Famous Amos
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Famous Amos is a brand of
cookies A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts ...
founded in Los Angeles in 1975 by
Wally Amos Wallace "Wally" Amos, Jr. (born July 1, 1936) is an American television personality, entrepreneur, and author from Tallahassee, Florida. He is the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate-chip cookie, the Cookie Kahuna, and Aunt Della's Cookies gour ...
, a former talent agent with
William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent a ...
.


History

Wallace "Wally" Amos was born in
Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...
, United States, on July 1, 1936. In 1948 he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to live with his aunt where they often baked cookies together. As an adult, Amos, an
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
veteran who worked as a
talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sport ...
with the
William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent a ...
, would send his home-baked chocolate chip cookies to celebrities to entice them to meet and perhaps sign a deal with his agency. Amos hit a plateau working for the William Morris Agency and decided to strike out on his own. On March 10, 1975, Amos took the advice of some friends, and with $25,000 from singers
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
and
Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a showbusiness family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on rad ...
, he opened a cookie store at 7181 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, naming it "Famous Amos". In the first year he sold $300,000 worth of cookies, followed by more than $1,000,000 in sales in the store's second year of operation. By 1982 the company's revenues reached $12 million. The store proved so popular that the "Famous Amos" brand eventually branched out to sell cookies in supermarkets, a move that would later be emulated by other specialty stores such as
Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...
, T.G.I. Fridays, and
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
. However, by 1984 sales had begun to slow and Amos started to sell parts of the business. In March of the following year, Amos sold 51% interest to Bass Brothers Enterprises in an attempt to salvage the business. That year the company had lost $300,000 as revenues slipped to $10 million. Investors got involved to try to stop the downward spiral, but according to Amos, they took more of an equity stake each time and did not stay long enough to get the company back on track. By August 1985, Bass Brothers had sold a majority share to an investor group, who planned a major expansion. By 1988 the company lost $2.5 million. That year the Shansby Group purchased Famous Amos for $3 million. After one year as a paid spokesman for his sold company, Amos quit in frustration. The Famous Amos brand has gone through a number of owners since inception. Between 1988 and 2001, the Famous Amos company went through more than five different owners. In 1992 the President Baking Company purchased the brand from
The Shansby Group TSG Consumer Partners is an American private equity company based in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded in 1987, and was among the first private equity firms to invest exclusively in consumer companies.
. In 1998,
Keebler The Keebler Company is an American cookie and former cracker manufacturer. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks, advertised with the Keebler Elves. Keebler had marketed its brands such as Cheez-It (which have the Sunshine Biscu ...
purchased the President Baking Company. It was owned by Keebler until the
Kellogg Company The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toas ...
purchased Keebler in 2001. There is a sign commemorating the first Famous Amos store in Los Angeles, located at West Sunset Boulevard and North Formosa Avenue in Hollywood. Wally Amos has created another brand of cookie called "Chip and Cookie", named after two characters he created in the 1980s. The Chip and Cookie brand is owned by Amos, and has a slightly different recipe than the one used by
Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...
. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that the Kellogg company had completed the sale of Keebler cookies (including Famous Amos) to
Ferrero SpA Ferrero SpA (), more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba, Italy. manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate producer ...
, maker of
Nutella Nutella (; ; ) is a brand of sweetened hazelnut Cocoa solids, cocoa Spread (food), spread. Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero SpA, Ferrero and was first introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963. Histor ...
. The Keebler brand will be manufactured by the Ferrero Groups US subsidiary
Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
, maker of
Butterfinger Butterfinger is a candy bar manufactured by the Ferrero SpA, a subsidiary of Ferrero. It consists of a layered crisp peanut butter core covered in a chocolatey coating. Invented by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company in 1923, the name ...
.


Packages

The Famous Amos cookie brand has gone through four package designs. The original package consisted of a round,
tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
metal box, similar to the blue packages of a European brand of cookies, except that Famous Amos's package was white, and with a photo of what seemed to be a large chocolate chip cookie spinning on Wally Amos's finger. Amos himself was pictured on these packages, wearing his trademark straw hat and cotton shirt. The 1980s packages consisted of small plastic bags that resembled the larger bags of the same material used by supermarkets during that period. They had the brand's name inscribed in small letters, and once again, with a photo of Amos apparently spinning a large chocolate chip cookie on his finger, in a way that was similar to the
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
-spinning trick made famous by the Harlem Globetrotters. The 1990s packages were much larger than those of the 1980s, with the name "Famous Amos" prominently displayed on the cover. These packages marked the end of Wally Amos's cover appearances, and featured a number of small cookies pictured instead, with a blue ribbon reading "chocolate chip". The 2000s Famous Amos packages are very similar to the ones used during the 1990s, except for a couple of differences, such as the ribbon's color (
almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...
has replaced blue). Part of Wally Amos's biography is featured on the back of the newest packages. The design of the 2000s Famous Amos package does not have the biography on the back of the Not for Resale editions, or packages that come in large boxes or packs, usually found at
Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Cl ...
and
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...
. International franchise owners in franchise locations overseas sometimes design their own cookie bags printed with 3D ribbons.


Bibliography

* ''Man With No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade'', Aslan, * ''The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips'', Bantam Doubleday, * ''Making Mistakes is Natural: Chicken Soup for the African American Soul''. Health Communications, Inc.


References


External links

* {{Kellogg Company Brand name cookies Ferrero SpA brands Products introduced in 1975 History of Los Angeles