The Baker Chocolate Company is the oldest producer of chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 in the United States

United States

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

. The company was initially established when a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 named Dr. James Baker met John Hannon on the banks of the Neponset River

Neponset River

The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. The headwaters of the Neponset are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near the Gillette Stadium...

. Irishman John Hannon was penniless but was a skilled chocolatier

Chocolatier

A chocolatier is someone who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.Professional chocolatiers study topics including the following:...

, a craft which he had learned in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and which was, until now, exclusive to Europe. With the help of Baker, Hannon was able to set up a business where he produced “Hannon’s Best Chocolate” for 15 years. In 1779, Hannon went on a trip to the West Indies and never returned. His wife sold the company in 1780 to Dr. Baker who changed the name to Baker Chocolate Company.

Edmund and Walter Baker

Dr. James Baker’s son, Edmund (1770–1846), and his son, Colonel Walter (1792–1852), successfully carried on the business. The chocolate was marketed with a guaranteed money-back policy if the customers were not one hundred percent satisfied with their purchase. Colonel Walter Baker had studied law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 at Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 and thus had the name “Baker’s” legally protected for future generations of this family business

Family business

A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....

.

Henry Lillie Pierce

After Colonel Walter Baker died, his brother-in-law Sidney Williams took over, but died two years later. Henry Lillie Pierce, a stepnephew of Walter Baker, lease

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

d the business for the next thirty years. Henry Lillie Pierce expanded the business substantially. He added more buildings for the production and found new market places for the chocolate products. He exhibited his products at Exhibitions in both the old and new worlds, and won an award at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873. Pierce was an influential citizen of Dorchester and politically very active: he was elected mayor of the city of Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 twice, served as US congressman and in the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

.

La Belle Chocolatiere

The logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 of the chocolate server, called La Belle Chocolatiere, was adopted in 1883 after a painting by the Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard

Jean-Étienne Liotard

Jean-Étienne Liotard was a Swiss-French painter. His father was a jeweller who fled to Switzerland after 1685....

 called Das Schokoladenmaedchen

The Chocolate Girl

The Chocolate Girl is one of the most prominent pastels of Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard, showing a chocolate-serving maid. The girl carries a tray with a porcelain chocolate mug and a glass of water. Theories concerning the girl's head-dress run from a cap cover to an echo of the colourful...

 which can be found at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden features major works of art. It is located in the gallery wing of the Zwinger....

 (art gallery) in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The story of the Schokoladenmaedchen not as clear cut as published in the Choice Recipes from 1913. The painting was done in the 1740s at the Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 court of the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n Kaiserin Maria Theresia

Maria Theresa of Austria

Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...

 at a time when Jean-Etienne Liotard had been commissioned to paint both the Kaiser and Kaiserin (empress and emperor). It is said that the model of the Schokoladenmaedchen was one of the young ladies at court whose beauty led Liotard to put it on a canvas.

Walter Baker & Company published the story in Choice Recipes, 1913, as follows:

"...There is a romance connected with the charming Viennese girl who served as the model, which is well worth telling. One of the leading journals of Vienna has thrown some light an the Baltauf, or Baldauf, family to which the subject of Liotard's painting belonged. Anna, or Annerl, as she was called by friends and relatives, was the daughter of Melchior Baltauf, a knight, who was living in Vienna in 1760, when Liotard was in that city making portraits of some members of the Austrian Court. It is not clear whether Anna was earning her living as a chocolate bearer at that time or whether she posed as a society belle in that becoming costume; but, be that as it may, her beauty won the love of a prince

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

 of the Empire, whose name, Dietrichstein, is known now only because he married the charming girl who was immortalized by a great artist. The marriage caused a great deal of talk in Austrian society at the time, and many different stories have been told about it. The prejudices of caste

Caste

Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

 have always been very strong in Vienna, and a daughter of a knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

, even if well-to-do, was not considered a suitable match for a member of the court. It is said that an the wedding day Anna invited the chocolate bearers with whom she had worked or played, and in "sportive joy at her own elevation" offered her hand to them saying, " Behold! now that I am a princess you may kiss my hand." She was probably about twenty years of age when the portrait was painted in 1760, and she lived until 1825..."

Forbes Syndicate

The company was sold in 1896, following the death of Pierce, to the Forbes Syndicate. They greatly expanded the factory, adding the Powder House, the Ware Mill, the Preston Mill, the Forbes Mill, and the Baker Administrative Building over the next thirty years. The Forbes Syndicate advertised Baker’s chocolate in magazines such as the Youth Companion, Booklovers’ Magazine, Red Book Magazine, and Liberty

Liberty (magazine)

Liberty magazine may refer to:* Liberty , a political magazine published from 1881 to 1908 by Benjamin Tucker* Liberty , a general-interest magazine published from 1924 to 1950...

.

The Forbes Syndicate had the idea to reinforce loyalty

Brand loyalty

The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty as:# The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category .# The degree to which a consumer consistently...

 to the brand by giving out coupon

Coupon

In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions...

s that could be redeemed for bone china

Bone china

Bone china is a type of soft-paste porcelain that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material and kaolin. It has been defined as ware with a translucent body containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phosphate...

 services, bookend

Bookend

A bookend is an object that is designed to buttress, or support, an upright row of books. It is placed on either end to prevent books from falling over, such as in a half-filled bookshelf. Bookends are both utilitarian and, often, decorative. They are common in libraries and in homes...

s, spoon

Spoon

A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...

s and serving trays as well as the very popular cookbook

Cookbook

A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...

, which was published every year.

Postum Cereal Company, which has changed its name to General Foods

General Foods

General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the USA by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The name General Foods was adopted in 1929, after several corporate acquisitions...

, bought Walter Baker & Company in 1927 and moved the production to Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

 in 1965. By 1979, the Walter Baker & Company was incorporated into Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...

.

Further reading

• Stevens, Peter F., "It Happened in Dorchester: Dr. Baker and the Chocolate Factory", The Dorchester Reporter
• "Walter Baker Chocolate Co.", Dorchester Atheneum

External links

• Alte-dosen.de, "The story of the beautiful Chocolate-Girl"
• "1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair: The Chocolate Standard in Three Centuries", Agricultural History Series, Missouri State University