Golden Flake
Golden Flake Snack Foods is a Birmingham-based manufacturer of potato chips, crackers, nuts and other snack foods. Its products are sold in a 12-state area.
History
Golden Flake began in 1923 as Magic City Foods in the basement of the original Hill's grocery store in downtown Birmingham. Magic City, founded by Mose Lischkoff and Frank Mosher, quickly became successful in Birmingham and the surrounding area due to its kettle-cooked potato chips and roasted peanuts. The original "Golden Flake Girl", Helen Friedman, and her mother bought out Lischkoff's share of the company. In 1928, Friedman married Mosher. Their marriage lasted only a few years, but Friedman came out of the divorce as the sole owner of Magic City Foods.
Under Friedman's ownership, the company saw sales reach the $1M mark. Friedman sold the company in 1946 to the Bashinsky family. In 1956, Sloan Bashinsky bought the comany from his father and uncle. Bashinsky quickly changed the name to "Golden Flake" and moved the company to its current facility at 1 Golden Flake Drive south of the UAB campus and I-65.
Golden Enterprises
Golden Flake Snack Foods went public in 1968. In 1977, Bashinsky having branched out into insurance, real estate, fasteners, and advertising, created Golden Enterprises, Inc. and Golden Flake became a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Products and sponsorships
Golden Flake was a long-time sponsor of Bear Bryant's weekly television show. It currently sponsors NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway, the SEC, and the Rick & Bubba Show.
In 2009, Golden Flake withstood the snack food peanut butter recall because its snacks were not made from the recalled products.
References
- Jarvis, Crystal (January 20, 2009) "Golden Flake's crackers not part of recall." Birmingham Business Journal