Business
Wally Amos: From Cookie Mogul to Life’s Tough Lessons
We’ve all seen it before: the tale of the gauzy self-made business entrepreneur swept into fame and wealth, touting a name for themselves, only for it all to come crashing down suddenly. In their joyride, the protagonist figure realizes that beneath the world of dizzy glitters, there’s a saddened space of existence reality awaiting, of gaping shadows where life isn’t as pleasing as it seems to be.
Experiencing poverty is, without a doubt, a challenging feat in itself. Being born into it, experiencing success, fame, then losing it all and falling back into poverty is what must be especially difficult. Where the majority see this cliche in fiction or television, some are unfortunate enough to experience it firsthand.
This is the story of Wally Amos, of the Famous Amos fame.
Who is “Famous” Amos?
When it comes to feelings about Famous Amos, I imagine people typically fall into one of three groups:
The first group—being made up of mostly young people (probably; I’ve no data)— has zero knowledge of the brand at all. If the name doesn’t conjure visions of second-rate vending machine options (D4 at best), then you’re likely in this group.
The second group knows of Famous Amos and is familiar with its underwhelming status as a dollar store checkout counter snack food. Reasonable.
But the third group has a different view of the matter. A much more romantic take on the treat. Because this group remembers Famous Amos as a mouthwatering gourmet delicacy. A top-shelf cookie purveyor with an outspoken, charismatic owner in Wally Amos.
Why such a harsh disparity? How can a company less than 50 years old have such contradicting reputations among different generations?
There was a time, just a few decades ago, when Amos was a household name. A successful brand with big-name celebrity investors, upscale distribution, and a first-year total sales revenue of $300,000.
But by the mid-80s, the brand was hemorrhaging money. Amos would lose his house and eventually sell a majority stake of the company. Many people were left to wonder: How did one of the most successful snack companies of the last decade so quickly decay into financial shambles?
How did Amos find himself on the butt-end of a bad break?
These are interesting questions, and sure to be answered. But first, it’s worth understanding Famous Amos’ rise to popularity, understanding what made this gourmet cookie company so successful, so, well— I’m not gonna say it, I am not going to—famous.
Wally Amos’ Rise to Fame
Wally Amos came from a classically humble upbringing, born in 1936 in Tallahassee, Florida, to poor, illiterate parents. At age 12, he moved to New York to live with his Aunt Della. It was here that he learned of the famous recipe. (More on this in a bit.)
Amos, who dropped out of high school, would receive his G.E.D. after joining the Air Force. Returning to New York as a mature, educated man, he found work in the William Morris Agency, a Hollywood-based talent agency once considered “the best in show business.”
He began in the mailroom, eventually working his way up to becoming the first black talent agent in the entertainment industry.
This was more than just a side-quest for an aspiring baker; Amos now headed the rock’n’roll department at William Morris, where he signed Simon and Garfunkel and worked with Motown legends like Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Dionne Warwick.
It was only after growing disillusioned with the industry that Amos sought refuge in his aunt’s baking once more.
Wally’s son, Shawn Amos, said:
“Cookies were a hobby to relieve stress.”
It wasn’t long before the cookies took the main stage.
Amos told The New York Times in 1975:
“I’d go to meetings with the record company or movie people and bring along some cookies, and pretty soon everybody was asking for them.”
Amos’s connection with the entertainment business helped his business aspirations tremendously. He received significant contributions from industry stars Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, who gave Amos $25,000 for his new venture.
In 1975, Amos launched his first brick-and-mortar location. 7181 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.
And it was a big deal. The grand opening was a star-studded gala attended by 1,500 people.
Success was sudden. After selling $300,000 worth of cookies in its first year, the brand continued to climb in popularity. By 1982, Famous Amos was making $12 million in yearly revenue.
Famous Amos’s success was the result of exploiting a hole in the market. In the mid-70s, the grocery store shelves were loaded with preservative-dependent snack options. Amos carved out a lucrative niche by marketing the product as a gourmet, zero-preservative, craft-made cookie. A risk well rewarded.
From “What’s Going On?” to “What’s Going On???”
With any great market advancement, a plethora of eager competitors emerge. And shortly after arriving on the scene, Famous Amos was met with rival brands like Mrs. Fields, and new, upmarket product lines from Nabisco and Duncan Hines.
