| Type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food production |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Area served | Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States |
| Key people | Charles P. Pizzi, Former President and CEO |
| Products | Krimpets, Kandy Kakes, Cupcakes, Pies, Koffee Kakes, Donuts, Cookie Bars, Juniors, Kreamies |
| Employees | Approx. 1000 |
| Parent | Flowers Foods |
| Website | www.tastykake.com |
Tastykake is the brandname for a line of snack foods manufactured by the Tasty Baking Company, currently headquartered at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center (formerly the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Established in 1914 by Philip J. Baur and Herbert T. Morris and originally selling its product only in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, the company now distributes its products in several states on the East Coast and has been gradually expanding across the United States.
In April 2010, Tasty Baking entered into a purchase-and-sale agreement with TKMG Associates and its guarantor, Metro Development Company, for the sale of its Philadelphia bakery property located at Hunting Park Avenue, and its former corporate offices and distribution center located at Fox Street, for $6 million.[2]
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The snack-sized, prepackaged desserts are diverse. Varieties include:
Tasty Baking owns and operates a major production facility in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia, between Allegheny Station and East Falls Station along the SEPTA Manayunk/Norristown Line. A second, smaller facility is located in Oxford, in Chester County. The Oxford plant makes honey buns and most of the mini-donuts and donut holes under the Tastykake brand name, as well as several private-label items.
In May 2007, Tasty Baking announced it would move its headquarters and main bakery to the Philadelphia Naval Business Center in South Philadelphia. The new bakery is located on South 26th Street, with the headquarters on Crescent Drive. The move was completed in May 2010.[3]
The price of Tastykake stock collapsed in early 2011, falling from a closing price of $6.43 on January 4, closing at $4.05 the next day.[4] This decline, of about one-third the share price, was accompanied by a spike in trading (from about 5,000 shares on January 4, to almost 1,000,000 the next day). This move came after a 7.4% drop in company sales during the XXth quarter of 2010.[5] The next week, speculation in financial circles indicated Tastykake had failed to realize the projected savings of moving to the new factory. [6]
On April 11, 2011, media reports indicated Tastykake's leadership agreed to sell the company to Flowers Foods, of Thomasville, Georgia, for $34 million in cash, or about $4 per share. (Tastykake stock closed at $1.61 per share at the end of the previous trading day.) [7]
Tastykake has been a longtime sponsor of Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts. The late Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas (1936-2009) often announced that a box of Tastykakes had been delivered to the booth between innings.
Tastykake is also a sponsor of Philadelphia Flyers hockey broadcasts. During the Flyers' Stanley Cup appearances in the mid-1970s, the "goal call" of Hall of Fame announcer Gene Hart was, "He shoots, he scores - for a case of Tastykake!" A case of Tastykakes (18 to 24 Family Packs per case, depending on the product) was awarded to each Flyers player who scored a goal. In the early 2000s, a case of Tastykakes was awarded to the first Flyers player to score a goal in a game. As of 2008[update], a case of Tastykakes is again awarded to each Flyer who scores a goal; it is donated to the favorite charity of that player.
Author Janet Evanovich features Tastykakes in her Stephanie Plum mystery novels, which are set in Trenton, New Jersey.
In Jerry Spinelli's young-adult novel Maniac Magee, the main character, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, enjoys eating Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets. The story is set in the fictional town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania, which is based on real-life Norristown, northwest of Philadelphia, where Spinelli grew up.
On Bastille Day (July 14), a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette and her fellow re-enactors throw approximately 2,000 packs of Tastykakes from a tower of the Eastern State Penitentiary to the public below while "Antoinette" says, "If the people have no bread, I say, 'let them eat Tastykake!'"[8]
Tastykake's commercial jingle, which has been used for decades, is, "Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake".[9]
Tastykake owns the naming rights of local sports talk radio station 610 WIP's broadcasting studio, dubbed "The Tastykake Studio", and provides staff with free treats in exchange for product promotion, and has been a running gag with hosts.[10]
Ol' Dirty Bastard mentioned Tastykake in his song "Brooklyn Zoo" saying, "I create rhymes good as a Tastykake."
Food Network Magazine had an article in the December 2011 issue about how Tastykake products are used in different recipes in places in Philadelphia, PA. It even mentions how one chef sold sliders with Kandy Kakes in place of buns because TastyKake was having financial problems.
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