Pepperidge Farm
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| Subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Headquarters | Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S. |
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Key people
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Kenneth Gosnell (Senior Vice President of Finance) |
| Products | Cookies Crackers Breads Desserts Goldfish Crackers |
| Parent | Campbell Soup Company |
| Website | www.PepperidgeFarm.com |
Pepperidge Farm is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which in turn was named for the pepperidge tree, Nyssa sylvatica. A subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company, it is based in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Pepperidge Farm products include Milano and Nantucket cookies, Goldfish crackers, and varieties of bread. It distributes Tim Tams in the US, manufactured by Arnott's Biscuits, another Campbell's subsidiary in Australia, and Pirouettes, made in Indonesia.
Margaret Rudkin began baking bread in 1937 for her youngest son Mark who had asthma and was allergic to most commercially processed foods. She home-baked bread that her allergic son could eat. Her son's doctor recommended it to his other patients and encouraged her to bake more bread. She approached Frederick Marschall, owner of Marschall's grocery stores based in Stamford, Connecticut, to see if he would be willing to sell her "Pepperidge Farm" bread. After tasting a piece, he took all the loaves she had brought with her and placed an order for more. Margaret's husband Henry, a Wall Street broker, began taking loaves of bread with him to New York to be sold in specialty stores. She soon moved the growing business out of her kitchen and into her garage, then into a factory in 1940. Rationing during World War II forced her to cut back production due to ingredient shortage. In 1947, Margaret opened a modern commercial bakery in Norwalk, Connecticut.
On a trip to Europe in the 1950s, Rudkin discovered fancy chocolate cookies that she believed would be popular in the United States. She bought the rights to produce and sell them, and the Distinctive Cookies line was born. Under her management, Pepperidge Farm continued to expand into other products, including frozen pastry items and, later, the Goldfish snack cracker from Switzerland. In 1961, she sold the business to the Campbell Soup Company and became the first woman to serve on the board. She drew on her knowledge and experience to write The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in 1963, which was the first cookbook ever to make The New York Times Best Seller list.
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Wikipedia