Combining these market competitors and Amos’s inability to keep up with his success led to the first cracks in the business. By 1985, Famous Amos reported a $300,000 loss on sales of $10 million.
Later that year, Amos officially gave up the reigns of his company, selling a majority stake to Bass Brothers Enterprises for $1.1 million.
Two years later, the new owners upended the recipe entirely, adding preservatives and shelf-stable ingredients. Famous Amos was rebranding as an affordable brand. It wasn’t entirely unexpected; such mission-statement-defying practices are common for newly bought companies, but the decision prompted original owner Wally Amos to depart.
In 1992, President Baking Company bought Famous Amos for $61 million—more than 55 times what Wally Amos sold his controlling stake for just a few years earlier.
Amos wasn’t through with the cookie business, however. Later in 1992, he launched his new venture…
And was promptly sued.
Turns out: the latest Amos product— Wally Amos Presents Hazelnut Cookies— stood in direct violation of the contract he had signed years prior when selling his first business. The one that expressly prohibited Amos from using his own name and likeness in the selling of any product.
Undeterred, he changed the name of his company, operating instead as Uncle Nonamé. Boldness had treated him well in the past— and I think it’s an undeniably ballsy way to approach being sued over your own identity— but the market operates in mysterious ways. In 1996, Uncle Nonamé filed for bankruptcy.
What Became of Wally Amos?
By 1999, Amos was in talks with Keebler, the new owner of Famous Amos. An agreement had been reached: Wally Amos would become a paid spokesperson for the brand under the condition that they craft the recipe closer to the original.
And it feels like a solid ending to the story. The sweet embrace of a father and son after a long, arduous journey, complete with lawsuits, bankruptcies, and foreclosure. Ending up together would be fitting— if a bit too good to be true.
“It was bittersweet,”
says his son, Shawn Amos.
“He was happy to be back in the center of the brand he started, but he also had a hard time accepting the fact that at the end of the day, he was just a paid spokesperson.”
The feeling of being alienated from one’s own brainchild eventually led to a short-lived reunion between Amos and the brand that bears his name.
After leaving once and for all, Amos pivoted to making muffins with Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co., opening a bake shop in Hawai’i.
Amos wrote multiple books about his experience over the years, including Power In You, Man With No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade, and The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched 1,000 Chips. He has also been a vigorous advocate for literacy and was granted a National Literacy Honors Award by President George H.W. Bush.
At age 80, Amos appeared on the hit television show, Shark Tank, pitching another new business, “The Cookie Kahuna”. The business ultimately failed.
In 2017, he launched a GoFundMe, announcing he was struggling to pay for food, gas, and rent.
No longer famous, Wally Amos continues on with his baking and entrepreneurial spirit. His life is a statement of hard work and resilience, but also a cautionary tale about success, hubris, and the risks we make along the way.
Did you know that your workplace design can impact the productivity of your employees? Aside from this, office design also affects employee safety and health. A study by international architectural firm Gensler in the US states revealed that only 38% of employees strongly agree that their workplace currently provides a great experience, highlighting a major gap between what offices offer today and what employees actually need to perform at their best.
So how does the environment impact the health, safety, and productivity of employees?
Design To Encourage Movements
Our work has a big impact on your health. Most of the time employees spend a lot of time on their desks, so they are becoming sedentary. As we all know, sitting down for long periods of time has adverse effects on our health. In addition, movement offers instant benefits, including cognitive performance boost.
Designing office spaces that encourage movement or walking can help curb these problems for employees and employers alike. There are workstations that are designed to be used in either sitting or standing positions. An open space design also encourages employees to walk from one section of the office to another. Sometimes something as basic as an ergonomically correct chair can help prevent ailments like backaches.
Natural Lighting > Fluorescent
Good lighting can help people see details clearly and increased visibility can help increase productivity. But, this does not mean to say that you can skimp on lighting in the office because a study from Cornell University shows that poor lighting is connected to low production levels and social satisfaction among employees. Many offices are composed of cubicles to give employees privacy to do their work. However, the cubicle arrangement also blocks natural light, which means that some employees are not exposed to natural lighting during an entire work cycle.
Humans are wired to seek natural lighting. In fact, many buildings in Europe encourage exposure to natural light. Employees who had the best views were the most productive and were most likely to describe themselves as healthy.
