Mother's Cookies

Mother's was founded in 1914

{{cite book |title=Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks |date=2007 |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office |page=1203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlAbAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Mother%27s+Cookies%22+%221914%22&pg=PA1203 |language=en |quote=MOTHER'S COOKIES CALIFORNIA ORIGINAL SINCE 1914}}

when N.M. Wheatley, a newspaper vendor, purchased the rights to a cookie recipe from a customer. A year later, Wheatley opened a one-person operation on 12th Avenue in Oakland.{{cite web |url=https://www.motherscookies.com/en/our-history/

|title=Our History |website=www.motherscookies.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725033153/https://www.motherscookies.com/en/our-history/

|archive-date=25 July 2021 |url-status=dead}}

{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCmLY7aAqWgC|pages=282|title=Cuisine and Culture|author=Linda Civitello|year=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-74172-5}} On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson had issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother's Day

[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may09.html Today in History: May 9] Library of Congress

{{cite book| title=Mother's day: its history, origin, celebration, spirit, and significance as related in prose and verse| author=Rice, Susan Tracey and Robert Haven Schauffler| url=https://archive.org/details/mothersdayitshi00schagoog |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mothersdayitshi00schagoog/page/n27 3]–5|year=1915 | publisher=Moffat, Yard & company|quote=in 1914 Congress passed a law, which Wilson signed on May 8, 1914, 'designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day', and authorizing and requesting that Wilson issue a proclamation 'calling upon the government officials to display the United States flag on all buildings, and the people of the United States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.'}}

Archway was founded in 1936 by the Swansons, a husband-and-wife team who baked soft-batch cookies in their garage. The Swansons expanded their company nationwide in the 1940s, changing its name to Archway to avoid conflict with Swanson, a maker of frozen dinners. In 1962 the founders sold the company to their vice president, George Markham, who bought most of the franchises back over the next several years. Markham in turn sold the company to two employees, who operated it from 1983 to 1998. The company was sold to Specialty Foods in 1998, reportedly for $100 million.{{Cite news|url=http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=9122573|title=Archway Cookies closing in Battle Creek|date=2008-10-03|publisher=WOOD TV 8|access-date=2008-10-12|archive-date=2008-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005233017/http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9122573|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|work=New York Times|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EEDD133AF936A25753C1A96E958260|title= Specialty Foods to Pay $100 Million for Two Companies|date=1998-10-15}} The transaction made Specialty Foods the third largest cookie maker in the United States{{cite news|publisher=Wall Street Journal|date=2003-12-31|title=Appetite Is Growing For Parmalat's Archway Cookie Unit|author=Robin Sidel}} after Keebler and Nabisco.{{cite news|publisher=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2004-01-14-parmalat_x.htm|date=2004-01-13|title=Parmalat's American workers uneasy, while investors are angry|author=Kevin McCoy}}

File:Mother factory.jpg, in 2006]]

