Happy 100th Birthday to the Oreo Cookie!
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
bctgm, bakers union, tobacco union, candy union, food workers, food workers union, grain millers, grain millers union, mondelez, nabisco, snack union,
2014
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06 Mar Happy 100th Birthday to the Oreo Cookie!

Posted at 11:44h in BCTGM-Made, Local Union News by

The Best Selling Cookie of the 20th Century

In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Biscuit Company (NaBisCo), and opened a large industrial bakery in New York City on Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets at the Chelsea Market Building. By 1902, the company had its first nationwide success in Barnumโ€™s Animal crackers, which were sold in boxes painted as animal cages.

In 1912, Nabisco had an idea for a new cookie โ€“ two chocolate disks with a sugar creme filling in between. That year Nabisco sold its first package of Oreo Cookies to a store in Hoboken, N.J. Today, more than 12 billion Oreo cookies are consumed each year. In order to keep up with this voluminous demand, BCTGM members use 22 million pounds of coca and 64.1 million pounds of cream filling.

So how did the Oreo get its name? The people at Nabisco arenโ€™t quite sure. Some believe that the cookieโ€™s name was taken from the French word for gold, โ€œorโ€ (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, โ€œoreo.โ€ Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the โ€œreโ€ from โ€œcreamโ€ and placing it between the two โ€œoโ€s in โ€œchocolateโ€ โ€”making โ€œo-re-o.โ€ And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce.

No matter how it got named, more than 362 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since it was first introduced in 1912, making it the best selling cookie of the 20th century.

Nabisco moved out of the Chelsea Market building in 1958 and now produces Oreo Cookies in BCTGM bakeries throughout the U.S. and Canada. The original bakery building now houses cafes and shops and 15th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City was renamed Oreo Way.

Oreo is just one of the popular treats made by BCTGM members at Kraft-Nabisco. BCTGM-made Kraft-Nabisco products, including the Oreo, are found in more than 145 countries.

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BCTGM Makes Kraft-Nabisco

Kraft-Nabisco products are manufactured by BCTGM members employed at these Kraft Foods/Nabisco plants:

  • Chicago (Local 300)
  • Fair Lawn, N.J. (Local 719)
  • Portland, Ore. (Local 364)
  • Philadelphia (Local 492)
  • Richmond, Va. (Local 358)
  • Montreal, Canada (Local 350)
  • Toronto, Canada (Local 426)

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