Burry's is a food manufacturer, founded as Burry's Biscuit Corporation by George W. Burry in 1888 in
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It became a division of the
Quaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and ...
in 1962. The company was one of the manufacturers of Girl Scout cookies from 1936 until 1989.
History
Burry's Biscuit Corporation
Burry Biscuit dates to 1888, when Christina Burry began manufacturing cookies in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, then restructured by George W. Burry into the Burry Biscuit Corporation in 1933, based in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
before moving to
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It manufactured Girl Scout Cookies, which it called Plantation cookies. The cookies were packed in a sealed cardboard cylinder, and later the cookies were packed in cans. The company began manufacturing Girl Scout cookies in 1936.
In 1944, Burry's manufactured Girl Scout Cookies including "Thin Mints", a sugared shortbread cookie called "Scot-Teas", and "Savannahs", an oatmeal sandwich cookie with peanut butter filling.
In 1944, the Burry Biscuit expanded into cleaning and hygiene products. As of 1946, the company produced pretzels and pioneered a machine-made pretzel to automate the process.
In 1950, Burry's Biscuit Corporation purchased Independent Biscuits Inc. of
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...
for $125,000. Burry's continued to operate Independent Biscuits as a division of Burry's. On March 29, 1954, the company purchased LeRoy Foods, a Brooklyn-based food company. It also purchased Empire Biscuit around the same time. These two purchases doubled Burry's sales. Around 1960 Burry Biscuit purchased Cal-Ray Bakeries, a baking corporation based in the
Western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau.
As American settlement i ...
. In January 1962 the company became a division of
Quaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and ...
, in a takeover valued at around $25,000,000. At the time of purchase, Burry Biscuit had 1,600 employees, profits of around $730,000 on revenue of $22,525,874, and offered over 40 products.
In 1962, Burry's was the largest producer of Girl Scout cookies in the nation. One of their marketing managers, J.R. McAllister Borie, is credited with popularizing the 'Thin Mint Cookie'. In 1980, the food division of Burry's was sold to
Générale Biscuit
Lefèvre-Utile, better known worldwide by the initials LU, was a French manufacturer brand of biscuits, emblematic of the city of Nantes. The brand is now part of US confectionery company Mondelēz International since 2012, after splitting of it ...
and its name was changed to Burry-Lu, to reflect LU, Générale Biscuit's international brand. In 1985, Burry-Lu and the Salerno-Megowen Biscuit Company were merged, forming General Biscuit Brands. The new company produced 13,000 tons of food, and 30% of Girl Scout cookies. In 1989, ABC Cookie Bakers purchased Burry's Girl Scout cookie division. In 1991, the rest of the company was purchased by
Sunshine Biscuits
Sunshine Biscuits, formerly known as The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, which became a brand on a few products such as Cheez-It, was purchased by Keebler Company ...
.
Burry's Foods
The "Gaucho" peanut butter sandwich cookie produced by Burry was the same cookie as the Savannah, produced for the consumer market ; Gauchos came in a coarse
cardstock
Card stock, also called cover stock and pasteboard, is paper that is thicker and more durable than normal writing and printing paper, but thinner and more flexible than other forms of paperboard.
Card stock is often used for business cards, po ...
box that was covered in a wax-coated paper label. These cookies had a small hole in the oatmeal wafer top that allowed any excess peanut butter filling to escape during production, thereby avoiding the filling being pushed out between the cookie layer sides.
A small retail store offered baked-that-day but broken/defective cookies in bulk for discounts. A shopping-bag-size bag of thin mints cost $1.00.
The Scooter Pie consisted of two large round graham cracker cookies with a thick layer of
marshmallow
Marshmallow (, ) is a confectionery made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. This sugar confection is inspired by a medicina ...
between and coated with chocolate, similar to the Moon Pie or
choco pie
A choco pie is a snack cake consisting of two small round layers of cake with marshmallow filling and a chocolate covering. The term originated in the United States but is now also used widely in South Korea, Japan, and countries to which it expo ...
.
Per ''Candy and Snack Industry'' it was a recognized leader in the cookie and cracker business.
They had a diverse list of products. These included Burry's Tart and Entree Shells, Burry's Gourmet Crackers and Cookies, and Famous Euphrates Wafers and Shells, Burry's Vended Cookies and Snacks The company claimed the "secret" of its process was "Slow baking".
List of baked goods
This is a list of baked goods. Baked goods are foods made from dough or batter (cooking), batter and cooked by baking, a method of cooking food that uses prolonged dry heat, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most c ...
*
List of food companies
This is a list of food companies, current and past businesses involved in food production or processing.
Africa
* All Joy Foods
* Bakers (bakery), Bakers
* BOS Ice Tea
* Cevital
* Choppies
* Clover Industries, Clover
* Colcom Foods
* Distel ...
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...