The two companies then went through a succession of owners. Mother's was sold to Artal NV, a Belgian company, then bought by Specialty Foods Corp., a conglomerate formed by Robert Bass, who sold Mother's Cake & Cookie Co. and Archway Cookies to Parmalat S.p.A.{{cite news|publisher=Chicago Tribune|title=Specialty Foods Sells Archway Cookies And Mother's Bakery To Italy's Parmalat|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/09/13/specialty-foods-sells-archway-cookies-and-mothers-bakery-to-italys-parmalat/ |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022133046/https://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-09-13/business/0009130160_1_archway-cookies-specialty-foods-italy-s-parmalat |archive-date=October 22, 2014}} Specialty Foods sold Mother's and Archway to an Italian firm, Parmalat Finanziaria in 2000 for $250 million.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-09-13-0009130160-story.html|title=Specialty Foods Sells Archway Cookies And Mother's Bakery To Italy's Parmalat|first=Susan|last=Chandler|work=Chicago Tribune|date=September 13, 2000}} As of 2002 Mother's was baking 17.5 million cookies per day.{{cite news|publisher=Oakland Tribune|title=Mother's Facelift: Cookie firm not crumbling in face of competition|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=OKTB&p_theme=oktb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F993512672E1CF3&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|author=Alec Rosenberg|date=2002-06-05|access-date=2008-10-12|archive-date=2012-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014045152/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=OKTB&p_theme=oktb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F993512672E1CF3&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|url-status=dead}} Cookie sales began to decline after 2000 due to low-fat and low carb diet trends, although sales improved when the company introduced low fat cookies, and accounted for 10% of the United States cookie market as of late 2004. Parmalat filed for bankruptcy amidst a scandal involving illegal sale of corporate bonds. Parmalat in turn sold the companies to Catterton Partners, a private equity firm in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 2005, The new operators closed the Oakland factory in 2006, laid off all 230 workers,{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mother-s-Cookies-crumbling-Oakland-bakery-2500413.php|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |title=Mother's Cookies crumbling: Oakland bakery abandoning area where it was born |author= Tom Abate |date=2006-04-04}} and moved baking operations to Ohio and Canada. The company suffered an accounting scandal in 2008{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/business/31archway.html|work=The New York Times|title=Oh, No! What Happened To Archway?|first=Julie|last=Creswell|date=May 30, 2009}} and in October 2008, the company became a victim of the 2008 financial crisis it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off all of its workers.

In December, 2008, Lance Inc. bought the assets of Archway,{{cite news|author=Ginger Christ|title=Lance, Inc. approved to buy Archway Cookies, Kelloggs approved by the bankruptcy court to buy Mother's Cookies|date=2008-12-03|url=http://www.times-gazette.com/news/article/4478881|publisher=Ashland Times-Gazette}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and soon reopened the former Archway factory in Ashland, Ohio.{{cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/23/cookie.factory.reopens/index.html|title=Shuttered bakery reopens, rehires workers|date=2008-12-23|author=John King}} Also, the same month Kellogg Company was approved to buy the assets of Mother's Cookies with plans to return the products to the shelves in mid-2009. In May 2009, Mother's Cookies returned to store shelves, including Kellogg's launch of a website for the product.[http://motherscookies.com/ Mother's Cookies website] After the return of the Mother's Cookies product line, customers noted changes in the recipes, most notably to the Taffy cookie.{{cite web | url=https://www.full-recipes.com/mothers-taffy-cookies-changed/ | title=41 Results - Mothers Taffy Cookies Changed | access-date=2021-11-17 | archive-date=2021-11-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117190834/https://www.full-recipes.com/mothers-taffy-cookies-changed/ | url-status=dead }}

In April 2019, Kellogg's announced the sale of Mother's Cookies, among other brands, to Italian confectioner Ferrero SpA, creators of Nutella.{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Kellogg-selling-Keebler-and-other-brands-for-1-3-13731984.php|periodical=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Iconic Oakland cookie company bought by Nutella's parent company|date=April 1, 2019}}

File:Circus Animal Cookies.jpg

Mother's is known for pink and white iced "Circus Animal Cookies", "Taffy Sandwich Cookies" (original recipe), "Peanut Butter Gauchos", and iced oatmeal cookies.{{cite news|publisher=Contra Costa Times|title=Mother's Cookies closes down|url=http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_10678906?source=most_emailed|author=David Morrill|date=2008-10-09}}{{cite news|title=Mother's Cookies Gets Giddy With KB&P West|author=Jane Irene Kelly|publisher=Adweek|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/4169320-1.html|date=1998-03-09}} Archway's most popular product was Ruth's Oatmeal Cookies, based on a recipe found by one of its franchisees at a county fair, which made up 40% of all sales.

The company included collectable baseball cards in their packs of cookies, featuring the Pacific Coast League (1952–53) and several west-coast Major League Baseball teams (1983–2002). Many of those cards were distributed by the teams themselves as promotional stadium giveaways. In the presidential election year of 1992, the company also produced collectable cards featuring the Presidents of the United States.

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Category:Food and drink companies established in 1914

Category:Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008

Category:Companies based in Oakland, California

Category:Kellogg's brands

Category:Bakeries of California

Category:1914 establishments in California