25° 
The Fall of the Crown Pilot Cracker
Submitted by Kathleen Fleury on Fri, 05/23/2008 - 5:21pm.
In response to the PPH article about the demise of the Crown Pilot Cracker, Down East Senior Editor Jeff Clark:
"It was just over ten years ago that we Mainers thought we'd saved the Nabisco Crown Pilot Cracker, the unsalted, hard-baked, absolutely vital accompaniment to chowders that has been a Maine and New England tradition for more than two centuries. Now Nabisco, which was bought by Kraft eight years ago, has quietly closed down Crown Pilot production amid claims that sales have dropped dramatically since the 1990s.
We perhaps should have seen the writing on the wall. When was the last time you saw an ad for Crown Pilot crackers in the newspaper or on television? When was the last time a Crown Pilot coupon appeared in the Sunday paper? The trademark cracker, with a history that dates back to a Massachusetts bakery in 1792, drifted into marketing obscurity and stayed there.
This is not a new thing. Back in 1996 Nabisco dropped the cracker and then revived it in 1997 in the face of a concerted campaign from consumers that culminated in humorist Tim Sample appealing for its return on his "CBS Sunday Morning" report. The organizer of that effort, Donna Damon, of Chebeague Island, is trying to repeat the miracle (check out the previous revival effort at her website), but perhaps a better solution is offered by food writer and historian Sandy Oliver of Islesboro: Nabisco could give the rights to the cracker to a local bakery for continued production. A Maine-made pilot cracker would return the crunch to its New England roots and free it from the need to meet the profit and sales requirements of a multinational corporation. Local food, indeed."
In response to the PPH article about the demise of the Crown Pilot Cracker, Down East Senior Editor Jeff Clark:
"It was just over ten years ago that we Mainers thought we'd saved the Nabisco Crown Pilot Cracker, the unsalted, hard-baked, absolutely vital accompaniment to chowders that has been a Maine and New England tradition for more than two centuries. Now Nabisco, which was bought by Kraft eight years ago, has quietly closed down Crown Pilot production amid claims that sales have dropped dramatically since the 1990s.
We perhaps should have seen the writing on the wall. When was the last time you saw an ad for Crown Pilot crackers in the newspaper or on television? When was the last time a Crown Pilot coupon appeared in the Sunday paper? The trademark cracker, with a history that dates back to a Massachusetts bakery in 1792, drifted into marketing obscurity and stayed there.
This is not a new thing. Back in 1996 Nabisco dropped the cracker and then revived it in 1997 in the face of a concerted campaign from consumers that culminated in humorist Tim Sample appealing for its return on his "CBS Sunday Morning" report. The organizer of that effort, Donna Damon, of Chebeague Island, is trying to repeat the miracle (check out the previous revival effort at her website), but perhaps a better solution is offered by food writer and historian Sandy Oliver of Islesboro: Nabisco could give the rights to the cracker to a local bakery for continued production. A Maine-made pilot cracker would return the crunch to its New England roots and free it from the need to meet the profit and sales requirements of a multinational corporation. Local food, indeed."
The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.
- Kathleen Fleury
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