Drake's Cakes

Drake's is a brand of American baked goods. The company was founded by Newman E. Drake in 1896 in Harlem, New York, as The N.E. Drake Baking Company, but it is now owned by McKee Foods. The company makes snack cake products, such as Devil Dogs, Funny Bones, Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings, and Yodels. Drake's has traditionally been marketed primarily in the Northeastern U.S., but it expanded to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. regions in 2016. The products are made under the Orthodox Union kosher certification guidelines.

Drake's brand began as The N.E. Drake Baking Company, incorporated on November 14, 1896, in New York City and founded by Newman E. Drake. The first bakery was in Harlem at 36–38 West 135th Street.

Drake's youngest brother Judson was working with him at the founding, and his brother Charles was with him in the later business in Brooklyn. Judson left the business in 1898 for the National Biscuit Company where he had a long and well-regarded career in bakery management. Charles was a vice president for the Brooklyn business, but he sold his interest and retired in 1907. At some point, all four of Newman's sons worked in the business.

Newman Drake came into this entrepreneurial venture with experience in large scale commercial baking. In 1888, he joined Vanderveer and Holmes Biscuit Company, and he had become a salesman traveling internationally for this cracker business by 1894. He was traveling in England on business in 1893–94 when he observed commercially baked fine cakes sold in grocery stores, and he was inspired to bring the idea to America.

By March 1898, retailer ads featured Drake's pound cakes by brand name in various flavors. The ads stated that the products were baked fresh daily and sold for 17 cents per pound. In 1900, retailer ads featured Drake's layer cakes with chocolate or vanilla icing at 18 cents. One Drake's ad touted that the price was half of what it would cost to make at home. By 1901, retailer ads referred to Drake's "celebrated" pound cakes and included Drake's macaroons.

In the 1890s, the cracker industry consolidated in a multitiered fashion. In 1898, the three major players consolidated into one large enterprise, the National Biscuit Company, later known as Nabisco. As early as 1899, but definitively by November 1900, the National Biscuit Company had purchased the Drake bakery and referred to the bakery as the N.E. Drake Baking Co. Branch. Retailer ads show that the N.E. Drake's Famous Loaf Cakes continued to sell under that brand name at least to December 30, 1902. The Drake Baking Company was dissolved in 1903, however National Biscuit Company continued to produce cakes and macaroons at the same Harlem bakery at least into 1908, but the products were under brand names other than Drake, for example Regina, Golden Glory, and Imperial. It is not known how Newman Drake was able to hold onto the Drake brand for later Drake baking enterprises, but National Biscuit Company moved onto other brand names.

On December 4, 1902, Drake reestablished his business as Drake Brothers Company with his brother Charles and his brother-in-law Frank S. Vreeland and by at least May 10, 1903, Drake was operating a bakery at 1006 Wallabout Market in Brooklyn, New York. Newman was president, his brother Charles was vice president, and sons John Harold and Walter were bakers. By 1904, Newman's third son, Arthur, was working in the business as a salesman.

An article covering a Brooklyn food show in April 1904 indicated that Drake continued to produce pound cakes, macaroons, and other cakes at the Brooklyn bakery. The firm was noted as having been the first to have produced cakes in large quantities for grocery stores, which must reference the origins of the Harlem bakery. The new bakery was servicing over 1,000 stores in Brooklyn and extended "over a large portion of surrounding country."