**History of Rold Gold:**
– Founded in 1917 by Lorraine Schumaker
– Originally named American Cone and Pretzel Company
– Expanded to St. Louis, Missouri, and El Segundo, California
– Owned Continental Packing Company from 1921 to 1955
– Purchased by Frito-Lay in 1961
**Ownership and Sales:**
– Red Dot Foods Inc. of Madison, Wisconsin attempted to purchase in 1960
– Frito-Lay acquired Rold Gold in 1961
– Rold Gold ranked #2 in pretzel sales in the U.S. in 2014
– Sales expanded nationwide under Frito-Lay ownership
– Offers a variety of baked, lactose-free pretzel products
**Product Offerings:**
– Range of pretzel and snack products
– All items are baked, not fried
– Most products are lactose-free
– Owned by Frito-Lay
– Established reputation for producing pretzels
**References and Sources:**
– Sales of leading pretzel brands in the U.S. in 2014 (in million U.S. dollars)
– Retrieved from Statista on 2014-03-07
– Various brands under Frito-Lay ownership
– Partnership with Ekaterra for some products
– Additional information available on Wikipedia
**Categories and Brand Associations:**
– Brand name snack foods
– Part of Frito-Lay brands
– Known for its pretzel offerings
– Stub article on brand-name food products
– Hidden categories on Wikipedia related to the article
Rold Gold refers to first a company and then a remaining brand of pretzels, now owned by Frito-Lay. The company, originally named "American Cone and Pretzel Company", was founded in 1917 by Philadelphia businessman Lorraine Schumaker.
 | |
| Product type | Pretzels |
|---|---|
| Owner | PepsiCo |
| Produced by | Frito-Lay |
| Country | US |
| Introduced | 1917 |
| Markets | United States |
| Previous owners | American Cone and Pretzel Company |
| Website | fritolay.com/roldgold |
Run for its first half century as a family business, Rold Gold expanded its operations to St. Louis, Missouri, and El Segundo, California, and established a reputation for producing pretzels. From 1921 until 1955, the company also owned the Continental Packing Company, a pimento canning plant located near Macon, Georgia, but sold that part of the business in 1955, in response to increasing competition from overseas canners. The Schumaker family sold Rold Gold to Red Dot Foods Inc. of Madison, Wisconsin, in 1960, but the deal fell through when Red Dot went bankrupt and its principal owner committed suicide. Frito-Lay then purchased Rold Gold in 1961, and has owned the pretzel company ever since.
In the years since its purchase by Frito-Lay, Rold Gold has expanded its sales nationwide. While on-bag advertising formerly stated that Rold Gold was "America's No. 1 Pretzel", when measured by total dollar sales in the United States, Rold Gold was the #2 pretzel brand behind Snyder's of Hanover as of 2014.
Rold Gold pretzels offer a range of pretzel and snack products. All of these items are baked, not fried, and most are lactose free.