Type Subsidiary Products Baked goods Founded 1898 | Industry Packaged foods Website www.entenmanns.com | |
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Parent organizations Bimbo Bakeries USA, Bimbo Foods Bakeries Distribution, Inc. Profiles | ||
Entenmann s issues recall over pieces of plastic in products
Entenmann's is a company that manufactures baked goods and delivers them to supermarkets and other retailers for sale to the public. The company offers dessert cakes, donuts, cookies, loaf cakes, pies, cereal bars, muffins, Danish pastries, crumb cakes, and buns amongst other baked goods. In the past several years, they have added designer coffee flavors along with scented candles to their product line in an effort to broaden its appeal.
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Today, over 100 different items carry the Entenmann's brand. The brand is currently owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA.
History
Entenmann's is a company that is over 100 years old and originated in New York City. William Entenmann learned the trade of baking from his father in Stuttgart, Germany, and used his acquired skills to work in a bakery in the US, eventually opening his own bakery in 1898 on Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn. Later, William moved his bakery to Bay Shore, Long Island. Home-delivery was a substantial part of the bakery that William owned, eventually turning into 30 home delivery routes by the time his son, William Jr, took over the bakery. While William Jr headed the bakery, it flourished; Frank Sinatra was a weekly customer.
William Jr died in 1951, leaving the bakery to his wife Martha and their sons, Robert, Charles, and William. The family decided to phase out bread, to focus on pastries and cakes, and to start supplying grocery stores as opposed to home delivering. In 1959 the Entenmann family invented the "see-through" cake box that is used by many today. In 1961, the business grew, with new bakeries and factories in Bay Shore, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Plans to expand nationally stalled in 1970. Entenmann's Bakery, with the assistance of new product consultants at Calle & Company reformulated from heavier New England style baked goods into lighter offerings more suitable for hotter, more humid test markets such as Miami and Atlanta. Entenmann's successful national expansion quickly followed suit. In 1972, Entenmann's started to sell chocolate chip cookies, and has since sold more than 620 million cookies. Since its first opening in 1898, Entenmann's has been selling "all butter loaf cake" and sold more than 700 million to date.
The pharmaceutical company Warner-Lambert purchased Entenmann's in 1978, and then sold it to General Foods in 1982. General Foods merged with Kraft in 1990. Kraft sold its bakery business to CPC International (later Bestfoods). Bestfoods was purchased by Unilever in 2000, which sold its baking division to George Weston, a Canadian baked goods and supermarket business, the next year. Weston sold its United States interests including Entemann's in 2008 to Mexican conglomerate Grupo Bimbo. Other Bimbo Bakeries USA holdings include companies such as Thomas', Brownberry, Boboli, Arnold, Oroweat, Freihofer’s, and Stroehmann.
On March 27, 2014, it was reported that Entenmann's was ceasing baking operations at the Bay Shore, New York location in July 2014. Other operations, such as sales, the store and distribution are to continue.
Product line
As of August 2010, Entenmann's products include donuts, loaf cakes, pies, Danish, cookies, Enten-minis—Brownies, and desserts that are packed in smaller servings, cereal bars, and 100 Calorie Little Bites.
In 2007, Entenmann's added a line of coffee products. Coffee Holding Company, Inc made a three-year licensing agreement with Entenmann's Products, Inc which gives Coffee Holding Company the rights to nationally sell and produce coffee that is branded Entenmann's.
Entenmann's licensed their first non-edible product in September 2008 with the sale of scented candles. The candles were scented as coffee cake, all-butter loaf cake and raspberry Danish. Other scents such as pumpkin pie and warm gingerbread were added for the holidays, and chocolate-chip cookie was made available in Spring 2009.
In 2012, Entenmann's partnered with White Coffee Corporation for a new collection of flavored coffees and cocoa. The 100% Arabica coffee is sold at Burlington Coat Factory, Dollar Tree and Entenmann's Outlets, with expected sales in mass market, supermarkets, club stores, drug stores and food service nationwide.