. 1992: Started Uncle Noname Cookie Company. And he really, really cared about people.". In a world of mass-produced food products, Amos seemingly hit upon the universal "soul food": the American home-style chocolate-chip cookie. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Growing up poor in the segregated South, he faced adult responsibilities at an early age. Many who resort to crime ultimately can't read or write. He dropped out of high school, though he is now spokesman for Literacy Volunteers of America and devotes a lot of his time to literacy and anti-drop-out efforts. The day-to-day operations of the company required more money than it could generate.. Cookie included baked goods, storybooks and a variety of merchandise. Famous Amos cookies were crisp and nutty, with a satisfying bite that most chocolate chip cookies lacked. By the early 80s, Americas cookie baron was clearing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, drawing national attention for the Literary Volunteer of America, and winning kudos from Ron Reagan for his free-market hustle. "I don't take things seriously," he says. The Man With No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade. Between visits to the rooms of patients (none of whom seem quite sure who the ebullient, kazoo-blowing guy is), Amos takes a pit stop. In 2012, Amos appeared in the February 16 episode of. In 1975, a friend suggested to Amos that he set up a store to sell his cookies, and in March of that year, the first Famous Amos cookie store opened in Los Angeles, California. After his discharge from the Air Force, Amos enrolled at the Collegiate Secretarial Institute in Manhattan. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni). Barred from using his name in future cookie ventures, in 1992 Amos developed and marketed Uncle Noname (pronounced no-NAH-may) baked goods, the name being a play on his enforced anonymity. Amos acknowledges making some really bad decisions, such as being too controlling and not listening to others who were advising him to do things differently. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. As he wrote in his autobiography, he began slowly to console himself and his frustration by making chocolate-chip cookies in the style of his Aunt Della. "Amos, Wally Amos began selling shares of the business to outsiders; he also tried to launch new products such as chocolate sodas, which did not work out. Toops, Diane. He had no money to advertise, so he became the new company's showman, passing cookies out on the streets, delivering them to friends, and taking them everywhere he went. He wasnt a businessman. With this remark, made by Amos after he sold his cookie business, Amos turned to the new passion in his lifelecturing on inspirational issues. "We're going to have Chip & Cookie boutiques, we're going to focus on gift items -the dolls, cookie jars, a book -but you've got to have cookies to substantiate the concept." The year Wally stopped selling cookies, he shaved his beard and stopped wearing hats. Telephone: (816) 502-4000 On the corner of Sunset Blvd. Located within department stores, Chip & Kellogg Company. But he has been chastened by failure, acknowledging that in some respects he walked into a trap awaiting many entrepreneurs. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. But ''it was a shocker at first.'' Over the next several years, Famous Amos was bought and sold a number of times. Among the products developed by the company are pound cakes in such flavors as banana blueberry and orange cranberry, and fat-free muffins in a variety of flavors, including corn and honey raisin bran, apple cinnamon, chocolate passion, and blueberry. "He worked with all the Motown acts, with the Temptations and Supremes," his son, musician Shawn Amos says. Mr. Amos started the original Famous Amos Cookie Company with $25,000 from the singers Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, celebrity friends he knew from his days as a talent agent. He has three sons and a daughter and lives in Hawaii. "In financial terms," Wally wrote in 1996, "all I've done since is amass debt and miss payments." Around the time Wally lost ownership in his company, his career took perhaps it's most remarkable turn. Then in March the Keebler Company, the new owner of Famous Amos, offered Mr. Amos a two-year contract to promote his old brand. Tietosuojakytnnstmme ja evstekytnnstmme voit lukea lis siit, miten kytmme henkiltietojasi. Amos planned a big party to launch his new business: he hired a band, bought champagne, and invited many of his celebrity friends. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. ''I'd lost the company really because I didn't use to listen to people a lot because I was Famous Amos,'' the founder now acknowledges. Being famous is highly overrated anyway, said Amos, who has lived in Hawaii since 1977. In developing his cookie business, Amos' approach was highly personal. "Amos, Wally 1937 You might as well eat Chips Ahoy." Advertising Age (March 22, 1999): p. 6. Never better!". The Shansby Group and Wally Amos battled in the early 1990s, entangled in a legal battle for the use of his face and image. His entrepreneurial spirit in tact, Mr. Amos switched to a line of low-fat and fat-free muffins. Or it was God lighting up my life at that moment.. Encyclopedia.com. New York: H. W. Wilson and Co., 1995. Being famous is highly overrated anyway, Wally Amos, author of ten books, friend of Simon & Garfunkel, and inventor of the Famous Amos cookie, told an AP reporter in 2007. Amos uprooted his second wife and newborn son and moved to Californiaand then Masakela dropped him. Article Title: Wally Amos Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/wally-amos, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 24, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014. Costa Mesa, California 92627 Wally Amos created the first such store, on Sunset Boulevard. "In Motown's heyday, they had something called the Motortown Revue, so he booked all that. While Famous Amos soon lived up to its name, thriving for nearly a decade, the company's founder lost control of his business. It seemed to be shining as if neon paint had been used. This is also how Toll House brand cookies got their start. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. 17678; December 20, 1993, pp. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. U.S.A. 