.css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Elon Musk. P.O. Amos, who turned 71 this month, is co-founder and shareholder of Uncle Wally's Muffin Co., whose products are found in 5,000 stores nationwide, including Costco and Wal-Mart. In 1998, Keebler purchased the brand, keeping Amos as the spokesperson. Perhaps Dennis Kimbro and Napoleon Hill of Black Enterprise said it best when describing Amos: "Some call him a promoter, others say he is a public relations wizardbut neither title adequately describes what he does best. His rise serves as the most infamous cautionary tale. Neither he nor Keebler would disclose how much the company was paying him to bite into Famous Amos cookies in public and urge people who spot him in airports to buy them. With the company propped up, it sold Famous Amos to President Baking for $61 million in 1992. Its part of my philosophy, Amos explained in Parade. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. Amos ultimately advanced to the position of a full-time William Morris talent agent where he contributed to the careers of such entertainers as Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye. He spots a man wearing a name tag: Amos. And I guarantee, youll experience both.. In the mid-1990s, Amos worked with partners, including Famous Amos distributor Lou Avignone, to launch a muffin company now known as Uncle Wally's Family of Muffins. Famous Amos: The Rise and Fall of a Cookie Empire - HISTORY Fax: (816) 502-4155 In April 2019, its current owner, Kellogg Company, announced plans to sell Famous Amos, the Keebler brand and its fruit snacks business to Ferrero for $1.4 billion. Around the time Wally lost ownership in his company, his career took perhaps its most remarkable turn. He has co-written several books of inspiration, including one capitalizing on his failures at Famous Amos. Incorp, 12 East Armour Boulevard He used to hand out cookies with abandon. . In 1967, five years later, feeling "burned out" and "stagnant," as he put it, Amos left the agency and went to Los Angeles to create his own entertainment agency. Kansas City, Missouri 64141-6627 He spent the ensuing years working in the stock room at Saks Fifth Avenue, and in the mailroom at the prestigious William Morris Agency. but as a child he had an innate spirit and gift to. Im not a production guy. A high school dropout who eventually earned a general equivalency diploma, Mr. Amos knew little about business basics and failed to hire managers who did. Net Worth of Wally Amos, The Man Who Lost His Cookie Empire In the past five years, women in L.A. and throughout California have started creating a new future for custom car culture. Others were too big. While Famous Amos soon lived up to its name, thriving for nearly a decade, the company's founder lost control of his business. On March 10, 1975, Amos took the advice of some friends, and with $25,000 from singers Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, [4] he opened a cookie store at 7181 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California, naming it "Famous Amos". I have a fetish for chocolate chip cookies, Amos admitted in Ebony magazine. Wally Amos was born on July 1, 1936, in Tallahassee, Florida. Amos uprooted his second wife and newborn son and moved to Californiaand then Masakela dropped him. The shop was the first of its kind dedicated to one brand of gourmet cookies, and Amos pitched his product with an unquenchable enthusiasm. Before long he had worked his way up to secretary for Howard Hausman, an executive vice president at the agency. "The secret of Famous Amos was my attitude. Masekela fired him, so Amos worked at his friend John Levy's entertainment firm. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. "He just exuded light," his son says. He's got a fine attitude in his mind, man, he's got a kazoo in his shirt pocket, and he's got cookie. Working in the business in Los Angeles was frustrating, and Amos was nearly always in debt. However, Famous Amos was previously owned by several other companies, she said. A cookie connoisseur's comeback | Fortune Andy Warhol came and they had cookies and milk and champagne. "I'll take a bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies and a chance to ogle the beautiful young groovers at agent Wally Amos' Sunset Blvd. Money was so scarce for him and his family that he often had to walk four miles to and from school to save the bus fare. I started losing the company in 1985. Today, Famous Amos is an international brand that you can find in most grocery stores. Famous Amos became a fixture in Hollywood, its proprietor staging celebrations much like the music revues he had helped organize in the 1960s. In 2017, he launched a GoFundMe announcing he was struggling to pay for food, gas, and rent. That same year, his fascination with cooking led him to enroll in the Food Trades Vocational High School. It could be worth a few million in a couple of years. Amos had finally found a superstar worthy of his managementhis own gourmet cookies. . The store sells five varieties of bite-sized cookies for $9.89 a pound, similar to the ones he first sold at the Famous Amos store in Hollywood 30 years ago. If you respect your customers as friends, they will respect you and support you in good times and bad times, he said. Under the Uncle Noname label, by 1996 Amos had again scored success with fat-free gourmet sweets. I don't live my life for other people. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. Leading American Businesses. