Bud Frye may be retiring, but his molds and products continue

After 35 years in the plastics industry, Bud Frye thinks it is time for someone else to sell his food storage and housewares products. That's why he's getting ready to retire and putting the 100-plus molds from Frye International Corp. on the auction block.

“I have no health issues but at age 77 the time is right. This is our 35th year of business,” said Frye, president and owner of Frye International, during a telephone interview.

The Branford Group, of Branford, Conn., is handling the two-day online sale which runs Sept. 16-17. It will include over 100 injection molds used for making food storage and housewares products that once carried the brands of Tucker Housewares, Farberware, Fresh Keeper, Lamarle, Monterrey and Thermoserv. There's also some auxiliary equipment being offered.

“Mold sales don't come on the market very often,” said James Gardner, partner and senior vice president of Branford Group.

“We've drawn interest from all over the world,” he added.

Frye still takes pride in the containers, which are made from linear low density polyethylene and polypropylene.

“With our citrus series of colors, each size is one color. So, when you have the bowl, you never get the corresponding lid mixed up. We get all kinds of plaudits for that,” he said.

It also offered a patented time system where a calendar is molded in the bowl rim and a marker on the lid could be positioned to tell the date it was stored.

Frye said that he has a year's worth of projects awaiting his retirement, but he also has fond memories of the company. It is currently winding down its inventory and has three other employees wrapping up final orders.

The company got its start in 1980 when Frye, who was working for Commodore Computers, and his brother David, who was working at Eastman Chemical, saw that there might be a market for injection molded keyboards. They formed a partnership — Bud was the only fulltime employee, while David, who had molding experience, worked nights and weekends. The computer craze was beginning.

They did work for Fisher Price, American Airlines, Rubbermaid and others. However, in the late 1980s, they started doing housewares with Lamarle, which was making food storage products and using the original Tupperware airtight seal when the patent expired. The Lamarle owners were hurt by doubling of resin prices and Frye ending up buying out their customer in 1991.

“In 1993 we acquired a Farberware license, so we got to reach lots of buyers who didn't recognize us before,” he said.

Also, the brothers split the business in 1990 when they realized that they could not run the clear housewares on the same machines as the black fire retardant computer parts.

“We'd get black specks for days,” said Frye, noting that the mold switchover would contaminate the clear containers.

Bill Frye's business became Supreme Plastics and he sold it. He later started a blow molder 3D Plastics Inc, which also now does injection molding.

Bud Frye said that his business grew too, but by 2000, he found it difficult to supply enough injection molding work year-round. That's when he sold off the presses and turned to contract molders, including his brother's company.

He said that the business dropped off when the 2008 recession hit and that lately retailers have given shelf space to thin-wall disposables rather than Frye's more durable products.

Now, Frye noted that 30-40 percent of its business has been from web stores, and only 20 percent from retailers.

 However, he will remember the highlights: The early days of building the business.  In 1988, he said a Costco buyer chose his product over Rubbermaid and Anchor Hooking. That lasted 5 years until the buyer changed.

Last year, an internet company bought a batch of Frye's 60-piece Citrus colored housewares sets and sold out in 24 hours.

So, he will watch how well the molds do and where they go.