Company type | Private (1937–61) Subsidiary (1961–present) |
---|---|
Industry | Food |
Founded | 1937 |
Founder | Margaret Rudkin |
Fate | Sold to Campbell's in 1961 |
Headquarters | Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. |
Key people | Kenneth Gosnell |
Products | Cookies, crackers, breads, desserts |
Brands | Goldfish |
Parent | Campbell's |
Website | pepperidgefarm.com |
Pepperidge Farm is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's 123-acre farm property in Fairfield, Connecticut, [1] which had been named for the pepperidge tree.
A subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company since 1961, it is based in Norwalk, Connecticut. On January 18, 2023, the company announced plans to close their Norwalk headquarters, consolidating jobs held there to Campbell Soup Company headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. [2]
Margaret Rudkin began baking bread in 1937 for her youngest son, Mark, who had asthma and was allergic to most commercially processed foods. [3] Her son's doctor recommended the bread to his other patients and encouraged her to sell it to the public. Her first commercial sale was to her local grocer in Fairfield, Conn., Mercurio’s Market. Rudkin's husband Henry, a Wall Street broker, began taking loaves of bread with him to New York to be sold in specialty stores. [4] Rudkin moved the growing business out of her kitchen and into her garage, and then into a factory in 1940. Rationing during World War II forced her to cut back production due to the restricted availability of quality ingredients. [5] In 1947, Rudkin opened a modern commercial bakery in Norwalk, Connecticut, and soon after added plants in Illinois and Pennsylvania. [4]
On a trip to Europe in the 1950s, Rudkin discovered fancy chocolate cookies that she believed would be popular in the United States. She bought the rights to produce and sell them, and the Distinctive Cookies line was born. Under her management, Pepperidge Farm continued to expand into other products, including frozen pastry items and, later, the Goldfish snack cracker from Switzerland. [4] In 1961, she sold the business to the Campbell Soup Company for $28 million and became the first woman to serve on its board of directors. [5] She drew on her knowledge and experience to write The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in 1963, [6] which was the first cookbook ever to make the New York Times Best Seller list. [4]
The Pepperidge Farm logo is based on the Grist Mill in Sudbury, Massachusetts, which supplied the company with 48 tons of whole wheat flour monthly from 1952 to 1967. [7]
Pepperidge Farm products include Goldfish crackers, varieties of bread, and several lines of cookies. Their cookies are separated into two lines, the Distinctive line and the Farmhouse line. Each type of cookie from the "Distinctive" line is named for a European city such as the Milano cookie or the Brussels cookie. [8] The Distinctives cannot be readily replicated by home bakers. In contrast, the Farmhouse line emphasizes commonplace cookies like chocolate chip and shortbread types that anyone could bake for themselves in an ordinary home kitchen.
Examples of Pepperidge Farm products include: [9]
Mix Cheddar + Zesty Cheddar + Parmesan Mix Xtra Cheddar + Pretzel
A cookie or biscuit is a baked 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, or nuts.
New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from Irish, French-Canadian, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders.
A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises. In some countries, a distinction is made between bakeries, which primarily sell breads, and pâtisseries, which primarily sell sweet baked goods.
A profiterole, cream puff (US), or chou à la crème is a filled French choux pastry ball with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream. The puffs may be decorated or left plain or garnished with chocolate sauce, caramel, or a dusting of powdered sugar. Savory profiterole are also made, filled with pureed meats, cheese, and so on. These were formerly common garnishes for soups.
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch. According to one writer, "If you had to make a short list of regions in the United States where regional food is actually consumed on a daily basis, the land of the Pennsylvania Dutch—in and around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania—would be at or near the top of that list," mainly because the area is a cultural enclave of Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
Goldfish are a fish-shaped cracker with a small imprint of an eye and a smile manufactured by Pepperidge Farm, which is a division of the Campbell Soup Company. The brand's current marketing and product packaging incorporate this feature of the product: "The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!", reinforced by Finn, the smiling goldfish mascot with sunglasses. The product is marketed as a "baked snack cracker" on the label with various flavors and varieties.
Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contemporary Czech cuisine is more meat-based than in previous periods; the current abundance of farmable meat has enriched its presence in regional cuisine. Traditionally, meat has been reserved for once-weekly consumption, typically on weekends.
Margaret Loreta Rudkin was an American businesswoman who founded Pepperidge Farm and was the first female member of the board at the Campbell Soup Company.
Monkey bread is a soft, sweet, sticky pastry served in the United States for breakfast or as a treat. It consists of pieces of soft baked dough sprinkled with cinnamon. Often a midmorning/breakfast food. It is often served at fairs and festivals.
The Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become one of the largest processed food companies in the United States with a wide variety of products under its flagship Campbell's brand as well as other brands including Pepperidge Farm, Snyder's of Hanover, V8, and Swanson. With its namesake brand Campbell's produces soups and other canned foods, baked goods, beverages, and snacks. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.
The cheese cracker is a type of cracker prepared using cheese as a main ingredient. Additional common cracker ingredients are typically used, such as grain, flour, shortening, leavening, salt and various seasonings. The ingredients are formed into a dough, and the individual crackers are then prepared. Some cheese crackers are prepared using fermented dough. Cheese crackers are typically baked. Another method of preparing cheese crackers involves placing cheese atop warm crackers. Cheese crackers have been described as a "high-calorie snack", which is due to a higher fat content compared to other types of crackers.
Korean baked goods consists of either snacks or bread. Examples include bread, buns, pastries, cakes, and snacks.