Pepperidge Farm facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Pepperidge Farm Incorporated

Type	Private (1937–61) Subsidiary (1961–present)
Industry	Food
Fate	Sold to Campbell's in 1961
Founded	1937; 88 years ago (1937)
Founder	Margaret Rudkin
Headquarters	Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.
Key people	Kenneth Gosnell
Products	Cookies, crackers, breads, desserts
Brands	Goldfish
Parent	Campbell's

Pepperidge Farm is a well-known American company that bakes delicious foods. It was started in 1937 by a woman named Margaret Rudkin. She named the company after her family's large farm in Fairfield, Connecticut. The farm itself was named after a special kind of tree called the pepperidge tree.

Since 1961, Pepperidge Farm has been part of the Campbell Soup Company. Its main office is in Norwalk, Connecticut. However, in 2023, the company announced plans to move some jobs to Campbell Soup Company's main office in Camden, New Jersey.

How Pepperidge Farm Started

Pepperidge Farm began in a very personal way. In 1937, Margaret Rudkin started baking bread for her youngest son, Mark. He had asthma and was allergic to many store-bought foods. Her homemade bread was perfect for him.

Mark's doctor was so impressed with the bread that he suggested it to other patients. He also encouraged Margaret to sell it to the public. Her very first sale was to a local grocery store in Fairfield, Connecticut. Soon, her husband, Henry, a businessman, started taking loaves to New York City. There, he sold them in special food shops.

Margaret's baking business quickly grew. She moved from her kitchen to her garage. By 1940, she even had a factory! During World War II, it was hard to get good ingredients. This meant she had to bake less. But in 1947, Margaret opened a modern bakery in Norwalk, Connecticut. Later, she added more bakeries in other states.

New Products and Growth

In the 1950s, Margaret traveled to Europe. There, she found some amazing chocolate cookies. She thought these cookies would be very popular in the United States. So, she bought the rights to make and sell them. This is how the "Distinctive Cookies" line began.

Under Margaret's leadership, Pepperidge Farm kept growing. They started making frozen pastries. Later, they introduced the famous Goldfish snack crackers. These crackers came all the way from Switzerland!

In 1961, Margaret sold her successful business to the Campbell Soup Company. The sale was for $28 million. She also became the first woman to join Campbell's board of directors. Margaret even wrote a cookbook in 1963 called The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook. It was the first cookbook ever to become a New York Times Best Seller!

The Pepperidge Farm logo has a special meaning. It shows the Grist Mill in Sudbury, Massachusetts. This mill provided the company with a lot of whole wheat flour for many years.

Delicious Products

Pepperidge Farm makes many popular foods. These include their famous Goldfish crackers, different kinds of bread, and several lines of cookies.

Their cookies come in two main types: the Distinctive line and the Farmhouse line.

• The "Distinctive" cookies are named after European cities. Examples include the Milano cookie and the Brussels cookie. These cookies are fancy and hard to make at home.
• The "Farmhouse" cookies are more like homemade treats. They include classic types like chocolate chip and shortbread. These are the kinds of cookies you might bake in your own kitchen.

Popular Pepperidge Farm Foods

Here are some examples of the many tasty products Pepperidge Farm makes:

Hot dog bun

Hamburger bun

Goldfish crackers

Chunk Cookie

Strawberry cookie

Pirouette cookies

Milano cookies

Milano chocolate

See also

• List of bakeries
• List of brand name breads