Former type Private Area served western United States Defunct 1990 Parent organization Pinnacle Foods | Industry baked goods Founded 1915 Fate Bankruptcy | |
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Founder Lawrence Frank, Theodore J. Van de Kamp, Henrietta Van de Kamp, Marion Van de Kamp Headquarters Los Angeles, California, United States | ||
Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries was founded in 1915 as a Los Angeles potato chip stand by Theodore J. Van de Kamp, his sisters Marian and Henrietta, and Henrietta's husband Lawrence L. Frank, all recent transplants from Milwaukee WI. The first stand was operated from an eight feet frontage at 236 ½ South Spring Street next to the Saddle Rock Café; the very heart of Los Angeles at the time. They expanded the business to baked goods and by the mid-1950s had evolved into a regional bakery/restaurant chain. At the company’s height, 320 Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakers dotted the West Coast from CA to WA. In 1930 the company built a large bakery and administrative offices to support its growth in Glassel Park,Los Angeles. The Van de Kamp Bakery Building was designed by New York architect J. Edwin Hopkins. The company's trademark blue windmills featured on their bakery store signs and atop their chain of famous restaurants that were known throughout the region. It's slogan was to capitalize on the association with Dutch cleanliness and freshness: "Made Clean, Kept Clean, Sold Clean". Following the death of Theodore van de Kamp in 1956, the bakery was sold by the Van de Kamp family and acquired by General Baking Co. The company was sold to private investors in 1979, and closed in bankruptcy in 1990.Today, only a few remnants remain of the famous windmills. A former Van de Kamp Holland Dutch bakery in Arcadia, CA was converted to a Denny's restaurant in 1989 and still features a fully restored windmill.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney 1975-81 and State Attorney General from 1983 to 1991 John K. Van de Kamp (D) is a nephew of the baker's co-founders. Under the direction of Lawrence (Larry)Frank, the Frank and Van de Kamp families also founded Lawry's Restaurants and the Tam O'Shanter Inn.
Over the years the Van de Kamp brand had been owned by Pillsbury, Pet, Inc., Van De Kamp's, Inc., and later Aurora Foods.
The Van de Kamp's brand is now owned by Pinnacle Foods Group, who owns all three trademark registrations for breads and assorted pastry products, various frozen fish entrees and lastly prepared dinners consisting of vegetables and macaroni. The Van de Kamp's brand is also used by Ralphs supermarket chain for their line of private-label baked goods.