Wallace Amos Jr. was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936,
the only child of Wallace and Ruby Amos. His parents divorced when he was
twelve, and Amos was sent to live with his Aunt Della in Harlem, New York. Aunt
Della loved to cook and bake, and it was she who gave Wally Amos his first
chocolate chip cookie. This simple act of affection had lasting impacts on the life of the young boy, who eventually went on to make a career from
fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.
. He enrolled in a trade high school specializing in
cooking, and had a job as a cook after school. But Amos became restless and left school just months before graduation,
signing up for the U.S. Air Force in 1953. During his four years in the
military, he finished his high school education.
Amos started baking to excite and impress himself, since cookies always made him feel
better. In the back of his mind, , he considered the idea of selling his
cookies. Because he had little money, Amos almost ignored this idea. Instead,
he started thinking of ways to promote his business. As a man who had made his
living promoting other people as an agent, he used his background to come up
with ways to sell cookies. He wrote up a business plan and approached some of
his famous friends including singers Helen Reddy and Marvin Gaye, who each
contributed to his start-up funds. Soon he had $25,000 in financial backing.
Amos planned a big party to launch his new business: he hired a band, bought
champagne, and invited many of his celebrity friends. The Famous Amos Chocolate
Chip Cookie Company was officially born in March 1975 at the corner of Sunset
Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles.
While the launch of Famous Amos was glitzy, the man behind it all worked from dawn to dusk baking and selling his cookies. He had no
money to advertise, so he became the new company's showman, passing cookies out
on the streets, delivering them to friends, and taking them everywhere he went.
As quoted in a Black Enterprise profile from November 1992,
Amos said, "I knew I had the best product; all I needed to do was to
convince the public of something I already knew."
During its first year in business, Famous Amos had sales of
$300,000 and Wally Amos's smiling face became increasingly well known since it
was featured on every tin or bag of cookies. By 1977, when Wally moved to
Hawaii with his family, Famous Amos had added two baking and manufacturing
facilities and additional stores around Los Angeles and its first in Hawaii.
Amos started baking to console himself, since cookies always
made him feel better. In the back of his mind, however, he considered the idea
of selling his cookies. Because he had little money, Amos almost abandoned the
idea. Instead, he started thinking of ways to promote his business. As a man
who had made his living promoting other people as an agent, he used his
background to come up with ways to sell cookies. He wrote up a business plan
and approached some of his famous friends including singers Helen Reddy and Marvin Gaye, who each contributed to his start-up funds. Soon he had
$25,000 in financial backing. Amos planned a big party to launch his new
business: he hired a band, bought champagne, and invited many of his celebrity
friends. The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company was officially born in
March 1975 at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles.
While the launch of Famous Amos was glitzy, the man behind
the glitz worked from dawn to dusk baking and selling his cookies. He had no
money to advertise, so he became the new company's showman, passing cookies out
on the streets, delivering them to friends, and taking them everywhere he went.
As quoted in a Black Enterprise profile from November 1992,
Amos said, "I knew I had the best product; all I needed to do was to
convince the public of something I already knew."
During its first year in business, Famous Amos had sales of
$300,000 and Wally Amos's smiling face became increasingly well known since it
was featured on every tin or bag of cookies. By 1977, when Wally moved to
Hawaii with his family, Famous Amos had added two baking and manufacturing
facilities and additional stores around Los Angeles and its first in Hawaii
Famous Amos was selling $5 million worth of cookies by 1980, and just two years
later sales had rocketed to $12 million. Yet with such phenomenal success came
mistakes. Amos began selling shares of the business to outsiders; he also tried
to launch new products such as chocolate sodas, which did not work out. In
1983, he wrote his autobiography, The Famous Amos Story: The Face that
Launched a Thousand Chips. As Amos celebrated the book's success, his
business was losing money. By the time the Bass Brothers of Fort Worth, Texas,
came on the scene in 1985, the company founder was in serious financial
trouble. Feeling he had little choice, Amos sold his remaining interest in
Famous Amos to the Basses for $1.1 million, keeping a small tie to the company
as a board member.
Amos and his cookie empire enjoyed a decade of success. However, Amos
gradually sold off parts of his company. In 1988, a corporation called
the Shansby Group purchased Famous Amos Cookies and successfully repositioned
the brand image, changing it from a specialty item to a lower-priced
product. Amos attempted to launch another cookie company, which he called
Wally Amos Presents Chip & Cookie. The Shansby Group sued Amos for
violating an agreement that forbade him to use his name and likeness on the
packaging of any food products. In 1998, the Keebler Company purchased the
Famous Amos brand, at which time Amos resumed his role as the product's
spokesperson.
Calvin Klein was born in Bronx,New York on 19 November 1942. He studied fasshion in New York city and apprenticed for a suit manufacturer. in 1968 . He founded Calvin Klein limited , a coat shop in York Hotel with $10000. His first collection consisted of coats and dresses that were understated ,they featured at a New York city cloth store Bonwit Teller. In the late 1970's the company made attempts to start its own fragrances and cosmetics but later withdrew due to financial losses. When the designer jean frenzy reached its whole time high in the 1980's, Klein introduced an insanely successful line of boxers for both men and women underwear collection that made over $70 million dollars in a year. the stunning growth went on through the years. $24000 was brought in with the licensing program when it was initiated in 1974, it had royalty income of $ 7.3 million dollars ten years later . His clotes were sold in over 12000 cloth stores in the U.S and were available in six other countries. Klein had an increase in financial problems and pressure from all sides , license disagreements of the Men's wear line and its dissappointing sales as well as emnormous employyee turnover both with in and with license partners . the company faced bankruptcy in 1992,
