appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . april 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . april 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message archway bakeries type corporation industry food fate operating founded 1936 founder harold and ruth swanson headquarters charlotte north carolina united states products cookies parent snyder s lance website archwaycookies.com archway cookies is an american cookie manufacturer founded in 1936 in battle creek michigan . since december 2008 it has been a subsidiary of lance inc. a snack food company whom in turn merged with snyder s of hanover to form snyder s lance . archway is best known for its variations of oatmeal cookies . contents 1 history 1.1 swanson home style cookies 1.2 change of name to archway cookies and expansion 1.3 development of the national brand 1.4 product developments the good food cookie 1.5 changes in ownership specialty foods corporation parmalat catterton partners 1.6 lance buys the archway brand 2 references 3 external links history edit swanson home style cookies edit in 1936 harold and ruth swanson began baking soft oatmeal cookies and doughnuts out of their home s garage in battle creek . by the late 1940s they had discontinued baking donuts and just concentrated on cookies . they had fifteen different varieties of cookies by 1949 . in the 1950s they licensed their cookie recipes and begin selling baking franchises in indiana wisconsin and canada . change of name to archway cookies and expansion edit in 1954 swanson a maker of frozen dinners sued swanson cookies for name infringement . as part of a settlement the swansons agreed to change the name of their bakery company to archway cookies . the name archway was chosen by harold and ruth because the original swanson cookie labels featured an arch above the name ... and the same arch design was retained on the first generation archway cookie label designs . throughout the 1950s archway continued to grow and sell more franchises . at the height of its franchise expansion archway cookies were being manufactured nationally by thirty three separate bakeries whose territories were generally drawn along state boundaries . archway s flagship varieties were oatmeal date filled oatmeal frosty lemon molasses and pecan ice box with oatmeal varieties accounting for thirty percent of product sales . the company emphasized its home made and freshness approach to baking cookies and often used the term archway homestyle cookies . most varieties were packaged in two stacks of six large cookies and wrapped in clear cellophane with a freshness code printed on the front label . many varieties such as ruth s golden oatmeal were state fair winning recipes selected from among entries of company sponsored baking competitions . archway s product line quickly expanded to several dozen varieties including many classic and unique selections ; peanut jumble rocky road mississippi mud cake fudge nut bar german chocolate black walnut ice box date nut bar iced spice new orleans cake pineapple filled sour cream soft sugar and cookie jar hermit . development of the national brand edit in 1962 archway was sold to bakery employee and swanson son in law george markham who bought back several of the franchises over the next two years rolling the production into two corporate cookie manufacturing plants in ohio and iowa . 1 this marked the beginning of the development of archway cookies as a cohesive national brand as well as a period of rapid growth for the company . 2 in 1983 markham sold archway cookies incorporated to thomas f. olin vice president ohio bakery operations and eugene mckay vice president corporate office with olin taking the position of chairman of the board and mckay named as president . 3 going forward one of the primary goals of the parent company archway cookies inc. was to establish a more consistent national brand in order to meet the merchandising pricing and promotional requirements of newly emerging national retail grocery chains . this was achieved in part by gaining tighter control of product and pricing . 4 cooperative marketing agreements were made with a handful of franchises while others were purchased and rolled into the national corporate structure . these changes enabled archway to participate in national retail promotions and gain stronger shelf position with emerging super store grocery operators such as walmart and target . 5 6 in addition archway cookies inc. began to implement national marketing positioning strategies with the development of television radio and print campaigns ... such as big cookie time the good food cookie and cookies for kids charity fund raiser for children s miracle network hospitals . 7 another factor in archway s accelerated sales growth was the popularity of the archway holiday cookie line that eventually expanded to more than twenty three varieties including nutty nougat pfeffernusse almond crescents coconut macaroons wedding cake and bells trees and stars . by the late 1980s archway had become the largest manufacturer of holiday cookies in the world . retail stores would often feature huge promotional archway cookie house displays built with hundreds sometimes thousands of packages of holiday cookies . by the early 1990s holiday cookies represented more than ten percent of total brand cookie sales . 8 9 product developments the good food cookie edit throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s archway began to take advantage of the healthful nature of their cookies focusing on natural ingredients no preservatives and no saturated fat . 10 a strategic key to this was that archway delivered its product using dsd direct store delivery distributors and was able to manage the product on the shelf more effectively than warehoused cookies . most archway varieties had shelf lives of six to eight weeks enabling the cookies to stay soft and fresh . archway cookies incorporated developed a marketing theme trademarking the phrase the good food cookie to exploit these competitive advantages with consumers and the retail trade . 