Welcome to Spaans Cookie Company's History Page.
Spaans' history in the bakery business dates to 1896 when our grandfather Peter Spaans became an apprentice baker in Holland. He came to America with his wife in 1912 and settled in Kansas where he tried wheat farming but soon returned to his trade as a baker after he learned American measurements and pastry preferences. He opened his first bakery in Muir, Michigan. By 1922 he was running a bakery route in the country, selling bread for seven cents a loaf. Three of his five children became bakers.

First born William, our father, married Anna, our mother, and opened a bakery in 1935, the Spaans Dutch Bakery. They featured donuts and pastries and even made potato chips for a time. They were a team, Bill baking goods and Anna packing them and waiting on customers at the counter.

In the early 1940's, William and his brother Peter, became partners in Spaans Brothers Baking Company and built a thriving business serving defense shop cafeterias and local grocery stores with donuts for 24 cents a dozen. Since sugar and shortening were rationed to the general public, the bakery business boomed, and on one Mother's Day they decorated over 140 cakes. By 1946, rationing was lifted, and their business dropped when defense cafeterias closed and homemakers started baking again. "What saved us", our father remembers, "was that we always owned our own property. If you can rent , you can buy! When business dropped, we sacrificed a lot of our equipment and sold part of the property."

William and his family moved to sunny California where they opened and ran a bakery in Modesto from 1948-1958. They wanted to live in a smaller town so they moved to Galt in 1958 (population 1,200).

In Galt, our father wanted a large production bakery business with quality products and good values. They advertised "Drive A Little, Save A Lot" and packaged products sold 5 for $1.00. New equipment helped produce a larger volume of cookies and they established distribution to grocery stores and bakeries throughout Northern California.

All six of Bill and Anna's children were raised working in the bakery. After school and Saturday jobs included washing pans, sweeping floors, packaging cookies and rolls and waiting on customers. We didn't always want to work but at an early age were instilled with responsibility to the family business and a strong work ethic. Our parents also emphasized education and "to be satisfied with what we had and share it with others."

Jim Spaans returned to the bakery business in 1969 after receiving his Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Humboldt State University in California. In the last 10 years, as the third generation in the bakery business, Jim and his wife Sharon are now the sole owners of Spaans Cookie Co., Inc. Two of Jim's children, Darren and Melissa, joined the company becoming the fourth generation to work in the bakery business. In October of 2006, Melissa Spaans was promoted to Vice President and Jim's youngest child, Rick, became a member of the board. In addition to his commitment at Spaans Cookies, Rick is currently performing on Broadway and has started an online business, www.RockingZoo.Com

Spaans Cookie Co. has recently expanded cookie production by installing a 100 ft. and oven that produces 64,000 cookies per hour. We bake over 28 varieties of cookies with distribution throughout California and in several states.

Over 100 years after Peter Spaans learned the art of baking cookies in Holland, his grandkids are still baking them, some with his original recipes.