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King of the Kitchen

Dorset, Vermont - November 20, 2009

Dorset's J.K. Adams Company is 65 years old in 2009, but the big woodworking machines here may not have been running today if it weren't for a happy accident decades ago.

"Cutting boards came around as a way of using up old scraps from other products we were making," Malcolm Cooper explained.

Malcolm Cooper's dad bought into an existing business making tools for engineers and draftsmen-- things like wooden T-squares, sliderules, and work tables. Back in the 1940s, any leftover scraps would be fashioned together into simple cutting boards.

"And put them on the shipping dock with a cigar box next to them," Cooper said.

From that naïve little retail sideline J.K. Adams has grown to be Vermont's king of the kitchen when it comes to wood products.

"People like to eat and like the tools that go with eating," Cooper said.

The company is one of the top domestic suppliers for major store chains like Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel and 2,100 other wholesale accounts, shipping 10,000 cutting boards a month on top of other housewares made from mostly New England hardwoods.

"We've really been thought to design for the industry the first rotating spice rack, the first angled knife block and the first in-drawer storage rack all came out of J.K. Adams," Cooper boasted.

"What we do is meant to last," longtime employee Candy Brown said.

The 65 workers still produce some drafting gear, like wooden tripods for surveying devices. But the gourmet kitchen accessories, like cutting boards in Christmas shapes, are by far the company's bread and butter.

"Our J.K. Adams logo stands for quality and I've been here 33 years, so I'm very proud of that quality," Brown said.

Even though the brand is now well-recognized across the country and overseas, one question continues to dog company president Malcolm Cooper all these years after his dad took over J.K. Adams.

"A lot of people say, 'This is your family business, why isn't it called the Cooper Company?' And I say, 'My dad was too cheap to change the stationery.'"

That Yankee frugality; the same common sense that inspired him to not waste scrap wood, instead turning it into cutting boards is what made J.K. Adams a leader in its industry-- another Made in Vermont success story.

"We're proud of what we do here," Cooper said.

J.K. Adams has stores in Waterbury and at its factory in Dorset. The products are also available at many other retailers including Kiss the Cook on Church Street in Burlington.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont