Sunshine Biscuits
| Owner |
Kellogg Company (Keebler Company) |
|---|---|
| Country | U.S. |
| Introduced | 1902 |
| Related brands | Keebler |
| Markets | Nationwide |
| Public | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Keebler/Kellogg's |
| Founded | Kansas City, Missouri (1902, as Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company) |
| Founder | Joseph Loose Jacob Loose John H. Wiles |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Elmhurst, Illinois, U.S. |
Sunshine Biscuits was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, whose brand still appears today on a few products (e.g., Cheez-Its), was purchased by Keebler Company in 1996 which was subsequently purchased by Kellogg Company in 2000. Around that time, Sunshine Biscuits was headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois, the same town in which Keebler was located until 2001.
At the time of its purchase by Keebler, Sunshine Biscuits was the third largest cookie baker in the United States.
Until the late 19th century, the biscuit/cracker industry was made up of small independent local bakeries preparing products and selling them in bulk. The barrels and crates of biscuits were delivered by horse and wagon, set out in the grocery store and sold to the consumer by the measure.
In 1890, a group of thirty-three midwest and western bakers combined to form the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company. This consolidation was done primarily to compete with United States Baking Company, another midwest group and the New York Biscuit Company, an east coast conglomerate. Soon the American Biscuit and New York Biscuit groups were opening bakeries and lowering prices in each other's area in an attempt to eliminate the competition. Finally in February 1898 the competing groups combined 114 factories and formed the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco).
Although Joseph Loose was a member of Nabisco's Board of Directors, in 1902 along with his brother Jacob and John H. Wiles, he liquidated his holdings in National Biscuit Company and formed the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company in Kansas City. They envisioned a factory which would be filled with sunlight and so they adopted the name SUNSHINE for their products. Soon they began expanding and opened new plants in Boston and then New York. In 1912 Loose-Wiles opened their "Thousand Window" bakery on Long Island, which remained the largest bakery building in the world until 1955. The plant was closed in 1965 and the production was moved to Sayreville, New Jersey.
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