Kickstart: Cambro tumblers and nostalgia hit social media sweet spot

People who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s are driving some nostalgia-based sales for Cambro Manufacturing Co. Inc. — specifically Cambro's red textured glass used at a certain national pizza restaurant.

Users on social media even use the product number, Cambro 2000p157, as a hashtag to make it easy to order dozens of the SAN cups from restaurant supply stores or online distributors.

Fans on social media celebrate not just the "unbreakable" glasses, but also the distinct sound they make when they hit the floor.

And Cambro, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based injection molder, is fully on board, posting response videos on Instagram and TikTok. It also had a giveaway of its colorful tumblers via its Instagram account.

"We're Cambro," a company executive says on one recent TikTok post. "Everyone is talking about our red cups, and we're going to make it our whole personality."

Not going to lie, whoever is handling the social media accounts — including replies — is doing a great job engaging with the public. "The year is 2023 and I am following the red restaurant cup account on TikTok," one commenter said, followed by a quick response from Cambro: "What a time to be alive."

Cambro, with U.S. manufacturing in California and North Carolina, makes more than plastic glasses. It is a longtime supplier to restaurants and the foodservice industries making storage containers, bins and trays.

The tumblers were first made in the early 1980s and while Gen Xers and millennials may just be rediscovering them now, Cambro has made sure to point out that they never went away.

Flexible packaging firm ProAmpac is being honored for its embrace of Ghaeilge — the Irish language.

The company, with global headquarters in Cincinnati, received a Graidaim award from Glór na nGael, an organization created to recognize businesses that "actively promote and utilize the Irish language in their signage, marketing, branding and services," ProAmpac said in a Nov. 16 (or Samhain 16ú) news release issued in both Irish and English.

ProAmpac has two facilities in Ireland, in Donegal and Naas.

The U.S. automotive strike has officially ended with a majority of United Auto Workers members at General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler parent Stellantis NV voting in favor of a new contract.

While there were fears that GM workers would reject the contract after voting fell short at some major assembly plants, in the end about 55 percent of UAW members approved it. Stellantis and Ford saw approval rates of about 65 percent, our sister paper Automotive News writes.

So what now? Expect to see a lot of money being spent.

Each of the Detroit 3 has agreed to improvements at plants that will see capital improvements at multiple locations. Most union members, meanwhile, will get an 11 percent raise and a $5,000 bonus to start. Throughout the life of the contract they will see pay increases totaling more than 30 percent, including cost-of-living adjustments.