United States Bakery

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United States Bakery
Type Private
Founded 1906
Founder Englebert and Joe Franz
Headquarters Portland, Oregon USA
Industry Food processing
Website www.usbakery.com/

United States Bakery, better known as Franz Family Bakeries, is located in Portland, Oregon. Franz Bakery was founded in 1906. U.S. Bakery also owns the Northwest regional bread brands Williams', Gai's, and Snyder's.

Contents

[edit] History

In collaboration with E. E. Franz of Franz Bakery, W.P. Yaw of Yaw's Top Notch Restaurant invented the five-inch diameter hamburger bun in the late 1920s.[1] Though others are credited with creating a bread product to use for the first hamburgers known to the world, Franz is credited for inventing the hamburger bun in its current world-wide accepted form.[citation needed]

U.S. Bakery acquired Eugene-based Williams' Bakery in 1991, and the Seattle, Washington-based Gai's Bakery in 1997.[2][3]

In 2006, the Williams' factory, which had operated on the same site near the University of Oregon (UO) since 1908, was closed and the site sold to the UO, which as of 2007 planned to use it as the location of a new basketball arena.[4][5] Williams' relocated to a new plant in the Glenwood area of neighboring Springfield.[5] It was the first new bakery the firm had built from the ground up since 1906.[6]

[edit] Guinness World Record

A 104-foot hot dog and bun in front of Franz Bakery at NE 12th and Flanders in Portland
A 104-foot hot dog and bun in front of Franz Bakery at NE 12th and Flanders in Portland

In July 2006, Franz baked a 104-foot, 9.5 inch hot dog bun in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the World's longest hot dog. The previous record was just over 57 feet and set in 2005.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mayfield, Mitch. Cruisin' Yaw's. Historical Highlights of Hollywood: Portland State University students and Multnomah County Library.
  2. ^ Historical Timeline. U.S. Bakery. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
  3. ^ "United States Bakery Acquires Gai's Bakery", United States Bakery (press release) via Business Wire, February 24, 1997. Retrieved on 2007-11-23. 
  4. ^ Bolt, Greg. "State board approves UO arena plan", November 10, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-23. 
  5. ^ a b Welch, Bob. "Campus missing that bakery bliss", Register-Guard (via goliath.ecnext.com), September 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-23. 
  6. ^ Franz Family Bakeries Opens New Bakery in Springfield. United States Bakery (press release) (August 28, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
  7. ^ KGW Staff (July 7, 2006). 104-foot giant hot dog displayed in Pioneer Square. KGW. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.

[edit] External links

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Oregon-Based Companies