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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 Biscuits brand),
Chips Deluxe Chips Deluxe is a brand of cookies made by the Keebler Company (a division of the Ferrara Candy Company, itself a subsidiary of Ferrero SpA) and distributed in the United States. Varieties Originally released as a chocolate chip cookies, the Ch ...
, Club Crackers, E.L. Fudge Cookies, Famous Amos, Fudge Shoppe Cookies, Murray cookies, Austin, Plantation,
Vienna Fingers Vienna Fingers is an American brand of cookie made by the Keebler Company, a division of Ferrero SpA. They consist of a sandwich of vanilla flavored outer crust filled with vanilla cream flavored filling. Akin to an Oreo, the surface is textured an ...
, Town House Crackers,
Wheatables Wheatables were baked snack Cracker (food), crackers made by the Keebler Company (a subsidiary of the Kellogg Company). They were available in Original Golden Wheat, Toasted Honey Wheat, as well as Wheatables Nut Crisps varieties in Roasted Almond ...
, Sandie's Shortbread, Pizzarias Pizza Chips, Chachos and Zesta Crackers, among others. The cookie and cracker lines were separated when
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 ...
sold the cookie line and the rights of the Keebler name to Ferrero SpA. The cracker lines are now marketed under the Kellogg's or Sunshine names. The Keebler
slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...
s are "''Uncommonly Good''" and "a little elfin magic goes a long way". Tom Shutter and Leo Burnett wrote the familiar jingle. 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 ...
sold Keebler to the Italian-owned Ferrero SpA in 2019.


Company history

Godfrey Keebler, of German descent, opened a bakery in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania, in 1853. His bakery networked with several other local bakeries and others around the country over the years, and in 1927 they merged into the United Biscuit Company of America. United Biscuit operated regional bakeries which included not only Keebler, but also Hekman Biscuit Company of
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...
, the Strietmann Biscuit Company of
Mariemont, Ohio Mariemont (pronounced ) is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It includes two overlapping historic districts, Village of Mariemont and Mariemont Historic District. Named for its founder, Mary Emery, Mariemont exhibits English ...
and the Bowman Biscuit Company of
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
which used the Supreme brand name. By 1963, United Biscuit introduced the Kitchen Rich brand nationally while still utilizing the regional brand names. In 1966, United Biscuit decided to adopt a uniform brand name and chose Keebler as the national brand and the name of the company. Keebler did adopt Streitmann's Zesta saltine brand as Keebler's national brand of saltine crackers. Keebler-Weyl Bakery became the official baker of Girl Scout Cookies in 1936, the first commercial company to bake the cookies (the scouts and their mothers had done it previously). By 1978, four companies were producing the cookies. Little Brownie Bakers is the Keebler division still licensed to produce the cookies. Keebler was acquired by
United Biscuits United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In Nove ...
in 1974, headquartered in
West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
, England. By the 1980s, Keebler had expanded into the bagged salty snack market, launching a string of successful and innovative snack chips such as Tato Skins, O'Boisies, and Pizzarias. In 1995, United Biscuits announced plans to spin off the snack chip business, but ending up selling the entire company to a partnership between Flowers Industries and Artal Luxembourg, a private equity firm. Artal Luxembourg sold its holdings in Keebler in an IPO in 1998. The Keebler Company purchased Sunshine Biscuits in 1996. In 2000, the Keebler Company acquired a license to produce snacks based on the popular children's show
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
. In March 2001, The Keebler Company was acquired by 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 ...
. At that time, headquarters were located in
Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Native A ...
. Currently, Keebler has manufacturing plants in the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. On April 1, 2019, Kellogg announced that it was selling Keebler cookies and other related brands to Ferrero SpA for $1.3 billion. The acquisition is a part of Ferrero's strategy to buy brands which have been neglected within broader food companies' portfolios. Kellogg retained the rights to other Keebler products, such as crackers, either under the Kellogg's or Sunshine names. The acquisition closed on July 29, 2019.


Keebler Elves

The animated Keebler
Elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
, led by "Ernest J. 'Ernie' Keebler", rank among the best-known characters from commercials. Ernie is the head elf and the friendliest of the bunch. The elves have appeared in countless
television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s throughout the years, shown baking their unique products. In the commercials, the Keebler tree logo is often turned into the tree in which the elves reside. Leo Burnett Worldwide, an
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
agency, created the elves in 1968, calling the bakery "The Hollow Tree Factory." J.J. Keebler was the original "king elf" in 1969, and was featured in a classroom film about how animated commercials are made, "Show and Sell", with J.J.'s voice performed by Alan Reed, Sr. Ernie Keebler became "head elf" in 1970. White-haired Ernie wears a green jacket, a white shirt with a yellow tie, a red vest, and floppy shoes. Ernie Keebler was first voiced by Walker Edmiston, later by Parley Baer, then
Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
in 2007, then
Richard Henzel Richard Henzel (born June 15, 1949) is a Chicago-based stage, film, TV, and voice-over actor. He is best known as the voice of Ernie Keebler, the Keebler Elf (since 2016), and as one of the two DJ voices heard on the clock radio in the movie ''G ...
since 2016. Other elves were Fryer Tuck (who promoted "Munch-ems"), Ernie's nephews Zoot and J.J. (known for Pizzarias Pizza Chips), Ernie's mother Ma Keebler, young Elmer Keebler, Buckets (who threw fudge on the cookies), Fast Eddie (who wrapped the products), Sam (the peanut butter baker), Roger (the jeweler), Doc (the doctor and cookie maker), Zack (the fudge shoppe supervisor), Flo (the accountant), Leonardo (the artist), Elwood (who ran through the dough), Professor, Edison, Larry and Art. Many of the Keebler commercials were narrated by the announcer Danny Dark. The first Keebler elves were drawn by children's author/illustrator and commercial artist
Roger Bradfield Roger Martin Bradfield (September 22, 1924 – December 31, 2021) was an American children's books writer, illustrator, cartoonist, painter, and world traveller. Early life Bradfield was born in 1924 in White Bear, Minnesota, and was raised by ...
.


List of Keebler snacks

Examples of Keebler products include:


References


External links

* {{Kellogg Company Brand name snack foods Ferrero SpA brands Snack food manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1853 Food and drink companies established in 1853 Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois Elmhurst, Illinois 1853 establishments in Pennsylvania 2019 mergers and acquisitions 1998 initial public offerings Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange American subsidiaries of foreign companies