Everything You Need To Know About Famous Amos Cookies

On August 13, 2024, the snack world lost a legend. Wally Amos, founder of Famous Amos cookies, passed away at 88 years old after a long battle with dementia. He left behind a legacy: a brand of cookies that changed the shape of the supermarket baked goods aisle forever.

"With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride," his children Sarah, Michael, Gregory and Shawn Amos said in a statement (via The Guardian).

But there's more to this brand than meets the eye. Did you know, for example, that it had been over three decades since Amos had owned the brand, or that the "famous" recipe has changed multiple times (much to the disappointment of fans)? How about that the chocolate chip flavor was not always the only flavor of these bite-sized sweet treats? Here's everything you need to know about Famous Amos cookies.

Most of us get our Famous Amos fix at the supermarket, but these cookies actually got their start in a small bakery in Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard. It was in 1975 that Wally Amos opened his bakery, thanks in large part to $25,000 in seed money provided by Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, who were his buddies from his previous career as a talent agent.

The neighborhood wasn't the most obvious place to launch a cookie business. His son Shawn Amos, musician and author of "Cookies & Milk," told History.com, "The East side of Sunset was seedy," he said. "We were across the street from a strip joint. We were held up a couple of times." But Wally Amos saw potential in the neighborhood — and, moreover, in his product. The company quickly found success, selling $300,000 worth of cookies that first year alone.

A major contributing factor to the original success of Famous Amos was undoubtedly the attention to quality. Wally Amos was inspired by a family cookie recipe — one he inherited from his aunt, with whom he had lived since the age of 12. He used this recipe to craft his three original flavors: chocolate chip peanut butter, chocolate chip with pecan, and butterscotch chip with pecan. And Amos was a stickler for only using top-quality ingredients. "I always used vanilla extract," Amos told the New York Times in 1999. This was something that set him worlds apart from the other store-bought brands available at the time, which were typically "flavorless" and "preservative-packed," according to the New York Times. 

But ingredients were only the start of what made Amos' cookies so special. In 2008, he told NPR that he took advantage of two secret ingredients: love and positivity. "I talk to my cookies," he told the outlet. "When they're in there baking, I tell them, now, come on guys. You know, you're going to go out into the world. You're going to please people. You're going to make people happy. You're going to bring joy into people's lives. So I want you to get nice and brown and just beautiful."

If that wasn't enough, Famous Amos cookies also departed from the norm with their bite-sized format, making them true outliers.

Of course, larger-than-life Wally Amos was also a major factor contributing to the company's success. Amos, a former serviceman in the Air Force, later got a job in the mailroom of the William Morris Talent Agency in 1957. Eventually, he worked his way up to become the company's very first Black talent agent, even signing Simon and Garfunkel to the agency.

It was burnout that led him to leave behind the world of agenting for cookie-baking, but his larger-than-life personality and charisma followed him to his new career. Not only the brand's founder, he became its mascot of sorts, appearing on packaging in his signature straw hat, which is now housed in the Smithsonian. He furthered his fame by making guest appearances on television shows like "The Jeffersons" and "The Office," which ultimately made him — and his namesake cookies — an American household staple.

While Wally Amos was undeniably a character, his charisma didn't make up for his lack of business experience and acumen. Soon after the brand gained its initial success, Amos began to struggle to keep the company afloat. Through the '80s, Amos was forced to dilute his own equity multiple times to keep up with the demands of the business, even losing his house at one point. Finally, in 1984, he sold a majority stake to Bass Brothers Enterprises for $1.1 million.

The company would change hands multiple times. Bass Brothers sold its 51% stake a year after buying it. In 1987, the Baer family of Denver acquired the business, endeavoring to expand supermarket distribution of the cookies, but soon after, private equity firm the Shansby Group purchased the brand. In 1992, the company was acquired by President Baking Company for $61 million, and when, in 1998, Keebler purchased President, it also acquired the cookie brand. Three years later, in 2001, the Kellogg Company purchased Keebler, and Famous Amos would be a Kellogg brand until Ferrero, the makers of Nutella, purchased Keebler from Kellogg in 2019.

Over the course of multiple new owners, Famous Amos cookies ultimately lost out on some of the quality that had been tantamount to Wally Amos' success. By 1999, he told the New York Times, ”Somehow or another caramel coloring had been added and I don't know why that was." A reliance on shelf-stable ingredients — and an attempt to position the brand as an affordable alternative — left a bitter taste in the founder's mouth. So much so that when Keebler contacted Amos about returning as a spokesperson, he pushed back, refusing to come on board unless Keebler reverted back to the original recipe. The company agreed and thus secured the founder's famous face.

Speaking to History.com, Amos' son Shawn said the decision wasn't an easy one. "He was happy to be back in the center of the brand he started, but he also had a hard time accepting the fact that at the end of the day, he was just a paid spokesperson," Shawn recalled.

The recipe revamp of the '90s was not the only time Famous Amos cookies saw their flavor changed. When Ferrero acquired the brand in 2019, it set its sights on rebranding the bite-sized snacks as more of a premium cookie. It was hoped that it would become a brand that would compete with brands like Tate's rather than Oreo. With this goal in mind, Ferrero launched a brand-new version of the cookie in 2021. The reimagined cookies didn't just contain more chips than previous recipes; they also relied on premium Belgian chocolate. This made-over original was joined by a new line of Wonders from the World cookies, featuring exotic flavors like Philippine Coconut and Mediterranean Hazelnut. 

Ultimately, this relaunch didn't resonate with consumers. In November 2023, Ferrero returned to the original recipe — and the original supermarket placement alongside what Food Dive characterizes as "everyday cookies." The company also slashed the price and increased the number of cookies in each bag, endearing itself to long-time fans of the simple, delicious cookie.

While Wally Amos split ways with the business that wore his name, he was far from finished with the baking industry. In 1992, he launched a new, premium hazelnut cookie brand called Wally Amos Presents. He was sued for trademark infringement, ultimately changing the brand name to Uncle Noname, a business that persisted until 1996. After filing for bankruptcy, he switched tacks, this time founding a muffin business, Uncle Wally's Muffin Co., and a bake shop in Hawai'i, where he would live until his death. His final baking business, The Cookie Kahuna, saw him return to the screen at the ripe age of 80, when he appeared on Shark Tank.

A former high school dropout, Amos' other passion was reading. Not only did he write multiple books about his experience, but he promoted childhood literacy on both the micro and macro level. His bake shop boasted a reading room, where Amos himself would read to children most Saturdays, and for 24 years, Amos also served as a spokesperson for Literacy Volunteers of America. In 1991, George H.W. Bush presented him with the Literacy Award, telling Amos, "Your greatest contribution to your country is not your signature straw hat in the Smithsonian, but the people you have inspired to learn to read."

Wally Amos was a pioneer ahead of his time, and while he was no longer affiliated with Famous Amos at the time of his death, four years ago, the brand launched an initiative in his honor to help promote Black entrepreneurship. The initiative, dubbed Ingredients for Success, provides $150,000 in grants each year to Black-owned small businesses.

Each year, Ingredients for Success supports three new Black businesses, which must have operated for five years or fewer to qualify. Past winners have included Brittany Rhodes of Black Girl MATHgic, a subscription-based business geared towards increasing confidence in math for young girls; Elizabeth Abunaw of Forty Acres Fresh Market, a grocery business aimed towards supporting Chicago's healthy food access movement; and Londyn Jackson of The Language Arc, a wellness center geared towards speech and language therapy services for children. In continuing to promote Black entrepreneurship, the company rewards young people with the same dedication, passion, and spark that got Amos started almost 50 years ago.