Milestones Page

1896		Paul Schulze, Sr., an immigrant from Germany, established the Schulze Baking Co., a major commercial bread bakery that over the next three decades, established the Butternut brand, an enterprise consisting of 12 bakeries in nine cities which he sold to Interstate Bakeries in 1921.

1923		The Paul Schulze Biscuit Co. is created from two small bakeries acquired by Paul Schulze, Sr.. Unique display racks with glass topped covers for bulk merchandise put the Paul Schulze Biscuit Co. name and products into thousands of independent retail food stores in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

1933		The Burch Biscuit Co. was organized and headquartered in Des Moines. This operation was managed by Edgar Burch, Mr. Schulze’s son-in-law, who had joined the company in 1924.

1939		A new plant was built at 1133 W. 35^th Street, Chicago, that embodied efficiency, speed and the latest technical advances. At this time, the two companies, the Paul Schulze Biscuit Co. and the Burch Biscuit Co., were merged and became Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co.

1949		Schulze and Burch invented the Saltine cracker.

1953		Plant was expanded - two ovens were added.

1954		A bulk flour system was installed.

1963		Two additional ovens were added.

1964		Schulze and Burch produced a new product that General Foods had invented, called a Toaster Pastry that was marketed under the Toast'em^® Brand.

1966		A new 180,000 sq. ft. building for packaging was built.

1971		Schulze and Burch acquired the Toast’em^® brand from General Foods.

1975		Schulze and Burch produced the first granola bar and continues to manufacture a range of granola based products today.

1978		Tara Foods, a specialty packaging company producing portion control items for the health care market is founded.

1983		Schulze and Burch was selected to manufacture the first dual textured cookie -- chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside.

1984		Schulze and Burch was selected to manufacture a chocolate covered chewy granola bar.

1986		A new mixing room was added.

1988		Schulze and Burch relocated Tara Foods, renamed it Tara International and expanded capabilities to include portion-control packaging, display merchandise, coupon inserts and promotional products.

1989		Schulze and Burch built a Food Technology and Development Center -- a fully computerized, self-contained pilot plant with inline production capabilities for a wide range of baked products, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, granola, baked potato chips, diet and various blending and portion packs.

1992		"Snackin’ Fruits^® Pastry Bars", a new fruit-filled product, was introduced in Cherry, Apple and Strawberry flavors.

1993		Schulze and Burch conducted extensive research in new technologies and a leading edge, world class process line for various fruit based product combinations.

1997		Toast’em Pop-Ups Toaster Pastries were reformulated, creating a new proprietary flavor system resulting in a superior taste and a more moist filling.

Schulze and Burch Biscuit Company - 1133 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60609 - (773) 927-6622