Hanukkah... in JAIL!

Well, not really, but sort of. Just something that struck me as interesting.

One of the greatest of the uncountable contributions to American culture made by Jewish immigrants is, as we all know (or ought to), Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup.

Fox's U-bet is the only syrup used to make a classic New York egg cream. Their vanilla syrup is delicious too, and can be used for the variant vanilla egg cream. But many people are unaware that Fox's also makes raspberry, strawberry, coffee, black cherry, malt, sugar-free chocolate, dark chocolate, fair-trade chocolate, and all-natural chocolate as well, although outside the city they're hard to find. (Inside the city too, for many of these.)

What I was unaware of until looking at their site the other day is that Fox's does a bang-up business providing syrups for institutions. And not just hospitals and schools. That's right---Fox's is in crossbar hotel, the house of many doors, lockdown, box town, the slammer, the cooler... Fox's is in jail!

Selling your products to jails is a great sideline, but it's more complicated than you or I might think. Take these quotes from their Correctional Institutions page:

"Our product line includes both a color and a no-color variant. Our no-color line of syrups is a recent addition to our product line. The benefits of a no color product are that it will not stain floors, walls or institutional equipment, and eliminates an obvious hiding place for contraband."

"The Beverage Cart: This specially designed and manufactured correctional grade dispensing unit was developed and created especially by H. Fox & Co., Inc.. Together with input from our Correctional Coordinator, a member of ACFSA and an equipment design team, the cart was designed considering maximum concern for safety and security. Understanding that even the smallest part could cause major problems, no component was overlooked....This box is secured to the cart by use of 4 security screws located on the inside of the box. In addition, there are 2 security screws on top of the box that keep it closed and restrict access to the inside of the unit. The security screws require a special tool to open them and, this is not supplied to the facility. A regular screwdriver will not open these screws."

It's a little scary, what they have to think about just to get some delicious beverages to our violent prison population. Let's hope that the presence of Fox's reminds our inmates that a better world awaits them if they can get out and follow the law. Then they can drink all the delicious Fox's syrups they could want, and in full color, too.