private founded palo alto california august 16 1977 1977 08 16 founder debbi fields headquarters broomfield colorado united states number of locations 300 locations in the united states and 100 locations in 33 countries 2015 1 key people dustin lyman ceo 2 products baked goods owner famous brands international number of employees 4 000 website mrsfields.com mrs. fields famous brands is a franchisor in the snack food industry with mrs. fields and tcby as its core brands . through its franchisees retail stores it is one of the largest retailers of freshly baked on premises specialty cookies and brownies in the united states 3 and the largest retailer of soft serve frozen yogurt with live active cultures in the country . 3 in addition it operates a gifts and branded retail business entering into many licensing arrangements . its franchise systems includes over 300 franchised and licensed locations throughout the united states and in 22 other countries . it also offers retail grocery products and a gifting catalog under the name of mrs. fields gifts . it is headquartered in broomfield colorado . 4 contents 1 history 2 the chain letter recipe 3 financial history 4 references 5 external links history edit mrs. fields cookies was founded by debbi fields in the late 1970s . she and her husband randy opened their first of many stores in 1977 in palo alto california selling homemade style cookies which quickly grew in popularity . in 1982 they moved their headquarters to park city utah . 5 in the early 1990s the company was sold to an investment firm . during the 1990s the company acquired several other brands including original cookie company great american cookies pretzel time pretzelmaker hot sam pretzel bakery and tcby . in 2007 mrs. fields celebrated its 30th anniversary with a national search for a new cookie . chandler arizona resident carrie lawrence s recipe for oatmeal peanut butter scotchies was chosen over 700 other recipe entries as mrs. fields 30th anniversary cookie in august 2007 . in may 2012 mrs. fields announced it was moving its headquarters to the denver area in colorado . according to then ceo tim casey the move was because many casual quick service franchise companies were launched from and are based in denver making it an ideal environment ... 6 the company acquired long standing licensee maxfield candy and high quality nut dried fruit and popcorn brand nutty guys in salt lake city utah on december 24 2014 . 7 mrs. fields cookie wrapper obverse the chain letter recipe edit in the late 80 s a recipe circulated through the mail that claimed to contain the secret recipe for mrs. fields chocolate chip cookies along with a story that it was purchased from one of the cookie stores for 250 . however it was a fake and the story that accompanied it was adapted from an urban legend attached to recipes for cookies from neiman marcus and waldorf astoria for red velvet cake . 8 in response to the chain letter a sign attributed to debbi was posted in mrs. fields stores mrs. fields recipe has never been sold . there is a rumor circulating that the recipe was sold to a woman at a cost of 250 . a chocolate chip cookie recipe was attached to the story . i would like to tell all my customers that this story is not true this is not my recipe and i have not sold the recipe to anyone . mrs. fields recipe is a delicious trade secret . 8 financial history edit in 2007 nexcen brands inc. purchased the pretzel time and pretzelmaker brands from mrs. fields famous brands . great american cookies was then sold to nexcen in february 2008 . 9 mrs. fields experienced layoffs due to restructuring caused by sale of these brands . in 2008 mrs. fields attempted to restructure their debt to bondholders 10 before filing for chapter 11 protection . 11 mrs. fields narrowly avoided another bankruptcy in 2011 by agreeing to cede control of the company to its creditors z capital and carlyle . 12 13 z capital became the sole owner of mrs. fields in 2013 . 14 mrs. fields promotes neil courtney from coo to ceo . 15 references edit about us . mrsfields.com . retrieved 2015 06 30 . famous brands names dustin lyman ceo . nrn.com . retrieved 2016 09 23 . a b mrs. fields granted approval of all first day motions . businesswire.com . mrs. fields ceo denver area picked from several sites for hq . denver business journal . june 15 2012 . retrieved 2013 03 03 . the deseret news google news archive search . mrs. fields moving hq from utah to denver . the salt lake tribune . may 4 2012 . retrieved 2013 03 03 . mrs. fields confections acquires assets of maxfield candy company . prnewswire.com . retrieved 2015 06 30 . a b costs a fortune cookie . snopes.com . nexcen pays 93.7 m for second mrs. fields chain . findarticles.com . dead link mrs. fields warns bankruptcy may be near . thedeal.com . dead link mrs. fields files prepackaged chapter 11 bankruptcy . chainleader.com . archived from the original on february 4 2016 . keehner jonathan november 18 2011 . mrs. fields near ceding control to creditors bloomberg . bloomberg.com . retrieved 2013 03 03 . palank jacqueline november 18 2011 . mrs. fields baking up restructuring . the wall street journal . z capital partners buys famous brands from the carlyle group . pe hub . famous brands ceo neal courtney discusses future of tcby mrs. fields . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to mrs fields cookies . mrs. fields cookies website tcby website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mrs. fields & oldid 741509597 categories food and drink 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