for the English minister see Franklin Baker (minister)

Franklin Baker (minister)

-Biography:He was born in Birmingham on 27 August 1800. He was the eldest son of Thomas Baker of that town. After the usual school education; and when unusually young for such a charge, he took the management of Baylis's school at Dudley. One of hie early friends and advisers was the Rev. John...

Franklin Baker, a flour miller in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, started the business's desiccated coconut business in 1895.

At that time, Baker received a cargo of fresh coconuts from Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 in payment for a consignment of flour he exported. Baker searched for a buyer for the coconuts, and became convinced there was an untapped market for coconut. He came across a small business in Arch Street, Philadelphia, which was about to fold. Mr. Baker bought it for a few thousand dollars and with his boatload of coconuts he entered the coconut business. From that modest start, Baker's coconut has grown to become the foremost supplier of coconut products in the United States.

By 1897, Franklin Baker made so much progress with his new product that he decided to sell his flour business to concentrate on his coconut business. Thereafter, Franklin Baker Jr. joined his father in the business that eventually became known as the Franklin Baker Company

Franklin Baker Company

Established in 1897, Franklin Baker Company is one of the pioneer manufacturer and exporter of desiccated, processed, and specialty coconut products in the U.S. and international markets...

.

In 1913, manufacturing facilities were moved to Brooklyn, New York. In 1924 the business was relocated to Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

. Franklin Baker began processing coconut in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 in 1922 at a plant in Sta. Mesa, Manila. This gave birth to the Franklin Baker Company of the Philippines. The original intention was to process coconuts in the Philippines to supply their New Jersey plant with desiccated coconut instead of importing whole nuts from the Caribbean countries.

General Foods Corporation acquired the Franklin Baker Company in 1927, and operations were transferred to a bigger and modern factory in San Pablo City in Laguna, in close proximity to abundant coconut supply. During the Second World War, the San Pablo plant sustained heavy damage due to the bombings. Operations were thus moved back to the United States to ensure continuity of the business. Fresh coconuts from Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 and Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 were brought to the Hoboken plant for processing. Eventually, the San Pablo plant was rebuilt in 1947 at its current location.

In 1964, the U.S. processing facility was moved from Hoboken to Dover, Delaware

Dover, Delaware

The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...

. By this time, all the base processing was being done in the Philippines while the Dover plant sweetened, toasted and creamed the desiccated coconut for industrial and retail customers.

In 1987, Philip Morris

Philip Morris

- Philip/Phillip Morris :*Altria Group, conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the 19th century tobacconist**Philip Morris USA, tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group...

, owners of General Foods, bought Kraft. The Franklin Baker desiccated coconut products were put into the Kraft Food Ingredients Group. In 2004, Kraft, realizing that coconut products were not totally aligned with its core businesses, decided to sell the Franklin Baker Company industrial product lines. Out of the many companies that put in their bids, Kraft selected Andorra Ventures Corporation.