Tasty Baking Company history

Tastykake moved to Huntington Park Avenue in 1922.

Tastykake's growth continued throughout the "Roaring Twenties" and in 1928 the company reached over $6 million in sales.

By 1930 the Hunting Park plant had five buildings and 350,000 square feet of floor space.

In 1934, the government released a "Bakers' Code" as part of the National Recovery Act, which set a minimum wage and maximum weekly hours that employers could make their employees work.

Sales doubled when the company went public with stock options in 1940 and had continued to expand since then.

Tastykake retired their last horse in 1941.

After Philip Baur died in 1951, his heirs purchased stock from the holdings of E. K. Sober’s daughter (Herbert Morris’s wife), giving the Baur family majority control of the private company.

In April 1954, Kaiser was able to report that the Tastykake territory had grown to cover parts of nine states and the District of Columbia.

Net income first passed the $1-million mark in 1955.

In 1960 a two-month boycott of Tastykake products organized by 400 black ministers ended only after Tasty Baking agreed to’add blacks to its sales, clerical, and other previously all-white departments.

When Tasty Baking went public in 1961, its offered stock sold out the first day, the price rising immediately from $20 a share to $27 or $28.

In 1965, the company diversified for the first time by acquiring Phillips & Jacobs, Inc., a producer of industrial chemicals and wholesale printing supplies, for about $2.5 million in stock.

The Baur family held 58 percent of the company's voting stock by 1968, management held 12 percent, and the public held 30 percent.

In March 1970 Kaiser told a group of Philadelphia financial analysts that the Tastykake division was distributing 35 varieties of small cakes and pies to 28,000 stores in 12 states on a three-day-a-week basis.

Nelson G. Harris, the company president since 1979, succeeded Kaiser as chief executive officer.

In 1981, Kaiser’s last year as chief executive officer, Tasty Baking charted a new direction.

Although 1982 was a recession year, Tasty Baking halted a five-year decline in unit sales.

1985: Sales force is reorganized.

Tastykake distribution stabilized at 21 states, including California, where the company was sponsoring baseball’s San Diego Padres. (California was dropped in 1988, however.) Also during this time, subsidiary Phillips & Jacobs began serving the New York City market.

1989: Tastykake repackages products and introduces new line of cakes, cookies, and pies.

Growth Through New Products: 1991-95

Watts succeeded Harris as chairman and chief executive officer of the company in 1992.

During 1993, new products included Dunkin' Stix, Pound Kake, and Blueberry Mini Muffins.

In 1995 Tasty Baking was selling its products in about 30 states.

Improving and Expanding Operations: 1996-99

Seeking to attract new customers and bolster sales, the company entered the lucrative dessert cookie market in 1997 by launching a premium line of chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies.

In August 1998, it began selling Tastykake products in the Chicago area.

In April 1999, Tasty Baking announced that it would begin offering family-sized packages of sweet baked goods, starting with eight varieties in its core marketing area.

The company bought into numerous other endeavors and in 2004 began its partnerships around the Philadelphia Area.

In 2005, they opened up their Tastykake Thrift Outlet Store in partnership with PNC Bank and the Allegheny West Foundation to give high school students an opportunity to work and learn how to operate a successful business.

The company announced another expansion on May 9, 2007, stating they will be moving their location to the Old Navy Yard.

Tastykake made a serious factory upgrade in 2010, when it ditched its long-running plant in North Philly for a sleek, 345,000sq-foot bakery at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.