Salt and pepper is the symbol of the 14th business anniversary, according to “The Bartel Years(TM),” the roster of business anniversary symbols for a company’s first 100 years of success.
An essential mineral for human life, salt or sodium chloride has been used for millennia to preserve or to season food. This crystalline compound was once considered so valuable that Roman soldiers received their wages in salt. In fact, the Latin word for salt — salarium — is the origin of the word “salary.” Salt is produced by evaporating seawater or by mining rock deposits, and salt production is one of the world’s oldest chemical industries.
For black pepper, berries from the pepper plant are harvested and then dried. These dried fruits called peppercorns are ground into powdered pepper, which has been used throughout history as a seasoning. Highly prized as a trade item, peppercorns were once used as a form of commodity currency. In fact, the term “peppercorn” still exists today as a metaphor in contract law. A peppercorn is a nominal amount — such as a dollar — that one party gives to another in order to create a legally binding agreement.
The commercial connotations of salt and pepper were the inspirations for including this culinary couple in “The Bartel Years(TM)” at the Number 14 spot.
This year marks the 14th business anniversary of Bartel Communications. For our business anniversary community service project, we donated canned goods plus containers of salt and tins of pepper to the food pantries in the village of Waterford, NY, where Bartel Communications is located.
Cans of vegetables, beef stew and tuna fish will satisfy the basic needs of hungry area families. We included the salt and pepper to remind recipients that life is always better with a little seasoning.
Blogger Bio: Pauline Bartel, M.A., is President and Chief Creative Officer of
Bartel Communications, Inc., an award-winning corporate communications firm,
specializing in marketing, public relations and business anniversary consulting
services. The firm created “The Bartel Years™” and “The Bartel Years 200™,” rosters of business anniversary symbols to inspire two centuries of business anniversary
“sell”-abrations. Download free copies of “The Bartel Years™” and the special
report “The Top 10 Business Anniversary Ideas for SELL-abrating Your Business
Anniversary” at this link: http://www.paulinebartel.com/services/corporate-services/business-anniversary-consulting