Irish immigrant Hugh McConnell was the last person to make knives in San Francisco — 160 years ago. But now a cutting-edge company, with its own connection to Ireland, plans to bring back the tradition — and in the process may provide a lesson on the key role of manufacturing in the revival of American cities.
A truly iconic company founded by husband-and-wife team Josh Donald and Kelly Kozak, Bernal Cutlery started with Josh sharpening knives from their home in Bernal Heights — an ersatz Blade Runner on the Bay — and selling knives on Craigslist. He quickly developed a reputation among serious chefs, who beat a path to his door. 20 years later, the pair have made their store in the Mission District of San Francisco a revered destination for professional chefs and wannabe kitchen wizards.
American manufacturing has been on a downward slide for generations. Great cities across the USA were allowed to decline as negligent governments watched on nonchalantly while throbbing industrial powerhouses like Lawrence, MA and Newark, NJ fell silent; their downtowns cratered, their inner-city communities immiserated. Have AOH veteran Danny O'Connell tell you about Ohio's 'Black Monday' when 5,000 workers lost their job and livelihoods overnight with the sudden collapse of Youngstown Sheet and Tube and you can hear echoes of an entire community's pain. MAKERS: Josh Donald and Kelly Kozak of Bernal Cutlery - 'the Rolls Royce of knife dealers'
Sharper minds than mine have grappled with the problem of resuscitating America's cities but it doesn't take a genius to recognize that returning manufacturing to U.S. conurbations is part of the reconstruction jigsaw. The 'Made in America' brand today doesn't just signify a quality product but it also represents the dignity of employment being afforded blue collar workers. And, as Teamsters President Sean O'Brien is wont to say, good jobs are the basis of strong communities.
I had breakfast recently in New York with a business guru who was understandably talking up the job benefits of an American Navy plan to build ten new nuclear submarines at a cost of $10bn per vessel.
But as the sort of person who likes to turn swords into ploughshares, I am more heartened by stories of small businesses, led by enlightened entrepreneurs, trying to manufacture artisan products using skilled American labor - indeed, often retrained American labor.
On my recent visit to San Francisco for our Irish Roundtable in the Valley, I accepted an invite to visit the Bernal Cutlery store— an Aladdin's Cave of knives beloved of restaurant chefs. 20 years since its foundation as a travelling knife-sharpening service, Bernal Cutlery now offers tableware and speciality foodstuffs alongside the leading global knife brands. It is a sparkling small business with a nod to the era when our industrious Irish emigrant Hugh McConnell founded a foundry and cutlery factory in San Francisco with its very own, and oft-copied, San Franciscan style. Competition from cheaper products on the East Coast, shipped in on the new railroad, put paid to McConnell's enterprise. That story was to be repeated over the past 50 years in an even more damaging form as cheap imports from China decimated America's manufacturing base.
Now, bold Bernal Cutlery founders Josh Donald and Kelly Kozak (though her mum was a Gallagher which surely explains the Kelly) plan to turn back the clock by opening a small manufacturing facility close to their shop.
When I met the pair in the Golden Gate City last week, they were alive to the challenge that lay ahead — there are reasons why manufacturers fled America: high wage costs, competition from low-cost competitors, declining quality. But Josh and Kelly are undeterred. They know their high-end Bernal knives will have to be both beautiful and durable and are confident American artisans can deliver both. I visited the former scooter showroom space they have acquired for their workshop and could sense both their excitement at embracing a new adventure but also a certain healthy nervousness at the prospect of placing the 'Made in America' marque on Californian cutlery again. ICON: Bernal Cutlery on a busy Friday morning earlier this month
My pal Francis Schott, who runs the best restaurant in New Jersey tells me that "Bernal is the Rolls Royce of knife dealers," adding: "Bernal's name is known throughout the country. Knife nerds know it and it has a loyal following like Harley-Davidson had at its height. I would say they are the number one authority on knives in America and if they are attaching their name to a new line it would have great value."
Quite an endorsement, though I had decided to support (modestly) Bernal Cutlery's upcoming financial raise, aimed at funding the new manufacturing plant, before we spoke. In fact I was in the moment Kelly told me she was motivated to manufacture quality knives in San Francisco again by a desire to make knives which could take their place alongside the great knife brands of the world. To dream that big, you have to really believe in the artisans, in the craftsmen and craftswomen, in the makers of America. She does. So do I.
Of course, when you combine the 'Made in America' marque with the coffee table books, the glassware, the delicacies and the boutique gift offering of Bernal Cutlery, you have the makings of a phenomenal business which could have outposts across the U.S. So perhaps for me and my fellow-investor Seamus McAteer, who will lead the fundraise, an opportunity to do good while doing well.
As a bonus, I am taking it that the fabled Hugh McConnell had Belfast roots. After all, after a 100 year hiatus, we have just revived the McConnell Whisky brand in the city — also founded by a Hugh McConnell— so there's surely some connection to my home place. Wouldn't it be great if the first knives forged in Bernal Cutlery's new workshop also bore the McConnell name. That would be a sharp move! THE PAST IS PROLOGUE: Behind framed glass, a collection of vintage San Francisco knives including the seminal Hugh McConnell creations