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 picture went with the company," he says. Amos was born Wallace Amos Jr. on July 1, 1936, in Tallahassee, Florida. I didn't even want to talk about chocolate-chip cookies, really. Amos started baking to console himself, since cookies always made him feel better. By the mid-'80s, Famous Amos was losing money and Amos slowly lost control of his creation. When a new job opportunity. "I never had a superstar but I made a day-to-day living, that was about it," he told the New York Times in 1975. I thought, if you could just get Saddam Hussein and George Bush together over a bowl of cookies and milk, they'd solve this thing. All you have to do is drive into them.. Most recently, he appeared on Shark Tank at age 80 pitching The Cookie Kahuna, a business that eventually failed. In 1999, Amos signed a deal with the new owner of Famous Amos, Keebler, to act as spokesperson. "He had great instincts about story, and he had great instincts about how to make people feel good," Shawn says. "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. [1] When his parents divorced, he moved to New York City with his aunt, where he enrolled at the Food Trades Vocational High School. What Did People Eat On LA's Beaches 100 Years Ago? Keebler Company. Franchises followed. Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. ''In quicksand, if you start flailing all about and panicking with each movement you go in deeper, but if you just stay calm and look about, chances are you'll see a twig or something you can reach to pull yourself out. ''An entrepreneur has an enormously high energy level and has a very low attention span typically,'' said Paul Karofsky, executive director of the Center for Family Business at Northeastern University. That business was named after Amos and faced. Contents . He later dropped out of high school to join the Air Force before working as a mailroom clerk at the William Morris Agency, where he became a talent agent, working with The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel and Marvin Gaye before borrowing $25,000 to launch his cookie business. "My dad is a master showman," Shawn says. Day 27: Wally Amos. but as a child he had an innate spirit and gift to. Keebler acquired the brand last year, becoming its fifth owner. Several investors stepped in, but Mr. Amos said they took more of his equity stake each time and never stayed long enough to turn the company around. http://www.GreatCookieComeback.com Wally Amos was the King of the Cookie Kingdom. But hes hardly struggling. LAist's new podcast LA Made: Blood Sweat & Rockets explores the history of Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Lab, co-founder Jack Parsons' interest in the occult and the creepy local lore of Devil's Gate Dam. I was committed to creating a new life for myself. Wallace Amos, Jr. was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936. I just send love to 'em. As the charismatic Amos told the story of "The Cookie" over and over, his concept received plenty of good PR. Ever the optimist, he views the experience as yet another reminder of the power of faith and positive thinking. The new owners came in and I was outside looking in.". The move proved to be a mistake, as the new owners began to run the company into the ground. In the 1970s Amos founded the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Corporation, the very first gourmet cookie business to attract a national following. "Amos, Wally 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. Around the time Wally lost ownership in his company, his career took perhaps it's most remarkable turn. So it seems. "He just exuded light," his son says. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. But Famous Amos sued, contending trademark infringement, so he changed the name to Uncle Noname. [16] Wally Amos has 4 children: Michael Amos, Gregory Amos, Sarah Amos,[17] and musician Shawn Amos. Wally Amosentrepreneur, motivational speaker, and authorfounded the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company in 1975 selling bite-sized homemade chocolate chip cookies. Wally Amos's most famous creation, Famous Amos cookies. The Cookie Never Crumbles: Inspirational Recipes for Everyday Living. and Formosa Ave., in front of a Brazilian restaurant, you might notice a square metal sign. Amos said hes always been in business to make friends, not to sell treats. His treatsbaked at locations in Nutley, New Jersey and Van Nuys, Californiawere sold in chic department stores and at several outlets in the nations bigger cities. . Toll Free: (800) 257-8443 By the time the Bass Brothers of Fort Worth, Texas, came on the scene in 1985, the company founder was in serious financial trouble. He was living close by in Hollywood and he was starving. Spokesman for Literacy Volunteers of America; board member, Cities in Schools, Inc. Military service: U.S. Air Force, c. 195559. In 1962, following a number of promotions, Amos became the first Black talent agent in the history of the William Morris Agency. All Rights Reserved. In 1986, Amos was given an Entrepreneurial Excellence Award by President Ronald Reagan (1911-) in appreciation of his remarkable American success story. [19][20][21] Amos currently resides in Columbia, South Carolina, where he is working on Aunt Della's Cookies.[21]. ", IF YOU GO BACK A FRAME, TO THE moment just before Wally Amos saw the bag of Famous Amos cookies that have nothing to do with him, you get the real, unbound Wally Amos. As an agent, he signed .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Simon & Garfunkel and headed the agency's rock 'n' roll department. Amos, Wally, and Stu Glauberman. [12], In 2014, an article in Fortune magazine lauded "The cookie comeback of 'Famous' Wally Amos" as Amos bought back his handmade cookies under a new name The Cookie Kahuna. The man beams. . His son Shawn called him a bearded, amped-up Willy Wonka whose mother used to beat him with an electrical cord, angry at Wallys fathers infidelities, their poverty, and at the structural strains of the Jim Crow South. When you walked into the cookie store, the door to the kitchen had a star on it, because that was the dressing room for 'The Cookie.' "Amos, Wally In his book, Man With No Name: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade, Amos explains how he lost Famous Amos even before it was sold it off for $63 million to a Taiwanese company in 1991. Unfortunately for Amos, he . Debt mounted to $1.3 million and Uncle Noname filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1997, emerging just two months ago. Culinary entrepreneur Wally Amos stands in front of the original Famous Amos store on Sunset Blvd. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. "Famous Amos Gets its First National Push from Keebler." Mr. Amos became a paid spokesman but left in frustration the next year. Theyve said I am a victim. This time, the company produces its own fat-free muffins and will soon offer take-home cupcake kits. 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