Dedicated Noise-Isolation Areas
Acoustics is another key contributing factor to productivity. To achieve acoustic comfort, the office must have appropriate acoustic support that is conducive to interaction, confidentiality, and concentrative work. If it is too noisy, workers will not be able to communicate with each other let alone concentrate.
Design your office to have multiple quiet areas where employees can migrate to in order to make calls, have private meetings, or to focus on their work.
Designed With Health In Mind
Aside from these factors, employers should also provide workers with suitable ventilation, access to greenery and the gym to help encourage a healthy lifestyle. Even something as basic as giving them access to increase or reduce the temperature in the office can impact their productivity. Employers should also encourage employees to personalize their workstations so that employees are happier. Workspace design should allow employees to socialize with each other easily while at the same time giving them access to views and privacy so that they can work properly and productively.
Good lighting, comfortable furniture, pleasant color schemes, and access to views or natural lighting can help generate positive energy in the office and employee mood. In fact, 8 out of 10 employees said their working environment affects their mental health.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by CadoMaestro from Pexels
Small business owners have a lot on their plates, having everything working as efficiently as possible. When reducing costs while increasing sales is a priority, you need all the help you can get. This is why a small business inventory management software is a necessity. Here are the top 8:
What is a Small Business Inventory Management Software?
Have you ever found it frustrating to track items or parts throughout your supply chain? Handling the storage, inventory, and sales from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer can be a Herculean task. This is where small business inventory management software comes in.
This is a tool that automatically tracks how many products or items a business has in stock. It also records and helps monitor how many were sold, returned, or when you should reorder. The most basic software may include accounting tools and point-of-sale systems suitable for small businesses.
The Best Small Business Inventory Management Software
1. Zoho Inventory
A popular choice for small business owners, Zoho Inventory is great value for your money. It allows you to handle multiple ecommerce stores and warehouses. You can check stock levels, manage warehouse items, and fulfill orders.
It features order management, analytics, reporting, and barcode scanning capabilities. It has a free plan with limited features, so if you want to make the most out of the software, the paid plans are highly recommended.
Pros
- Can handle multiple warehouses, currencies, and channels
- Comes with bundling, kitting, and composite tools
- One of the least expensive options
Cons
- No return management feature
- Limited POS integrations
2. FreshBooks
Primarily an accounting software, FreshBooks also has the capabilities of an inventory management software. This is an excellent option for small businesses with fundamental inventory needs. Not only does it enable you to track your items, but it’ll also make accounting easier.
It integrates with many assets and transportation management software, such as 2ship and Barcloud. If you sell in different channels, FreshBooks will come in handy. It automatically gathers data from Shopify or Squarespace for effortless management of your inventories.
Pros
- Easy to navigate user interface
- It comes with excellent invoicing features
- Superb customer support
Cons
- Limited users and clients
- Tier-based pricing is confusing to some users
3. Agiliron
This small business inventory management software is truly cost-effective. Agiliron lets you manage multiple channels with e-commerce, social media, retail, and wholesale features. It will also provide you with comprehensive B2B and B2C inventory, kitting, and many other unique features.
It integrates with QuickBooks, Amazon, Shopify, PayPal, and many other e-commerce-related software and platforms. All its subscription plans offer unlimited orders and 24/7 customer support.
Pros
- Has customer-specific price settings
- International capabilities
- Wide ecommerce applications
Cons
- High learning curve
- Only one user per plan
4. Veeqo
Built explicitly for ecommerce businesses, Veeqo has many features that make inventory and shipping a breeze. It has purchasing, reporting, shipping, and order management tools, whether you have one warehouse or more. Its straightforward platform is centralized to make tracking and management simple and uncomplicated.
One notable feature of Veeqo is its shipping integrations. This includes major shipping couriers such as FedEx and UPS. It has a limited-time, 14-day free trial that lets you try out its service without making a huge commitment.
Pros
- Shipping discounts
- User-friendly interface
- Multi-channel inventory management
Cons
- Some reports of software bugs
- So-so customer support
5. Lightspeed Retail
Most popularly known as a point-of-sale software, Lightspeed Rail also has impressive inventory management features. It allows you to conduct sales online or in-store while tracking your inventory levels in real time. This is a very helpful software to have if you’re in the retail industry.