11 commensurate with the development of low and non fat ingredient technologies archway introduced a very successful fat free line of cookies as well as gingersnaps . as a result archway cookies had become a favorite of health conscious cookie eaters across the country driving low fat and fat free sales increases of more than 170 percent in 1994 . 12 13 the company achieved annual unit and dollar sales increases every year between 1990 and 1998 14 and the brand doubled national retail market share ; expanding from three percent to six percent iri and neilsen and establishing archway as the third largest retail cookie brand in the united states . 15 the company also maintained its position as the number one oatmeal and holiday cookie brands in the united states ; number two in fat free fruit filled and gingersnap share . 16 ranking behind nabisco and keebler . 17 18 by the late 1990s archway brand sales were exceeding 125 000 000 packages per year . changes in ownership specialty foods corporation parmalat catterton partners edit on october 30 1996 archway chairman thomas olin died suddenly 19 eventually precipitating the sale of archway cookies incorporated in 1998 to specialty foods corporation for us 100 million . this purchase by sfc occurred in conjunction with its purchase of the mother s cookies brand and continued an ongoing trend of consolidation within the industry . 20 21 in 2000 specialty sold the mother s and archway brands to parmalat finanziaria a division of parmalat for a reported us 250 million . in 2005 parmalat plagued by scandals unrelated to archway sold for an undisclosed amount what was by then called archway & mother s cookie co. to catterton partners 22 a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts recapitalizations and growth capital investments in middle market companies . catterton in turn hired insight holdings to manage the company but three catterton executives were appointed to archway s board of directors . former archway employees weasel words claim that insight largely managed the company through telephone and videoconference calls . archway had a bank line of credit from wachovia a financial services company that was dependent on certain financial targets being met . in order to meet these targets and to obtain cash from wachovia archway engaged in an alleged fraud . 23 specifically it allegedly began to report bogus sales numbers by booking virtual sales which were in fact non existent . throughout the year clarification needed cookie sales began to drop with sales falling to us 152 million . archway s outside auditors ernst & young threatened to issue a going concern qualification on archway s financial statements . in 2008 specialty foods filed for reorganization under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . a series of lawsuits have since been filed against catterton insight holdings archway and various executives and former executives of each of these companies . in one of the lawsuits catterton is accused by a group of creditors that the alleged accounting fraud continued for as long as it did because of the control participation and acquiescence of catterton . 24 lance buys the archway brand edit in december 2008 lance won the bankruptcy auction for archway cookies . lance reopened the plant in ashland ohio and archway again began producing cookies . following its acquisition of archway lance has trimmed archway s product line from nearly 100 to 21 . archway still manufactures its popular varieties of oatmeal cookies and several of the popular products that were exclusive to mother s cookies prior to their merger including frosted animal crackers . references edit ashland plant archway s third ashland times gazette march 16 1988 p. 3a . miles of cookies roll out of bakery mansfield news journal february 4 1973 . olin becomes co owner of archway cookies inc. ashland times gazette march 30 1983 p. 1 . success is sweet for local cookie company battle creek enquirer november 1 1995 . archway cookies meets increased product demand industrial engineering september 1 1992 p. 18 . chairman thomas olin introductory remarks archway annual sales meeting 1993 http www.youtube.com watch v fjahv7y39og archway big cookie time commercial http www.youtube.com watch v ftcuxm0dzda 1987 a great year for archway ashland times gazette march 16 1988 p. 3a . archway holiday cookie commercial http www.youtube.com watch v a pnkylmbh4 the good food cookie future looks healthy for archway battle creek enquirer july 8 1990 p. c1 . http trademarks.breanlaw.com 74662006 the good food cookie.html fat free fervor helps archway local cookie company could get used to being no. 3 in the u.s. battle creek enquirer business journal november 1 1995 . second generation takes the wheel at archway battle creek enquirer march 26 1995 p. 10g . archway cookies meets increased product demand industrial engineering september 1 1992 p. 18 . archway bakes into no. 3 after introducing low fat treats associated press august 29 1995 . fat free fervor helps archway local cookie company could get used to being no. 3 in the u.s. battle creek enquirer business journal november 1 1995 . archway bakes into no. 3 after introducing low fat treats associated press august 29 1995 . fat free fervor helps archway local cookie company could get used to being no. 3 in the u.s. battle creek enquirer business journal november 1 1995 . archway cookies patriarch dies of heart attack olin called dynamic family man and leader battle creek enquirer october 31 1996 . p. 1 and p. 4 . 1998 sec filing report 1998 http www.secinfo.com drqqj.7u.d.htm 1998 sfc archway stock purchase agreement sec http