This year’s second Small Business Award is presented to Fee Brothers, another longstanding family-owned business in the City of Rochester. The company was started in the mid-1800s by brothers James, Owen, John, and Joseph, who began making and importing wine under the name “James Fee and Brothers.” Two centuries later, “Fee Brothers” is now owned and managed by the fifth generation, brothers Benjamin Fee Spacher and Jon F. Spacher.

The Fee Brothers business faced numerous challenges in its lengthy history, from devastating fires to the era of Prohibition, which prompted the creation of the non-alcoholic flavorings and cordial syrups that Fee Brothers is known for today. An especially challenging time in the company’s history was the sudden death of second-generation owner John Fee Jr., who took with him most of Fee’s recipes, which he had only documented in code. Fortunately, John Jr.’s son Jack was a chemist at Kodak.  Over several years of nights and weekends, he was able to decipher and redevelop the recipes, eventually leaving Kodak to become the third-generation owner. Jack Fee and his wife Margaret were managing the business when they moved from their original North Water Street location to a new building on Field Street. It didn’t take long to outgrow that space, and in 1964, they moved to the current Portland Avenue location.

The fourth generation of Fee owners were two of Jack and Margaret’s children, Ellen and Joe, who ran the business with their father until his death in 2015. Joe passed away several years later, and Ellen was the sole owner until the business was transferred to her nephews, Benn and Jon, in 2021. Thus began the fifth generation of family ownership.

The 12,000 square foot Portland Avenue complex produces cordials, syrups, bitters, and other specialty cocktail products. The modest brick buildings have adapted throughout the years to accommodate the changing needs of the business, but still contain some interesting historic elements. The small retail shop at the front has a 1906 cash register that was in regular use until 2016. A private room near the back of the building houses a “museum” of sorts containing chemistry equipment from Jack Fee’s experimentation days, plus antique wine jugs, vintage product labels, and well-worn office supplies from nearly every decade of the company’s existence. Fee Brothers has been a Portland Avenue mainstay for nearly fifty years, with its recognizable sign bearing the “Don’t Squeeze, use Fee’s” slogan. For their commitment to one of Rochester’s oldest family-owned businesses, we honor Benn and Jon Spacher with one of this year’s Small Business Awards.