Famous Amos Cookies

We all know the dessert favorite, the snack treat, the confection known as the cookie. One of the most familiar of this popular snack is chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or morsels as its distinguishing ingredient.

One of the most famous brands of chocolate chip cookie, is Famous Amos…

The company was founded in Los Angeles in 1975 a former talent agent, Wally Amos. Wallace “Wally” Amos was born in Tallahassee, Florida, on July 1, 1936.

In 1948 he moved to New York City to live with his aunt where they often baked cookies together.

The Start of Famous Amos Cookies

With the advice from friends and after receiving $25,000 from singers Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, Amos opened his cookie store on March 10, 1975, on 7181 Sunset Blvd., in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California.

In his first year Amos had sold $300,000 worth of cookies, followed by more than $1,000,000 in sales in the store’s second year of operation. By 1982 the company’s revenues reached $12 million.

The store proved so popular that the “Famous Amos” brand eventually branched out to sell cookies in supermarkets.

After the slowing of sales in 1984, Amos started to sell parts of the business. In March of the following year, Amos sold 51% interest to Bass Brothers Enterprises to salvage the business…

In 1988, after the company changed many hands, Amos quit in frustration.

The brand had gone through a number of owners since inception. Between 1988 and 2001, the Famous Amos company went through more than five different owners.

In 1992 the President Baking Company purchased the Famous Amos brand from The Shansby Group. In 1998, Keebler purchased the President Baking Company. It was owned by Keebler until the Kellogg Company purchased Keebler in 2001. The brand is a part of Kellogg’s.

There is a sign commemorating the first Famous Amos store in Los Angeles, located at West Sunset Boulevard and North Formosa Avenue in Hollywood.