Maina wa Njuguna
‘Wallace “Wally” Amos Jr., the founder of Famous Amos Cookies died yesterday in Hawaii at the age of 88, according to reporting by the Tallahassee Democrat. His children called him a “true original Black American hero.
“He moved from Tallahassee, FL to New York, NY at the young age of 12 with his family saying “There was racism everywhere, and it just wasn’t a good time for me. “He went to Los Angeles, CA to start his own management agency but it didn’t work out. He was soon deep in debt.
It was at this time he thought of baking the cookies he learnt from his aunt Della back in Manhattan, NY when he was young. She liked to bake chocolate chip cookies as a comfort food, and Wally would learn to bake his own. Then he began tinkering with his aunt’s recipe.
FAMOUS AMOS COOKIES EMPIRE
Amos founded company in 1975, with the help of a $25,000 loan from music sensational Mavin Gaye and Helen Reddy. He had met them when he worked as a music talent agent. He opened the first “Famous Amos” cookie store in Sunset Blvd in L.A.
The business took off, and within years in the early 1980s it grew into an $80 million enterprise. However, due to financial and management issues, around 1984 he started to sell parts of the company.
By 1985, the business was losing money inspite of great sales. Amos brought in outside investors.
“The new owners gobbled up more of my share until all of a sudden, I found I had lost all ownership in the company I founded,” Amos wrote.
Wallace Amos
Within a few years, he had sold out completely, and in the end, he even lost the rights to use his own name or image on any product.
FAMOUS AMOS COOKIES OWNERSHIP
Today, Ferrero International SpA, an Italian company owns Famous Amos Cookies. According to Wikipedia, Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world.
Ferrero SpA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as “one of the world’s most secretive firms”.
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