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. All Rights Reserved. "Amos, Wally 1937 ''I was in Salt Lake City doing some promotion and I discovered that day that my house had been auctioned off,'' he recalled. In 1986, Amos was given an Entrepreneurial Excellence Award by President Ronald Reagan (1911-) in appreciation of his remarkable American success story. Within months, Amos had opened two more franchises on the West Coast, and New York-based department store Bloomingdale's had begun selling gourmet cookies. While Famous Amos soon lived up to its name, thriving for nearly a decade, the company's founder lost control of his business. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/economics-magazines/amos-wally, "Amos, Wally He found his "dream location" at the old House of Pies on the Sunset Strip and began to renovate it with an eye toward a March 1975 grand opening. Film and television stars, pop singers, and politicians all professed a craving for Famous Amos cookies. By 1988 the company lost $2.5 million. As an. speaker earning up to $12,000 per appearance. If at 54, Amos enjoys being an apostle of cheer, he has led a serious life. Except the boy never takes the pillow off his face. Part of his responsibilities included booking acts such as the Temptations, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and Bobby Goldsboro, and he is even given credit for signing a then-unknown duo named Simon & Garfunkel. He did so on purpose, but rather than stir the fires of racial stereotypes, Amos thoughtfully examined the topic of race and bias, along with many others issues he had come into contact with throughout his life. While the launch of Famous Amos was glitzy, the man behind the glitz worked from dawn to dusk baking and selling his cookies. But hes hardly struggling. I was about to get out of the car when I saw, for the first time, the logo on the side of the building: THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE FAMOUS AMOS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. "His real skill was as a hype man. Food is part of pop culture, much like fashion, Szewczyk says. '', Keebler, a unit of Flowers Industries, which had inherited the reformulated cookies, agreed to meet Mr. Amos's conditions. Amos has married three times, first in 1958. . Amos appeared in the October 6, 2016 episode of the American television show Shark Tank seeking $50,000 funding for 20% equity of his company "Cookie Kahuna". In a world of mass-produced food products, Amos seemingly hit upon the universal "soul food": the American home-style chocolate-chip cookie. Lower Lake, CA: Aslan Publishing, 1994. He'd come to the store all the time and my dad would give him free cookies. Wally was the only child in a loveless and impoverished Tallahassee marriage. By 2002, when Keebler and Famous Amos were bought by the Kellogg Company (see entry), Amos was unconcerned. Fax: (856) 342-3878 "He had a big block party for the opening of the store and every year at Christmas he'd have a big block party," Shawn recalls. Carlsen, Clifford. He has a thing for baked goods, specifically, cookies. Watermelon Magic: Seeds of Wisdom, Slices of Life. Hindsight being what it is, Mr. Amos is now able to reflect philosophically on the low points. He had also started baking small chocolate chip cookies to give to clients and friends as a way of saying hello or thank you. He showed his interest in cooking at a young age. He was the first black talent scout in America. . Former politics editor at the Cambodia Daily. In financial terms, Wally wrote in 1996, all Ive done since is amass debt and miss payments.. His stern mother was full of life. How Wally Amos Made Famous Amos Cookies So Famous - LAist "There's a really high awareness of chocolate chip cookies now, and that was created by me." He started in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency and in 1962 became the first Black talent agent in their history. Though his cookies were popular and his name was respected, Amos was feeling a cash-flow pinch. But Amos became restless and dropped out of school just months before graduation, signing up for the U.S. Air Force in 1953. The legal order came from the owners of the Famous Amos Cookie Company. Who owns the Famous Amos cookie company now? - Wise-Answer Amos soon left againthis time for good. Encyclopedia.com. The Sunset Boulevard set couldnt get enough of the Cookie Mans magic mix. (February 23, 2023). Later, in 1987, Amos won the Horatio Alger Award, which is given to Americans who have shown purpose and. He's the agent that has cookies on him. . Public Company McCollough, Kathy. Im a promoter Im not a business guy. This time, the company produces its own fat-free muffins and will soon offer take-home cupcake kits. "Profiting Through Self-Reliance." They come in the flavors original chocolate chip, chocolate chip with pecans and butterscotch with macadamia nuts. The man beams. Jos et halua meidn ja kumppaneidemme kyttvn evsteit ja henkiltietoja nihin listarkoituksiin, napsauta Hylk kaikki. The Uncle Nonam (pronounced No-NAHH-may) Cookie Company specializes in five varieties of gourmet cookies. Recalling the episode in the Providence Business News in 1995, Amos said, "I was irresponsible. Encyclopedia.com. "In the lower right hand corner there was a William Morris logo, and in the other corner was an A&M Records logo that showed that the cookie had a record deal. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan formally presented to Wally Amos the President's Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. And so Wally, relentlessly optimistic, raised a little cash from Marvin Gaye and a few other friends and set up shop. Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Within months, Amos had opened two more franchises on the West Coast, and New York-based department store Bloomingdale's had begun selling gourmet cookies. There's no darkness, there's no subterfuge there.