This small business inventory management software lets you select from a wide array of business types, such as apparel, home and gift shops, and many others. Lightspeed will then show you how it can work in your precise retail niche.
Pros
- Offers seamless integration with ecommerce and in-store POS
- Provides advanced reporting on CRM, vendor, and granular inventory
- Unlimited entries across all plans
Cons
- Has no free plan
- No options for managing perishable products
6. Sortly
Small non-retail businesses will find Sortly an excellent inventory management software, thanks to its free plan. Well, it’s not only that, this software has many more amazing features to its name. Its intuitive functionality helps new business owners get the hang of tracking inventory and other minute details about their products.
Sortly can help you with warehouse management, inventory control and reports, and barcode scanning, among others. It also enables you to keep track of stock levels and returns through its alerting feature.
Pros
- Reasonably priced premium plans
- Ideal for those starting a new inventory
- Easy-to-use interface
Cons
- Integrating with other apps is for paid plans only
- Customer service may be hard to contact
7. CIN7
With its robust inventory and multi-warehouse features, CIN7 has become small business owners’ favorite. Among all the small business inventory management software on this list, CIN7 offers the most integrations. It has a return management feature that is essential for ecommerce business owners.
This software offers advanced options for purchase orders, which include duplication, custom fields, and importing and exporting features.
Pros
- Multi-channel, centralized inventory system
- Great workflow automation
- Gives detailed real-time data
Cons
- No free plan
- Android-only mobile app
8. Katana
Specifically created for manufacturers, Katana will help you track all your products and supplies at every level of the manufacturing process. Its automatic workflow lets you concentrate on manufacturing. Aside from inventory features, this software will help you with scheduling, production planning and control, and many other tasks.
It has a very low learning curve; you’ll quickly know how to keep track of sales and purchase orders, production receipts, warehouse statuses, productions, and many others.
Pros
- Has inventory control and optimization tools
- Has comprehensive manufacturing shop floor control
- Allows tracking by the expiration date
Cons
- Only has email support
- No mobile app
Honorable Mention
The eight small business inventory management software listed above are our top choices. But there is one outstanding brand that we can’t ignore, so we added it to our honorable mention list:
Megaventory
Suitable for small and medium-sized businesses, Megaventory is a cloud-based order and inventory management solution. Its key features include order fulfillment, invoicing, reporting, and manufacturing management. It also offers comprehensive customer support that will help you provide better customer experiences.
Pros
- Alerts you when you are running low on stocks
- Provides automatic calculation of the inventory’s value
- Handles customer and vendor returns without human intervention
Cons
- The dashboard can be hard to navigate on small screens
- The item editor has a high learning curve
Final Thoughts
To find out which small business inventory management software is the best for you, you need to know your inventory tracking needs quite well. After doing so, you can choose from the list above and get the most suitable one for your brand.
Design Hack Your Office For Maximum Productivity
Tips For Starting A Profitable Business
Top 8 Small Business Inventory Management Software for Growth
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in San Francisco?
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in Florida?
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in Texas? Here’s How to Choose
Here are the Best Design Agencies in New Jersey in 2026
Design Hack Your Office For Maximum Productivity
Tips For Starting A Profitable Business
Top 8 Small Business Inventory Management Software for Growth
Top 10 Email Marketing Software Modern Businesses Need Today
The Software As A Service Business Model Explained
The Biggest Hidden Cost in Healthcare Isn’t Staff Time. It’s Operational Friction.
5 Quiet Operational Leaks Costing Fortune 500s Millions
Business9 hours agoDesign Hack Your Office For Maximum Productivity
- Business12 hours ago
Tips For Starting A Profitable Business
- Business16 hours ago
Top 8 Small Business Inventory Management Software for Growth
- Uncategorized4 days ago
The Biggest Hidden Cost in Agencies Isn’t Talent — It’s Throughput
- Uncategorized4 days ago
Here are the Best Design Agencies in New Jersey in 2026
- Uncategorized4 days ago
The ‘Boring’ Internal Upgrade Behind Many $100M-Scale Companies
- Uncategorized1 day ago
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in Texas? Here’s How to Choose
- Uncategorized1 day ago
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in Florida?
- Business1 day ago
What’s the Best Logo Design Agency in San Francisco?
