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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 {{food-product-stub