Market fact: The revenues of the Oreo cookies brand remain higher than the revenues of Yahoo! Inc.:
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Oreo Cookies Celebrate 90th Birthday in New York City
Wed Jun 12, 3:04 PM ET
By Jessica Wohl
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dozens of children gobbled up Oreo cookies and race car driver Dale Earnhardt ( news - web sites) Jr. drove an Oreo-decorated car down a New York City street on Wednesday to celebrate the cookie's 90th birthday.
Second graders from a nearby school sang along with Oreo commercials shown during a party held at Chelsea Market, the home of the bakery on New York City's West Side where Oreos were first made in 1912. Oreo biscotti and strawberries dipped in Oreo cookies attracted older eaters, but kids were happy with the original.
"I had Oreos, Oreos, Oreos and more Oreos," said 7-year-old Isabel as she waited to see a giant birthday cake that resembled an Oreo cookie.
So do a lot of other people -- Oreo sales last year totaled $860 million with more than 11 billion cookies consumed. That's about 2 cookies for every person on this planet.
NEW YORK'S FAVORITE COOKIE
The first Oreos were made by National Biscuit Company, which later shortened its name to Nabisco and is now part of Kraft Foods Inc. .
The origins of the Oreo brand name are unclear, but Becky Tousey, the archivist for Kraft, said her favorite theory is that the name comes from the two "Os" in the word chocolate surrounding the "R" and "E" in cream.
The cookies were first made in New York, but the first recorded sale of Oreo cookies actually happened in nearby Hoboken, New Jersey, Tousey said.
New York certainly claims the cookie for itself. A representative for Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented a proclamation making Wednesday "Oreo Cookie 90th Anniversary Day" in New York City, and the city council declared Oreo as the city's favorite cookie.
New Yorkers got free packs of mini chocolate creme Oreos around the area and can learn about the cookie's history at an exhibit at Chelsea Market this summer that will feature a cookie press used to make Oreos when they were first introduced.
OREO WAY
Kids at the event piled Oreos as high as they could, but none could come close to the height of an imaginary stack of the more than 450 billion Oreos made so far, a tower that would reach to the moon and back more than six times.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., an Oreo spokesman, drove a race car decorated with an Oreo topped with a birthday candle across part of 15th Street, or "Oreo Way," according to the temporary street sign he unveiled. Police officers did not stop Earnhardt, even though he drove against traffic in the one-way street.
New versions of Oreos are boosting sales, but the original chocolate-flavored wafer and cream-filled Oreo still accounts for about half of the brand's overall business and its sales are growing quickly, said Archie Mack, an Oreo business director, adding the brand could reach $1 billion in sales this year.
"I see us really going down the path of a lot more innovation," said Mack, whose favorite Oreo flavor is the chocolate creme version that debuted in 2001. |
