but the Jersey Shore guilty boardwalk snack that’s gone the farthest is Atlantic City’s world-famous salt water taffy. Beginning as a marketing ploy in the late 19th century, salt water taffy has transcended its Boardwalk roots.
Richie Brothers and Windle Hollis sold the first taffy on the Boardwalk in 1880, but on a windy night in 1883, Boardwalk merchant David Bradley’s candy store at St. James Place was savaged by errant waves from a storm tide. The next day when asked if he had any taffy to sell, he ruefully replied that he had plenty of “salt water taffy.”
Apparently the idea of eating candy doused by seawater—watch out for pieces of jellyfish—caught on like hotcakes, as customers lined up for it.
Though the first mention of salt water taffy in national newspapers dates from 1893, the history of salt water taffy sellers on the Boardwalk in the 1880s is well-documented. That the confection could have become nationally known a mere decade after its “invention” says a lot about the popularity of Atlantic City.
Bradley unveiled a huge sign reading “Salt Water Taffy” over his store for the 1884 season, though he neglected to copyright the name. Bradley’s rivals began advertising their own salt water taffy, and soon visitors to the shore could pick from several brands. Bradley soldiered on in the taffy business until 1939, fighting off a 1923 lawsuit from Miamian John Edmiston, who claimed that he, not Bradley, had coined the term “salt water taffy.” Edmiston lost the case and soon disappeared from the city.
Whatever the real story behind salt water taffy’s invention, it was by the late 1880s one of Atlantic City’s hottest products. Joseph A. Fralinger (also spelled Fraelinger and Froehlinger) helped popularize the treat. Fralinger, born in Sweetwater, Atlantic County in 1848, started off as a glass blower but later moved to Philadelphia, where he ran a fish market before managing several baseball clubs.
He then moved to Atlantic City, where he sold cider, lemonade, cigars and, after 1889, salt water taffy on the Boardwalk. Though he didn’t invent the candy, Fralinger was the first to sell it in a durable box rather than a paper bag. Fralinger’s box proved a better fit for train-riding vacationers, and taffy became a popular gift item.
Fralinger’s taffy proved so successful that he was dubbed “The Taffy King.” He went on to build first the Academy of Music and then the Apollo Theater. Though he sold his salt water taffy store in 1902, stores with his name still sell candy in Atlantic City, Cape May and Ocean City.
The other legendary name in sweets came to the Boardwalk in 1905 when the Enoch James, who had been making taffy for years, brought his family to town. His improved brand of taffy, less sticky and easy to chew than earlier varieties, proved popular. After James’ 1906 death his three sons Lee, Harry, and Enoch Jr. continued to sell candy and broadened their product mix to include chocolate-dipped and chocolate-center taffy.
To drum up business, the senior James gave away free samples at Arkansas Avenue and the Boardwalk to passers-by. One youngster, delighted by the bite-sized portions, exclaimed that the candy was “cut to fit the mouth.” James turned this impromptu testimonial into a marketing catchphrase that the taffy seller still uses today.
Salt water taffy is a triumph of marketing. There was nothing special about the Jersey Shore that made it a better place to make or sell candy, but enterprising confectioners convinced the public that Atlantic City was the only place to get this “unique” treat. Even its apocryphal origin story is a classic case of making lemonade (or lemon candy) from lemons.
It is a lesson that today’s marketing gurus would do well to emulate as they try to sell Atlantic City to 21st century audiences.
