Story Behind the Card - Philadelphia and the Tastykake

When Sam and I  were growing up, we would make visits to Gramom's house which always included pulling out all the art supplies and painting, doodling and staying up way too late.  It was the best!  And as a bonus, G-Mom always had Butterscotch Krimpets tucked away in her kitchen cabinet, her favorite Tastykake.  For me, visiting from New England, this was not something I could get at home, so it was extra special. Whenever we see Krimpets now, we think of her.  So it only made sense for us to drop some fun Tastykake greeting cards into the collection this year. Why didn't we think of it before?

All this has us thinking about the origin of the Tastykake. Did you know they're from Philly? And how did it become a Philly thing? Tastykake has been around for over 100 years, established in Philly way back in 1914 by Pittsburgh baker, Phillip Baur and a Boston egg salesman, Herbert Morris. These two put their skills together and started baking individually wrapped cakes at their Germantown bakery. Herbert's wife took one bite, exclaiming, "What a tasty cake," and the iconic snack was born. Why they decided to spell Cake with a K remains a mystery, but it stuck. 

The Tastykakes were priced right and became popular with the city's working class as a lunchbox snack.  To give you an idea of how popular, at the end of their first year, they made $300,000 selling ten-cent cakes! Phillip and Herbert expanded to Chocolate and Coconut Juniors.  In 1927, the year before Gramom was born, came her favorite, the Butterscotch Krimpet. Their most popular Peanut Butter Kandy Kake was introduced in 1931. Tastykakes became a major food group for kids around Philadelphia with the slogan, "The Cake That Made Your Mother Stop Baking."

Until 1941, the snack cakes were delivered around Philadelphia by horse-drawn carriage. When World War II came along, the company took a chance and sent Tastykakes overseas to soldiers in Europe and the Pacific, and demand for these sweet treats grew. Tastykakes were distributed outside of Philadelphia for the first time and the horses were retired.

In the 70's and 80's Tastykake introduced even more to their line up with muffins, chocolate covered pretzels, and pastries. And the great thing is that while things have changed and the bakery has modernized in the last century plus, they never left Philadelphia the city that made them legendary.

If you were lucky enought to grow up with these tasty treats in your lunchbox or you ate them at your Grandma's house like us, you know they're a nostalgic treat.  And we have the cards for that to remind someone else why they love Tastykakes, too. Guaranteed to bring a smile to their face.