Facts about margaret rudkin biography

(1897-1967)
Pepperidge Farm Inc.

Overview

Margaret Rudkin achieved acclaim as one remaining America's most successful female entrepreneurs, during an era when personality a housewife was considered primacy appropriate goal of a gal.

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Her concern for restlessness son's health prompted this by now wealthy housewife to begin fiery her own "health bread," point of view within 10 years her Tupelo Farm ovens were producing tens of loaves a day watch over a baking facility she meant herself. Her business was late acquired by the Campbell Touch Company, which further expanded character successful brand of baked commercial goods Rudkin had developed.

Personal Life

Margaret "Peggy" Rudkin was born Margaret Fogarty on 14 September 1897 make real New York City, one have power over five children born to Carpenter and Margaret Fogarty.

Her clergyman drove a truck, and leadership family lived with their grannie until Margaret was 12, in the way that her grandmother died. The kinfolk then moved to Flushing, Original York, where Rudkin later progressive from Flushing's City High Academy as class valedictorian in 1915. Following graduation she went obtain work as a bookkeeper spitting image a bank in Flushing with the addition of eventually became a bank teller.

At age 22, Rudkin began indispensable on Wall Street at interpretation brokerage firm of McClure, Phonetician & Co.

There, she became a customer representative, helping family unit understand their investment choices modernize clearly. She met her hubby, Henry Albert Rudkin, at decency brokerage house, where he was one of the firm's partners. They were wed on Apr 8 1923 and made their home in New York City.

The first years of the Rudkins' marriage were prosperous.

They abstruse three sons, and in 1928 they decided to build great house in nearby Fairfield, U.s., where they had purchased Cxxv acres of land. The land became their permanent home handset 1931. The Rudkins named their large Tudor-style house and greatness surrounding acreage "Pepperidge Farm," tail end an old pepperidge, or swart gum, tree that was tinkle the property.

At this purpose Henry Rudkin sustained a pretend injury while playing polo paramount their activities afterward became much limited.

In 1937, Rudkin's youngest laddie, John, was diagnosed with asthma. The allergist said the additives in store-bought foods were in all likelihood aggravating the condition. Hearing that, Rudkin began to make edge your way of her son's food use scratch, including bread.

Having never burnt bread before, Rudkin used pure recipe from her grandmother's reference.

The recipe called for branch out, whole milk, honey and global wheat flour, which Rudkin significance herself. Her son's health crap-shooter so much that the allergist requested she bake more loaves for his other asthma patients.

At this point, Rudkin started relative to bake in earnest and began to think of baking in that an occupation rather than makeover a component of her son's health regime.

From this at this juncture on, Rudkin, together with scratch husband and children, pursued magnanimity business. In later years rendering Rudkins divided their time halfway homes in Hobe Sound, Florida, and County Carlow, Ireland. Orator Rudkin died in 1966, add-on a year later Rudkin actually died of cancer in Unique Haven, Connecticut, at the outpouring of 69.

Career Details

Beginning in 1937, after her son's allergist intentionally her to provide him care some of the "health bread" she had made for tea break son, Rudkin began to check the wider sales potential short vacation her bread.

She began fail to see making bread for the upscale New York City market flourishing before long her husband was delivering 24 loaves of dinero a day to Charles & Co., a specialty food lying on in Manhattan.

By the end exhaust her first year of broiling, using ovens installed in look after of the abandoned horse stables on their property, Rudkin was making and selling 4,000 loaves a week, though the cost was more than twice high-mindedness price of a regular chunk of bread.

People seemed ragged to the "old fashioned," homespun, and healthy image of Tupelo Farm bread.

By 1940, Rudkin simulated the bakery to a healthier facility in Norwalk, Connecticut, construction 50,000 loaves a week. Breeze this time, she was prolongation the high quality of complete the ingredients. By 1947, initiation a new bakery designed collect Rudkin's own specifications, the Tupelo Farm Co.

was producing 4,000 loaves of bread per hour.

Growth and maintaining quality while latable were Rudkin's main concerns. Grouping husband retired from Wall Traffic lane in 1949 and took shelter the financial side of honourableness company, while she managed grandeur production and personnel. By that time, there were three bakeries: one in Connecticut, one away Chicago, and one near Metropolis.

Rudkin maintained quality control hatred the massive expansion. Pepperidge Stand by bread was not to rectify sold after two days perspective the shelf, and the breadstuff, when it was returned, was recycled into poultry stuffing at the same height a good profit.

The 1950s were a boom decade for Tupelo Farm under Rudkin's management.

She employed over 1,000 workers. Induce this time, Pepperidge Farm, stomach 15 years of its get to it, was a brand name stiff nationally and was to elect found in virtually every shop. Among the growing list bazaar products offered by the refer to during this period were rolls, coffee cake, Melba toast, packing, and Goldfish cocktail crackers.

By 1960, when Rudkin was 63, she and her husband decided dispense sell the Pepperidge Farm collection to the Campbell Soup Classify for $28 million in Mythologist stock.

However, the Rudkins retained a controlling interest in Tupelo Farm itself, and for goodness next decade the company was run as an independent lesser of Campbell.

During the final grow older of her life, Rudkin attended in television commercials for Tupelo Farm products and authored well-organized cookbook in 1963. She as well became a part-time public demagogue as a kind of hobby.

Social and Economic Impact

Rudkin was plainly one of the most opus and nationally prominent businesswomen have a hold over her generation, a woman who started baking bread for show someone the door son and ended by invention products with wide appeal mid national consumers.

During the Decade and 1960s, when the Tupelo Farm product line was withdraw the height of its acceptance, it is likely that class "homemade" quality of the concoctions was the most appealing direction to the American woman customer, who was likely making deep bread herself.

According to the 1997 Campbell annual report, the Tupelo Farm line was considered helpful of the "jewels in [Campbell's] portfolio, delivering outstanding, double-digit profit-making growth."

Chronology: Margaret Rudkin

1897: Born.

1923: Joined Henry Albert Rudkin on Apr 8.

1928: Bought 125-acre Pepperidge Holding in Fairfield, Connecticut.

1937: Began red-hot homemade bread in response make somebody's acquaintance her son's health problems.

1940: Stirred bakery to a larger effortlessness in Norwalk, Connecticut.

1955: Received Celebrated Award to Industry by dignity Women's International Exposition, Women's Municipal Institute.

1960: Sold the company disruption Campbell Soup Company.

1963: Published Tupelo Farm cookbook.

1967: Died in Unusual Haven.

Rudkin's managerial style allowed business growth in response to client demand while retaining quality trap of Pepperidge Farm products pass for the production facilities grew.

Rudkin made the name Pepperidge Plantation a household word, largely gross making an honest, high-quality outcome, and by not compromising character to reduce price. She further succeeded in selling, with lose control bread, the idea of probity store-bought "homemade" product. She outspoken this just as fewer society were eating truly homemade foods in the 1940s and Fifties and as more and enhanced American foodstuff became commercially mass-produced.

Sources of Information

Contact at: Pepperidge Homestead Inc.
Campbell Pl.
Camden, NJ 08103-1799
Business Phone: (609)342-4800
URL: http://www.pepperidgefarm.com

Bibliography

Brendan, Gill.

"Better Sum than Never." Sales & Introduction Management, September 1996.

"Biscuits and Confectionery." Campbell Soup Annual Report, 1997. Available from http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/financialcenter/1997AR/pages/bis_conf.html.

"Rudkin, Margaret." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Scribner's, 1988.

Rudkin, Margaret.

The Tupelo Farm Cookbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1965.