Enlarged Duchy

Chicago's extraordinary Duke of Groceries annexed another province to his growing duchy. Canadian-born Nathan Cummings, who became a wholesale grocer only five years ago, when he took charge of Baltimore's ailing 72-year-old Kenny Co., is now one of the biggest wholesale grocers in the U.S.

In those five years he has bought control of 80-year-old Sprague, Warner & Co. of Chicago, of Western Grocer Co., and of Marshall Canning Co. Last week for $7,000,000 he bought control of 92-year-old Reid, Murdoch & Co. and set up Consolidated Grocers Corp. to own and run his combine. He expects it to do $100,000,000 a year of the nation's $5 to $12 billion wholesale grocery business (depending on whose figures you prefer).

The manner of the purchase was indicative of Nate Cummings' procedure. Last February he took a vacation in Palm Springs and one day rode horseback so hard that he developed a sore, which turned into a carbuncle. Still laid up (when he returned to Chicago), he had to miss a cocktail party given by Horace Armstrong, president of rival Reid, Murdoch. Afterward, when Armstrong called to tell him about the party, Nate asked, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in selling Reid, Murdoch?"

Armstrong said no--that day. Two days later he came back with a different answer.

So last week Nate Cummings sat in a new walnut-paneled office backed by a carved lion's head on the wall--the trademark of Reid, Murdoch's "Monarch" brand, which he now owns, along with the "Yacht Club" and Sprague, Warner's "Richelieu" and "None-Such."

In a very real sense Nate Cummings owns them, for although Commercial Credit Co. and various banks have financed some of his deals, he does not favor spreading his stock control around. His formula is to buy old, established companies, sweep out the cobwebs and make them pay by efficient merchandising.

In the wholesale grocery business, which a few years ago was being rapidly encroached upon by chain stores, this process has been productive. It now supports his apartment overlooking Lake Michigan from the 21st floor of the Drake Tower Apartments -- with semicircular modern couches, a glass-enclosed "garden," a dining room lighted from a cylinder under its glass-topped table.

Nate Cummings plans his new Consolidated Grocers Corp. to be the General Motors of the grocery business, i.e., like Buick and Chevrolet, Reid, Murdoch would compete with Sprague, Warner for sales. Consolidated's various divisions include canners. manufacturers, importers, exporters and distributors of foods--its different branches maintaining their sales autonomy. And with his new consolidation, about twice the size of any comparable wholesale grocery firm five years ago, he plans to buck the chain stores still further by giving his customers merchandising and sales help.

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