A Sad Day

October 9, 2008 /

I was saddened to read in this morning’s paper that Mother’s Cookies has shut down operations and is filing bankruptcy.  I’ll admit to fond memories of growing up with Mother’s Cookies, those yummy super sweet pink and white circus animal cookies, or the taffy sandwich cookies, or Ted’s favorites, the peanut butter gauchos.  Sigh.

Mother’s has been around a long time (since 1914), though the company has been bought and sold several times in the last 15 – 20 years.  Before that, they were a Bay Area institution.  They were located in Oakland until just a few years ago, when they moved to Ohio and Canada.

I went to buy a couple of packages of peanut butter gauchos this morning, and we were talking about it in line.  The woman behind me used to work for Mother’s, as did her father before her.  She thought a big part of their problem was that they didn’t change their business model, still maintained a fleet of delivery trucks, rather than having their cookies distributed by another company that also delivers other products.  Too much cost of labor, and gasoline, and too little cushion against the bad times.  They tried to save the company by seeking financing, but in today’s troubled credit environment, they were unable to do so.  Damn you, credit crisis!  The pain comes home.

A sad day indeed.  Raise a glass of milk to Mother’s.  We’ll miss their yummy goodness.

15 Comments

  • Donna

    October 9, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Spence and I saw that on TV…he’s always bugged me for the Circus cookies…guess I get some today and surprise him with them after school…one last time. Sniff.

  • Cherry

    October 9, 2008 at 10:28 am

    I am SO SAD!
    The Circus cookies and the Iced Oatmeal have always been my favorites. Oh and those Wafer cookies too. Many childhood memories in those cookies.

    I will hold onto the memory of going to the factory as a kid even tighter now.

    Even though the Circus Cookies are terribly fully of fat and calories, I’m going to go buy some tonight.

  • Autumn's Mom

    October 9, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    I went at lunch and bought iced oatmeal, taffy, peanut butter gauchos and shortbread. Sigh. I’m a dork.

    I have very fond memories of the iced circus animal cookies, but I think they are way too sweet now.

  • Ted

    October 9, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    Well, at least the company won’t have trouble unloading their inventory — if the sentiments here in the comment section are any indication. 🙂

  • Darin

    October 9, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    Well, I agree it’s a bit sad. I’m a huge fan of dunking their oatmeal cookies in milk…however, I have to admit that hydrogenated oil cookies really aren’t a good thing…my mouth of course disagrees, but I know they can’t be good. Mother wouldn’t have, actually.

  • J

    October 9, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    You’re right about that Darin…they’ve surely changed the recipe quite a bit since the first cookies were made back in 1914. But still…yummy.

  • OmbudsBen

    October 9, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    As kind of a sidenote, Mother’s Cookies used to have a baseball card day at Candelstick Park, back in the 80s. You’d go to a ballgame and get a pack of cards with the Mothers cookies logo. I still have some, somehere in the packratting collections.