UPDATED – September 15, 2023 1030 CST to include company contact info – https://forjars.ca/
With the discontinuation of lids for gem jars last year by Bernardin, many home canners have been left with perfectly good jars but no lids. A new company has taken up the task of filling this gap in the home canning market. ForJars Canada has started to offer their new line of gem-sized lids.
With its headquarters in North Port, Florida, but a dedicated Canadian-only distribution centre in West Kelowna, B.C., ForJars saw a business opportunity when Bernardin stepped out of the picture.
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Nolan Chapman, sales manager of the Canadian team of ForJars, helped get a foothold in the canning supply market through website promotions.
Starting manufacturing of the new lid size in 2022, those who had bought online then told others about the new lids, which then led to phone calls direct to ForJars customer service lines, asking if there was a way to order the lids for those without internet access.
While phone orders are possible, ForJars now has its products in retail stores, such as select Home Hardware and several small independent farm supply stores.
“We do manufacture our lids in China, but we don’t want that to be something that turns people away from our product,” Chapman said.
“Anybody who has purchased them irregardless of where the product comes from knows it is high quality. We have a really good relationship with our manufacturer and we are very diligent in our quality testing.”
He said the company found a huge market for its gem-sized jar lids in the Hutterite populations of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“We’re looking into the market with the Amish in the future. We’re trying to get our product to them and they prefer American (made) products, as I am sure our other customers do as well.”
ForJars next plans to get its products into more retailers such as Walmart, Canadian Tire and Safeway soon.
ForJars hopes to have the gem-sized bands ready for sale in the near future.
“Our lid still fits perfectly well with these older style jars where we instruct our users to put the lid on the jar, put their glass lid over that, flipped over, and then use the wider band. We’ve had a high success rate of sealing in this manner as well.”
In this way, even if the new bands that Bernardin had been supplying up till last year rust or are damaged, the heavier, older bands can still be used, in conjunction with the glass plate lids. For most home canners, these older lids and glass plates probably have been saved, tucked away for just such a just-in-case scenario.
The ForJars lids, regardless of size, are a few millimetres thicker than the Bernardin brand. This is to allow more versatility with vacuum, pressure or water bath canning. The thinner lid of Bernardin had a tendency to fail or deform if put under too much pressure.
