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Wally Amos, whose Famous Amos shops fueled a 1980s cookie-concept boom echoed today in the surge of brands like Crumbl and Insomnia, died this week at age 88.
His family said the cause of Amos’ death was complications from dementia.
Before getting into the cookie business, Amos had a successful career at the William Morris talent agency, overseeing its stable of rock ‘n roll stars in the mid-1960s. Among the acts he signed was Simon & Garfunkel, and his charges included the superstars Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye.
He moved to Los Angeles late in the ‘60s to start his own talent agency, but found little traction. For comfort, he started baking chocolate-chip cookies, riffing on a recipe he’d gotten from the aunt with whom he’d lived for a good portion of his childhood. A unique feature of the treats coming out of his kitchen was their size. Amos kept the cookies bite-sized.
Acclaim from friends and family led Amos to open a Los Angeles shop to sell his cookies in 1975. Gaye was reportedly among the financial backers.
The place was a hit. Other shops were to follow, as was an acquisition offer from the Keebler baking company. Amos sold the business but continued to serve as its public face and spokesman.
The Famous Amos cookie shops were soon competing with a number of other cookie stores, particularly the ventures of Debbie Fields, who’d become nationally famous through her Mrs. Fields brand, and David Liederman, who gave the East Coast an upstart called David’s Cookies. Liederman, who’d given up a career as a lawyer to work in restaurants, died last month at age 75.
Established chains also poked a spatula into the market. Arby’s, for instance, started selling a proprietary brand of treats called Flower Pot Cookies.
All of the entrants aimed to sell consumers a cookie they could eat right away as a snack, or buy in bulk for consumption later with family or friends. Typically, the treats were more expensive than what consumers were used to paying for pre-packed boxes of cookies from a supermarket.
To differentiate its cookies, Famous Amos continued to make them bite-sized and by hand. Its namesake founder also appeared on talk and game shows and sitcoms, in addition to appearing in the brand’s marketing materials.
The fresh-cookie market mushroomed into one of the restaurant industry’s boom segments, but the bubble soon burst amid the intense competition.
The surge was also derailed by the low barrier of entry. Restaurants specializing in other products found it easy to add cookies to their product lines, making brands like Famous Amos less exceptional.
Amos’ star power waned as the market weakened. He tried to reinvigorate his brand, and his notoriety, by developing other products, including muffins. But the efforts were far less successful than his cookie venture.
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