A kooky cookie story 

Picking and decorating a tree, mulled wine, negotiating who’s hosting the big family dinner: These are all things many of us find ourselves doing this time of year. But for us at TIP TOP (and likely many of you), one of the best parts of this festive season is all the cookies. 

So, as we thought about what to cover in this month’s Learning Nugget, it’s not surprising that we had those sweet little treats on the brain. As we researched tasty morsels of cookie history, we discovered something that made our jaws drop (and not just so we could put more cookies in them): The world’s most popular cookie is a rip-off. 

Oreos are not the real deal

In the late 19th century, Jacob and Joseph Loose started a baked goods company in the midwest of the United States. They soon decided that instead of competing with other regional companies, it would make more sense to join forces with them.  
 
They accomplished the merger, and Jacob became head of the second-largest baked goods company in the country and his brother was on the board of directors. While that might sound like a grand accomplishment, life didn’t get easier. The country’s top three companies in the industry were in fierce competition with each other – so fierce that Jacob became unwell and had to step away from the business to rest and heal. 

While he was away, Joseph and others at the business got an idea: Why not join with the other companies instead of spending so much energy, time, and money fighting them? 
 
Jacob hated the idea of merging with his rivals, but he couldn’t stop the deal from happening. While Jacob recovered, the three bakery titans joined forces to create the National Biscuit Company or Nabisco.  
 
When Jacob recovered, he didn’t join Nabisco but started yet another new baking company. It also found great success, but it was a very distant second in revenue to Nabisco in the United States.  
 
But it wasn’t second place in everything. 

Jacob’s company made the Hydrox: two chocolate cookies covered with beautiful patterns stuck together with white vanilla cream. It was wildly popular and made up a large portion of his company’s sales. When Nabisco made a cheaper, copy-cat cookie called the Oreo, no one wanted it. The Hydrox was the real thing, and Nabisco was clearly making a lower quality knock-off. 
 
And that’s how things were for almost four decades. However, Jacob’s company – then named Sunshine Biscuits – eventually began losing money while Nabisco continued to be a powerhouse. Then, in the 1950s, Nabisco relaunched the Oreo and spent tons advertising it. 

Ingeniously, they also made the new Oreo more expensive than the Hydrox, making the actual original cookie look like the cheap rip-off to supermarket buyers now too young to know which had come first. 

Oreo: Ruler of the cookie world 

While the Hydrox has faded from memory, Oreo now reigns supreme as the best-selling cookie in the world, with over $650 million USD in sales in over 100 countries annually. Though the company name Nabisco is still on the packages, it’s a subsidiary of Modelēz International, which is associated with food industry giant Kraft.  
 
The company’s website says they make enough Oreos in one year to circumnavigate the globe five times. 
 
One thing you won’t find on that website, though, is any mention of the real inspiration for the Oreo: the Hydrox. 

Season’s greetings!

We hope this Learning Nugget has given you something fun to bring up if there’s a lull in conversation at a gathering you attend this holiday season. And if your family gets into any spats, this can help you put them into perspective: At least no one’s likely fighting over an idea worth hundreds of millions. 
 
From all of us here at TIP TOP, we wish the happiest of holidays to all who are celebrating and a wonderful start to the new year to all. Don’t miss out on our forthcoming annual Christmas video where another tasty treat awaits.