Tastykake is the brandname for a line of snack foods manufactured by the Tasty Baking Company ( ), headquartered in the Navy Yard Corporate Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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.

Varieties

The snack sized, prepackaged desserts are diverse in type and taste. Some of the varieties include:

• Cupcakes
• Krimpets - shaped sponge cake with icing and/or filling.
• Kandy Kakes - chocolate enrobed cakes with filling
• Junior - small 2-layer cake with filling and/or icing.
• Cookie Bars - long dense cake that tastes like a cookie.
• Kreamies - long 2 layer cake with cream filling in-between.
• Pies
• Donuts
• Danishes
• Doublicious - variations of their standard products with extra icing or filling.
• Better For You Category - low fat or calorie items
• Seasonal items

Product history

1917 - Chocolate Juniors

1927 - Butterscotch Krimpets

1930s - Tasty Pies, Apple first, Peach, Lemon, Blueberry followed.

1930s - Tandy Takes (later renamed Kandy Kakes), Peanut Butter first

1985 - Donuts

Production facilities

Tasty Baking owns and operates its major production facility in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia, between Allegheny Station and East Falls Station along the R6 Regional Rail. A second, smaller facility is located in Oxford, Pennsylvania in Chester County. The Oxford plant currently makes honeybuns and many of the mini donuts and donut holes under the Tastykake brand name as well as several private-label items.

In May 2007, Tasty Baking Company announced a decision to move its headquarter offices and main bakery to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. The new bakery will be located on S. 26th Street. The headquarter offices will be located on Crescent Drive. The move is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

In popular culture

Tastykake has been a long time sponsor of the Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts. The late Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas (2002 Ford C. Frick Award winner) often announced that a box of fresh Tastykakes had been delivered to the booth during an inning break.

Tastykake is also a sponsor of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey broadcasts. During the Stanley Cup years of the mid-1970s, the goal call of the late Hall of Fame announcer Gene Hart was, "He shoots, he scores - for a case of Tastykakes!" 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 each game. , a case of Tastykakes is once again awarded to each Flyer who scores a goal, and it is donated to the favorite charity of that particular player.

Author Janet Evanovich features Tastykakes in her Stephanie Plum mystery novels, which are set in Trenton, New Jersey.

On Bastille Day, a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette throws approximately 2,000 Tastykakes from a tower of the Eastern State Penitentiary to the audience below, while shouting, "Let them eat Tastykake!"

Tastykake's commercial jingle, which has been used for decades, is, "Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake".

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.

See also

• Pastries

References

1. " Customer Service." Tasty Baking Company. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
2. ESP :: Eastern State Penitentiary Website
3. Tastykake Press Release, 2007-07-16, TASTYKAKE AND SPORTSRADIO 610 WIP ANNOUNCE NEW MARKETING PARTNERSHIP IN DELAWARE VALLEY.

External links

• Tastykake web site