Thomas' is a brand of
English muffins and
bagels in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, established in 1880. It is owned by
Bimbo Bakeries USA, one of the largest baking companies in the United States, which also owns
Entenmann's,
Sara Lee, Stroehmann, and Arnold Bread companies.
Advertisements for the muffins place emphasis on their "nooks and crannies".
The company also produces toasting or swirl bread,
pitas, wraps, and bagels.
History
The company was founded by Samuel Bath Thomas (1855–1919). In 1874, he emigrated from
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and after other menial jobs began working in a bakery.
By 1880, he had purchased his bakery at 163
Ninth Avenue in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
where he featured his namesake muffins that were baked on a griddle, not an oven.
The business expanded to 337 West 20th Street (a plaque designates the building as "The Muffin House"). Thomas died in 1919, and the company, S. B. Thomas, was inherited by his daughter and nephews, and was
incorporated.
Later, it was owned by
George Weston Bakeries.
Some television commercials for the muffins have highlighted the immigrant story of Thomas, joking about how disappointed his fans in England supposedly were when he decided to take his muffins to America. (Whether the muffins were invented after Thomas had moved to the U.S. is unclear,
but the comments in the commercials are not intended to be accurate and are used for a humorous purpose.)
In 2010, the company won a
trade secret
A trade secret is a form of intellectual property (IP) comprising confidential information that is not generally known or readily ascertainable, derives economic value from its secrecy, and is protected by reasonable efforts to maintain its conf ...
suit
when an executive uploaded the company's recipes and retired to work for
Hostess.
Annual sales in 2010 for Thomas' English Muffins were estimated to be US$500 million.
See also
*
List of brand name breads
Notes
External links
*
Bagel companies
Brand name breads
Grupo Bimbo brands
Companies established in 1880
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