By the time Amos started his own LA talent agency, his roster was chockablock with sixties swagger: Diana Ross & the Supremes, Sam Cook, and Simon & Garfunkel were all friends. Wally Amos is a salesman who uses flair, hype, and showmanship to convey his message.". He booked Solomon Burke. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. But Wally Amos isn't one to fret over the loss of his name or his company. He began serving cookies to clients, inspired, depending on the account, by either Aunt Della or a back-of-package Nestle recipe. S -all the while poised to surprise the boy when he looks. "He had a big block party for the opening of the store and every year at Christmas he'd have a big block party," Shawn recalls. The Shansby Group and Wally Amos battled in the early 1990s, entangled in a legal battle for the use of his face and image. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. Amos has three sons from his first two marriages, Shawn, Michael and Gregory. He started in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency and in 1962 became the first Black talent agent in their history. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Famous Amos was the real star of the brand, appearing on packaging and merchandise in his signature straw hat and embroidered cotton shirt. Actually, Amos says, fame never really mattered much to him. Amos struggled to keep up with the brands rapid growth. As a man who had made his living promoting other people as an agent, he used his background to come up with ways to sell cookies. Some of my clients were quitting the business and others were not paying me commission Baking cookies at home was my way of healing myself, loving myself and sharing my love with my friends.". "It's interesting," he recalled in 1987 during a speech at the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, "because friends would see me and before even saying 'hello,' they would say, 'Hey man, where are my cookies?'". [5] The company began to expand, and eventually, Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies could be found on supermarket shelves across the United States. There's no darkness, there's no subterfuge there. '', See the article in its original context from. As Amos told Diane Toops of Food Processing magazine, "It took me a while to catch up with my name. Wally Amos has an estimated net worth of $20 thousand as of 2023. In 1988, the Shansby Group bought the company for $3 million dollars, not a lot of dough for that era. Kellogg Company. Some cookies were too small. But this wasn't Wally Amos's greatest creation. He had an impressive client list, which included Simon and Garfunkel, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye (1939-1984), Sam Cooke (1935-1964), Dionne Warwick (1940-), and Diana Ross (1944-). Thanks to his amazing promoting ability, he grew the company from $300,000 revenue in the first year to $12 million by 1982. . "The secret of Famous Amos was my attitude. "The Cookie" got the full star treatment. Two sales later, the new owners added shelf-stable ingredients and repositioned the cookies as an affordable brand, prompting its famous founder to depart. Kellogg, like Keebler, was a billion-dollar company known for its quality and outstanding products. Amos, who created the Famous Amos cookie empire three decades ago and eventually lost ownership of the company _ as well as the rights to use the catchy name _ is now running a modest cookie shop in Hawaii. Still trying to make it as an entertainment manager, Amos began baking chocolate chip cookies for therapy, using a recipe similar to his Aunt Dellas. Despite the company's poor financial history, and the fact that Uncle Wally's muffins have not become the huge hit with consumers that Famous Amos cookies once were, the business had modest revenues of about $3 million last year and the product is winning fans, Mr. Avignone said. Amos, Wally, and Camilla Denton. New World Order - Daniel Lpez - EFO 241. The store sells five varieties of bite-sized cookies for $9.89 a pound, similar to the ones he first sold at the Famous Amos store in Hollywood 30 years ago. [11] Uncle Noname became Uncle Wally's Muffin Company in 1999. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. And so Wally, relentlessly optimistic, raised a little cash from Marvin Gaye and a few other friends and set up shop. [10][failed verification] A Famous Amos distributor at the time, Lou Avignone, heard Amos on a local radio talk show and, inspired by Amos' story of his early business success with Famous Amos and his spirit, contacted Amos with the idea for starting a new business. ''Certainly Wally Amos carries the namesake, so it was an obvious place to look'' for a spokesman, said Bruce Grieve, Keebler's vice president for new-business development. Amos decided to change the brands name to Uncle Nonam. Soon he had $25,000 in financial backing. This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 22:25. The affable Amos recalled in Parade that he had numerous obstacles to overcome on his long road to success. He accumulated all his fortune being the founder of the most common cookie brand Amos Cookies. His first job after the military was in the stockroom at Saks Fifth Avenue. He later dropped out of high school to join the Air Force before working as a mailroom clerk at the William Morris Agency, where he became a talent agent, working with The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel and Marvin Gaye before borrowing $25,000 to launch his cookie business. Under the Uncle Noname label, by 1996 Amos had again scored success with fat-free gourmet sweets. On the corner of Sunset Blvd. Why did Wally Amos lose his company? I believe, along with many others, that you must first ask for what you want before you can have it. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1996, abandoned cookies and went into muffins at the suggestion of Amos business partner, Lou Avignone. I shaved my beard and stopped wearing hats.''