Pepperidge Farm was founded in 1939 by Margaret Rudkin, a mom of three boys. She started baking whole wheat bread in the kitchen of her farm in Fairfield, Connecticut, for her son, Mark, who suffered allergies and illnesses and was unable to eat most commercially made bread available at that time.
Doctors recommended her wholesome bread to patients who needed a more nutritious diet and soon Margaret began selling loaves in her local grocery store. The quality was so good that the bread was sold for 25 cents, when all other loaves were just 10 cents.
Word of Margaret’s excellent bread spread and she finally moved from baking the bread on her farm to a large bakery in 1947. In the subsequent years, Margaret built the Pepperidge Farm brand into a national food company, expanding beyond bread to cookies, crackers, cakes, and pastry.
Goldfish crackers were launched in the US in 1962 after Margaret visited a Swiss premium cookie company, Kambly and tried their Goldfish crackers. Margaret saw the potential and reached an agreement with Kambly SA to make and sell the product in the US. The first available flavors were Cheese, Pizza, Smoky BBQ and Lightly Salted (now called Original).
Today, the Pepperidge Farm main offices are still on the site of the first commercial bakery in Norwalk, CT.
