Otis Spunkmeyer Inc. is a baked goods distribution company. Otis Spunkmeyer produces cookies, muffins, frozen cookie doughs, and other pastries.

History

Ken Rawlings, the founder of Otis Spunkmeyer, Inc., opened the first fresh-baked cookie store in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

in 1977. For the name of the business, Rawlings took the suggestion of his 12-year-old daughter who coined the name. By 1983, with his brother Bill, Rawlings had grown the company to less than two dozen stores. With high overhead costs and weak sales, the company shifted its focus from retail to wholesale, creating a store-baked cookie program for other foodservice operators. The program included pre-portioned frozen cookie dough, a pre-set convection oven, and marketing materials. This program allowed both big and small foodservice operators to sell store-baked cookies in their facilities. Otis Spunkmeyer hired a pair of

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

aircraft painted with the company logo and had them fly over the Golden Gate bridge. A 2002 management buyout was led by

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, John Schiavo, in association with the private equity firm of Code Hennessy & Simmons. In September 2005, Otis Spunkmeyer acquired Merkel-McDonald, Inc., a manufacturer, and distributor of frozen IQF Cookie Dough products for the foodservice market, doing business as Chippery. Chippery is based out of

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

and has a manufacturing facility located there. In November 2006, the company was sold to Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society ('IAWS') for $561 million.London Stock Exchange
announcement of takeover IAWS already owned Cuisine de France and

La Brea Bakery La Brea Bakery is an industrial baking company started in Los Angeles, California. Since opening its flagship store on 624 S La Brea Avenue in 1989—six months earlier than Campanile, the restaurant it was built to serve—La Brea has opened two ...

, and merged with Hiestand to form

Aryzta ARYZTA AG is a food business based in Zürich, Switzerland. It operates in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It is incorporated in Switzerland and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (the Zürich Stock Exchange). It discontinued its listi ...

in 2008.

References

{{Reflist Food and drink companies established in 1977 Food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in San Leandro, California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area 1977 establishments in California Bakeries of California