Sad, sad economic news: Mother’s Cookies has shut down. Mother’s produced Iced Oatmeal cookies, Mini Chocolate Chip cookies, and the grand old favorite of many, the Iced Circus Animal cookies.
The iconic company started out as a one-man shop in Oakland, CA, by a newspaper vendor from San Francisco. As Foodlocker puts it, ”...He toiled all night baking cookies in a three square foot oven with a nightly capacity of about 2000 cookies or 150 boxes. These sold for $1 a box and his vanilla cookies were an overnight success.”
The success unfortunately could only weather 92 more years, and just last week Mother’s closed after seeking bankruptcy protection during these tumultuous times.
This isn’t some behemoth of an investment firm folding, its CEOs running off with arms full of millions. This isn’t a mismanaged bank selling themselves to some other giant bank. There was no bailout plan for this piece of American history.
I am sad. I am craving Circus Animal cookies, the pink and white frosting and rainbow sprinkles reminding me of much better, much happier times. I can’t buy them anymore.
Cory
on 15 Oct 08It’s devastating. I want just one more bag of these things with the late 80s/early 90s packaging. The packaging above just isn’t the same.
Brian Oberkirch
on 15 Oct 08We are mourning Mother’s right this second. Then I will search out and hoard some oatmeal cookies.
Bish
on 15 Oct 08Very sad. I had to have one more bag of Circus Animal cookies for old time’s sake. Here’s a cool tee shirt I found to memorialize them though…
Mark
on 15 Oct 08Aww, that’s really disappointing. Back in the day, I was all over those iced oatmeal cookies.
Kind of ironic in that in this uncertain environment, you’d think Mother’s would be one of those comforting, reassuring items folks would flock to.
carlivar
on 15 Oct 08This is very sad. The financial firms get all the press these days, but you don’t usually hear about the smaller companies failing.
Which reminds me: I am tired of people defending their foreign cars by saying they are “made in America”. Maybe so, but the profits leave the country and even more importantly, nearly all of the components are imported. You don’t hear about a 50-person GM dashboard widget supplier in Michigan failing…
Jason Reed
on 15 Oct 08My wife picked up 4 boxes of Peanut Butter Gauchos for me. I wonder how long they’ll last…
That being said, I’m sure someone will pick up their assets. The cookie recipes/trademarks have to be worth something, right?
One can hope they’ll still get made somehow.
Matt Moore
on 16 Oct 08This is really sad.
I remember when they had baseball cards in their packages and how on a hot summer day, the pink and white cookie covering would melt on the cellophane and make a big mess. But, I guess licking your fingers after pulling out a Will Clark card wasn’t all that bad.
naomi
on 16 Oct 08Yes, those cookies are iconic. Yes, I have eaten many of them. But that icing always tasted a little weird. Not quite like creamy frosting…more like wax. I’m sorry for the people who lost their jobs, but not sorry to see those totally artificial cookies go.
Keith
on 16 Oct 08I wonder if there isn’t a more interesting message about how americans put value into their junk food?
apparently greed got america into financial trouble, and even on the lowest level, americans seem to overly value their “icons” of greed.
nice.
Brade
on 16 Oct 08I will miss eating those characters.
Zack
on 16 Oct 08Sorry about your misfortune. Maybe the company will get word of this and do something.
Jason Zimdars
on 16 Oct 08Oh man. Iced animal cookies were such a guilty pleasure. I’ll certainly miss them.
Eric
on 16 Oct 08You’d think someone with capital would come in to buy the company at a deep discount - for it’s parts at least. If it has a strong recipe, a great brand, and an established customer base - seems like bankruptcy isn’t the only option.
Tim Jahn
on 16 Oct 08It’s sad when the businesses that should truly matter don’t get fancy bailout plans.
bff
on 16 Oct 08What am I going to eat out of the vending machine now?!
Ken B.
on 16 Oct 08Mothers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which means they intend to restructure the company. From what I’ve gathered, two years ago they changed manufacturing facilities and laid off 236 employees. My guess is when they moved, they incurred new debts that they couldn’t afford with changes in the interest rates. The bankruptcy also gives them room to negotiate with the unions.
I’m sure the cookies won’t be gone for too long, it’s probably just a case of where and who manufactures them.
Josh Williams
on 16 Oct 08NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I’m going to grab the bad out of the pantry right now to hoard it. Not my pink sprinkled circus cookies! Thank you for ruining my otherwise perfect day.
Patrick
on 16 Oct 08I heard about this last week. Being a bay area resident, I quickly went out and stocked up on as many bags of Circus Animals as I could. I sure hope they freeze well!
Josh Williams
on 16 Oct 08I swear they’re like $5 a bag at the Berkeley Andronico’s. Time to stock up.
SH
on 16 Oct 08@Josh, if you send me a couple bags can we arrange some sort of trade??
Eliot
on 16 Oct 08Working as an engineer in the food manufacturing industry has shown me one certainty: margins for bakeries are extremely thin. I would wager to guess the slimmest out of any other processed food.
Joe Ruby MUDCRAP-CE
on 16 Oct 08LAME.
Roy
on 17 Oct 08Aw crap. My daughter loves these. I’ve seen them recently on store shelves in Mpls/St.Paul…or at least thought I had. Poop.
Jim
on 17 Oct 08The horror!!!! Oh man, the frosted animal cookies are gone? No iced oatmeal cookies? Forever?
David Terry
on 18 Oct 08OH NO!!!!!!!!!!
There aren’t a lot of cookies that I crave … but get me started on a bag of circus cookies and I’m apt to finish the whole thing in one sitting.
Life will never be the same!
This discussion is closed.