Continental Baking
| Private company | |
| Industry | Food (Bakery) |
| Successor | Interstate Bakeries Corporation, Hostess Brands |
| Founded | 1849 (Ward Baking Company) |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Robert Boyd Ward |
| Products | Brands including: Wonder Bread, Twinkies |
The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread.
Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company.
The bakery was founded in New York City by Robert Boyd Ward in 1849 as the Ward Baking Company. In 1921 William Ward, the grandson of Robert, took over the company.
He renamed it the Continental Baking Company in 1925.
Continental Baking acquired the Wagner Baking Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1925 bought Taggart Baking Company, the maker of Wonder bread, and become the largest commercial bakery in the United States.Twinkie snack cakes were invented in 1930 in Schiller Park, Illinois, by James Alexander Dewar, a baker at Continental Baking Company. In 1964 Continental expanded operations by acquiring Mexican bread manufacturer Tip Top, based in Mexico City.
Continental was based in New York from 1923 to 1984. It also had its executive offices in Hoboken, New Jersey.
It was purchased by ITT in 1968, then sold to Ralston Purina in 1984. It was purchased by Interstate Bakeries Corporation in 1995. The combined company was rebranded Hostess Brands in 2009.
On 16 November 2012, Hostess Brands announced the parent corporation would be closing, and its brand names' rights would be sold off.
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Wikipedia