Drake's Devil Dogs
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Food (bakery) |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Founder | Newman E. Drake |
| Parent | McKee Foods |
| Website | http://www.drakescake.com/ |
Drake's Cakes is a brand of American baked goods. The company was founded by Newman E. Drake in 1896 in Harlem as The N.E. Drake Baking Company. Currently, the brand is owned by McKee Foods. The company makes snack cake products such as Devil Dogs, Funny Bones, Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings and Yodels. Drake's has traditionally been marketed primarily in the Northeastern U.S. but in 2016 re-expanded to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. regions. The products are produced under the Orthodox Union Kosher Certification guidelines.
Drake’s brand began as The N.E. Drake Baking Company. The company was incorporated on November 14, 1896 in New York City. The first bakery was in Harlem at 36 – 38 West 135th Street.
By March 1898, retailer ads featured Drake’s pound cakes by brand name in various flavors. The ads stated that the products were baked fresh daily and sold for 17 cents per pound. In 1900, retailer ads feature Drake’s layer cakes with chocolate or vanilla icing at 18 cents. One Drake’s ad touted that the price is half of what it would cost to make at home. By 1901, retailer ads referred to Drake’s “celebrated” pound cakes and included Drake’s macaroons.
The business was founded by Newman E. Drake. His youngest brother, Judson was working with him at the founding. His other brother, Charles may have been with him from the start, but can be confirmed to be with him in the later business in Brooklyn. Judson left the business in 1898 for the National Biscuit Company where he had a long and well regarded career in bakery management. Charles was a vice president for the Brooklyn business, but sold his interest and retired in 1907. At some point, all four of Newman’s sons worked in the business.
Newman Drake came into this entrepreneurial venture with experience in large scale commercial baking. In 1888, Newman joined Vanderveer & Holmes Biscuit Company, and by 1894 had become a salesman traveling internationally for this cracker business. In 1893-1894, while traveling in England on business, Newman observed commercially baked fine cakes sold in grocery stores and was inspired to bring the idea to America.
In the 1890s, the cracker industry consolidated in a multitiered fashion. In 1898, the three major players consolidated into one large enterprise, the National Biscuit Company, later known as Nabisco. As early as 1899, but definitively by November 1900, the National Biscuit Company had purchased the Drake bakery and referred to the bakery as the N.E. Drake Baking Co. Branch. Retailer ads show that the N.E. Drake’s Famous Loaf Cakes continued to sell under that brand name at least to December 30, 1902. The Drake Baking Company was dissolved in 1903, however National Biscuit Company continued to produce cakes and macaroons at the same Harlem bakery at least into 1908, but the products were under brand names other than Drake, for example Regina, Golden Glory, and Imperial. It is not known how Newman Drake was able to hold onto the Drake brand for later Drake baking enterprises, but National Biscuit Company moved onto other brand names.
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