Tastykake

Varieties

The snack-sized, prepackaged desserts are diverse. Varieties include:

Product history

Production facilities

Tasty Baking owned and operated a major production facility in the Allegheny West neighborhood of Philadelphia, between Allegheny Station and East Falls Station along the SEPTA Manayunk/Norristown Line. A second, smaller facility is located in Oxford, in Chester County. The Oxford plant makes honey buns and most of the mini-donuts and donut holes under the Tastykake brand name, as well as several private-label items.

In May 2007, Tasty Baking announced it would move its headquarters and main bakery to the Philadelphia Naval Business Center in South Philadelphia. The new bakery is located on South 26th Street, with the headquarters on Crescent Drive. The move was completed in May 2010.

Financials

The Tasty Baking Company went public on the NYSE in 1961 under the ticker symbol TBC. On October 21, 2005, the company transitioned to the NASDAQ National Market and changed their ticker symbol to TSTY. The company's ticker symbol was ceased from trading at the close of business on May 24, 2011, upon completion of its acquisition by Flowers Foods.

The price of Tastykake stock collapsed in early 2011, falling from a closing price of $6.43 on January 4, closing at $4.05 the next day. This decline, of about one-third the share price, was accompanied by a spike in trading (from about 5,000 shares on January 4, to almost 1,000,000 the next day). This move came after a 7.4% drop in company sales during the preceding quarter of 2010. The next week, speculation in financial circles indicated Tastykake had failed to realize the projected savings of moving to the new factory.

On April 11, 2011, media reports indicated Tastykake's leadership agreed to sell the company to Flowers Foods, of Thomasville, Georgia, for $34 million in cash, or about $4 per share. (Tastykake stock closed at $1.61 per share at the end of the previous trading day.)

Mascots

They have a butterscotch mascot named Kirbee the Krimpet.

In popular culture

Tastykake has been a longtime sponsor of Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts. Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas (1936–2009) often announced that a box of Tastykakes had been delivered to the booth between innings. At his memorial service at Citizens Bank Park in April 2009, mourners were treated to Tastykakes and soft pretzels.

Tastykake is also a sponsor of Philadelphia Flyers hockey broadcasts. During the Flyers' Stanley Cup appearances in the mid-1970s, the "goal call" of Hall of Fame announcer Gene Hart was, "He shoots, he scores - for a case of Tastykake!" A case of Tastykakes (18 to 24 Family Packs per case, depending on the product) was awarded to each Flyers player who scored a goal. In the early 2000s, a case of Tastykakes was awarded to the first Flyers player to score a goal in a game. As of 2012, a case of Tastykakes is again awarded to each Flyer who scores a goal and is donated to the favorite charity of that player.

It was featured in the 2008 movie Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Author Janet Evanovich features Tastykakes in her mystery novels about Stephanie Plum, all of which are set in Trenton, New Jersey. Plum, played by actress Katherine Heigl in the 2012 film, One for the Money, asks, "Hey, why are you messing with my Tastykakes, huh?"

In Jerry Spinelli's young adult novel Maniac Magee, the main character, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, enjoys eating Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets. The story is set in the fictional town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania, which is based on real-life Norristown, northwest of Philadelphia, where Spinelli grew up.

The Body of Proof episode "All in the Family" featured Tastykake products.

Local Philadelphia celebrity, reprobate and media mogul Royden S. Ziegler, aka Philly Boy Roy, claims to consume a pack of Tastykakes every day with lunch." According to Roy, his favorite Tastykake variety is the Butterscotch Krimpets followed by the Kandy Kakes.

On Bastille Day (July 14), a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette and her fellow re-enactors throw approximately 2,000 packs of Tastykakes from a tower of the Eastern State Penitentiary to the public below while "Antoinette" says, "If the people have no bread, I say, 'let them eat Tastykake!'"

Tastykake's commercial jingle, which has been used for decades, is, "Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake." Previous ad slogans were: "The Cake That Made Mother Stop Baking," which was imprinted on Tastykake wrappers for years, and "All the good things wrapped up in one."

Tastykake owns the naming rights of local sports talk radio station WTEL 610's broadcasting studio, which has been dubbed "The Tastykake Studio," and it provides staff with free treats in exchange for product promotion; this has been a running gag with WTEL hosts.

Ol' Dirty Bastard mentioned Tastykake in his song "Brooklyn Zoo" saying, "As I create, rhymes good as a Tastykake."

Food Network Magazine had an article in the December 2011 issue about how Tastykake products are used in different recipes in places in Philadelphia. It even mentions how one chef sold sliders with Kandy Kakes in place of buns because Tastykake was having financial problems.