. He also has a daughter named Sarah with his third wife, Christine Harris. He would throw his efforts into the cookies that had come to occupy so much of his time. Vintage Photos Of Black History Being Made In America, Your email will be shared with newsone.com and subject to its, Rickey Smiley Gives First Interview Since Son Brandon Died Of Suspected Drug Overdose, Death After Surgery Much More Likely For Senior Black Men Compared To White Peers, Study Suggests, Rapper Juvenile Teams Up With Urban South Brewery To Launch His Own Hard Iced Tea, The Story Of Wally Amos: From His Great Success To Tragic Downfall. Kimbro, Dennis, and Napoleon Hill. Wallace Amos, Jr. was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936. Toops, Diane. Amos founded the cookie company in 1975 and things just didnt go as planned. "Obituaries always list the year you were born and the year you died, separated by a dash, i.e. By 1967, Amos decided to strike out on his own. (847) 803-4600 In 1967, Amos left William Morris and moved to Los Angeles, where he struggled to set up his own personal management company. San Francisco Business Times (November 19, 1993): p. 1. Today, Famous Amos is an international brand you can find in most grocery stores. When his mother and grandmother came to New York, Amos moved in with them in 1951. [18], Amos had lived in Hawaii from 1977 until 2018. He became such a known figure culturally that he appeared as himself in the Taxi episode "Latka's Cookies", in 1981. He spent the ensuing years working in the stock room at Saks Fifth Avenue, and in the mailroom at the prestigious William Morris Agency. The Sharks all passed on the opportunity. Ebony, September 1979, pp. Within two years Amos returned to retail marketing based on a chocolate chip theme with his Chip & Cookie concept. "He worked with all the Motown acts, with the Temptations and Supremes," his son, musician Shawn Amos says. Uncle Noname, however, foundered because of debt and problems with its contracted manufacturers. "He had great instincts about story, and he had great instincts about how to make people feel good," Shawn says. The father of four, he continues his work as a spokesperson for Literacy Volunteers of America, and one precent of pretax profits of Uncle Nonam cookies are donated to the support of Cities in Schools, a national dropout-prevention program of which he is a member of the board of directors. By 1985, Famous Amos reported a $300,000 loss on sales of $10 million. When he sold Famous Amos in 1985, Wally Amos lost more than a company. At school, he claimed that he had developed an intense desire to become successful and to make money. U.S.A. He worked dilligently, eventually becoming manager of the supply department at the ritzy store. Within months, Amos had opened two more West Coast franchises, and the New York-based Bloomingdale's department store had begun selling the gourmet cookies. Web site: http://www.quiksilver.com Mr. Amos is happy to do his part. All Rights Reserved. The muffins are sold in more than 3,500 stores nationwide. ", Everywhere he goes, people want to know, did he bring any cookies? Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/trade-magazines/amos-wally. But even without Mr. Amos on board, the Shansby Group began to turn the business around, cutting costs and pushing sales through vending machines. By 1980 Amoss trademark Panama hat and shirt were inducted into the Smithsonian Institutions Collection of Business Americana. The company,. People wondered why Amos would choose to feature such a stereotype in his title. Encyclopedia.com. I think it's bordering on being fanatical. The company focused on fat-free, nutritious muffins at that time. However, in 1985, mismanagement forced Amos to gradually sell off parts of his company. It filed for bankruptcy in 1996. Amos, Wally, Eden-Lee Murray, and Neale Donald Walsch. 1983, Reprint. In 1992, he started producing high-priced hazelnut cookies under the name Wally Amos Presents. How Chinese Restaurants Shaped Tiki Culture In LA, The Weird And Wild Flavors Of Musso And Frank's Most Old Timey Dishes. [On-line] http://www.kelloggs.com (accessed on August 15, 2002). Recalling the episode in the Providence Business News in 1995, Amos said, "I was irresponsible. In some areas I am more noted for reading then I am for cookies! In addition to being proprietor of Chip & Cookie in Kailua, the former cookie king is now a muffin mogul. ''It's a full-circle kind of thing,'' said Mr. Amos, who still flashes the toothy grin shown on cookie packages and television talk shows two decades ago, though his chocolate-colored face is creased with more lines these days. Neither parent could read or write. All Rights Reserved. Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. She introduced young Wally to the simple delights of a warm, chocolate chip cookie. He retained a position on the board of directors but was relieved of day-to-day responsibilities in the company. The cruelest blow of all fell in the early 1990s, when the cookie man was struggling to keep his home from foreclosure. Id really like them to do it beforehand while theyre in the womb," Amos said in a MidWeek interview. He was sued by the owners of Famous Amos who successfully contended that Amos had relinquished the rights to use his name and likeness in marketing a food product. Wally Amos became the first Black talent agent in the history of the William Morris Agency in 1962. The later book dealt with Amos's legal battles with Famous Amos, which resulted in Amos being unable to use his name or face to sell any baked products. Born in tallahassee, florida, wally amos lived a childhood that was not always stable and trouble free. "I never had a superstar but I made a day-to-day living, that was about it," he told the New York Times in 1975. Article Title: Wally Amos Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/wally-amos, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 24, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014.