Iconic Philadelphia baker struggles despite millions from state

“Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a TastyKake.”

That’s what the advertisements used to say.

The venerable Tasty Baking Company, a 96-year-old firm and snack food icon in southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey said Tuesday it is seeking a partner to stay afloat or it may have to liquidate.

Apparently even a low interest $32 million, taxpayer-subsidized loan, another $1 million in outright grants and relocation to a state-of-the-art “green” baking facility next to the old Philadelphia Naval Yard last year was not enough to make the company profitable. The company also has a baking facility in Oxford, Chester County.

The new facility has a city tax abatement through 2018.

For nearly 100 years, TastyKakes, cookies and pies were as much a part of Philadelphia’s culture as cheese steaks, the Phillies, Eagles and Broad Street.

Charles Pizzi, president of the firm since 2002, said the firm’s year end financials were less than anticipated and the bankruptcy of major grocery chains such as the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) damaged the company’s market.

Over the past decade, Tasty Baking has tried, to expand and enhance its markets outside the Philadelphia region with mixed success.

“While this has been a challenging period for us operationally, we remain focused on growing the business,” Mr. Pizzi said. “To that end we continue to partner with new grocery and convenience store customers within our core markets, increase penetration with key customers, and launch new products in the marketplace.”

Some of the company’s lenders, including the state, have agreed to be flexible in demands for loan payments to allow Tasty Baking to secure a partner or put the company on the market.

Workers at the facility in Philadelphia voted to unionize last June, shortly after moving into the new baking facility. The company has about 600 workers.