Bud's Best Cookies

Bud's Best Cookies is a cookie company founded in 1993 by Albert L. "Bud" Cason, a former owner of Greg's Cookies, which was founded by his aunt and uncle in 1937. The company is headquartered at 2070 Parkway Office Circle in Riverchase. It specializes in "bite-size" cookies, offered in several varieties and sold in 2 oz., 5 oz., and 10-12 oz. bags.

Cason sold Greg's Cookies to Wyndham Foods in 1986 and started Bud's Best after his non-compete agreement with that company expired. Cason purchased a 40,000 square-foot former Baxter Pharmaceuticals warehouse near Riverchase Parkway and began planning its expansion into an 89,000 square-foot factory. The company's $12 million fully-automated bakery opened in April 1993. Ingredients, stored in bulk silos, are processed by computer-controlled equipment on three lines.

The cookies were an immediate success, doubling Cason's expectations for first year sales. Early on as much as 40% of the bakery's output was "copackaged" for other cookie brands. Cason has phased out copackaging in order to highlight his own brand. As distribution has expanded, the company has contracted with Keebler, Food Lion and other companies to make and package some of its lines. Following advice from marketers, Cason included a caricature of himself on new packaging in 2000 so that people would know there really was a "Bud" behind the brand. The move is credited with helping increase increase sales by 40%. In 2002 Cason invested $6 million in a plant expansion to increase production capacity to 1 million cookies per hour.

Bud's Best was honored as among the best small businesses in Birmingham by the Birmingham Business Journal in 1998 and 1999. The plant employs about 130 workers.

The plant is a popular destination for children's field trips, hosting more than 30,000 kids each school year. Cason included a video conference room for presentations and ample room for a "Cookieland Express" train pulled by an electric cart to navigate the plant floor.

Products

All of Bud's Best bite-size cookies are 1 1/8" diameter:

• Bite-size wire cut cookies (chocolate chip, chocolate candy, oatmeal, macaroon, vanilla wafer, Butterfinger, ginger snaps)
• Bite-size sandwich cookies (various flavors including caco (chocolate), strawberry, vanilla, lemon, peanut butter and chocolate-peanut butter)
• Bite-size rotary cut cookies (shortbread, windmills, animal cookies, butter cookies, oatmeal bars)

A line of 1 5/8" diameter cookies was introduced in 2004:

• Regular size "Uncle Al's" cookies.

References

• Thornton, William (May 25, 2008) "%%head%%`I figure" [sic]. Birmingham News
• Gorton, Laurie (December 1, 1993) "The Engine of Success". Baking Business
• Zganjar, Leslie (January 31, 2003) "Bud's Best ups capacity to 1M cookies an hour." Birmingham Business Journal
• Seiz, Keith (January 1, 2004) "Bud's Best Cookies: Still growing." Baking Management

External links

• Bud's Best Cookies website