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Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
Fifty years-plus of fresh baked cookies
Spaans Cookies celebrates longevity in Galt
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Patti Staggs brushes butter on Spaans special dinner rolls fresh from the oven.
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By Gwen Stevenson
Staff Writer
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Many who live in Galt may not even know about a treasure we have right under our noses, although the scent of freshly baked cookies gives it away during a drive through Old Town Galt.
This week, Spaans Cookies is celebrating 50 years as a landmark in Galt, providing not only delicious cookies but also pies, breads, pastries and ‘melt in your mouth’ rolls, among other taste temptations.
Owner and president of the company Jim Spaans grew up in Modesto, and when it came time for his family to move to Galt when he was just 16 years old, it was a struggle to give up his life there.
“I lived there from first grade to my sophomore year in high school,” said Jim. “I didn’t want to move and leave all my friends.”
Jim’s parents, William and Anna Spaans, had been in the bakery business for many years, following in the footsteps of William’s father who was a baker in Holland in 1896, which actually makes the family business 112 years old.
After some success, William and Anna moved to California and ran a bakery from 1948 to 1958. They then decided to branch out to a new town.
“Any new bakery had to be 50 miles away,” said Jim, “and my dad measured 50 miles from Modesto, and Galt happened to be it.”
In the long run, the move was the best thing the family ever did, looking at the long time success; it just took awhile to appreciate it.
Spaans Cookies moved into a small 30x60 foot building, which was originally the Galt Post Office on the corner of Fifth and C streets. The bricks on that building, as well as most of the red bricks seen on those buildings in Old Town, were salvaged from the Galt Hotel which had burned down years previously.
“When we first came to Galt, everything was 25 cents per package, or five for a dollar,” said Jim.
It’s surprising and unexpected what you will find behind those bricks; the storefront on the corner of Fifth and C Street sells the baked goods, with a chance to sample a cookie or two while browsing for goodies. Now taking up the whole corner block is a huge cookie production plant, which also produces specialty breads, rolls, pies and pastries.
Just past the bakery store is a full gift shop, offering teapots and teacups, candles, books, country décor, lotions, soaps, preserves, or anything you might need for a thoughtful gift.
Jim’s wife, Sharon, is the purchaser for the beautifully displayed collection of unique merchandise.
“I attend the gift shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago,” said Sharon. “The one in Atlanta is next; that’s the largest one.”
Custom gift baskets can be ordered, utilizing any of the items in the store, just with a few days’ notice.
On one end of the retail store is a small café area, which has tables and chairs for visitors to gather or just come and read the paper. There is also a collection of more than 40 cookie jars on display, scattered all over the store.
“We have a few types of coffee and a tea available each day,” said Sharon. “It’s a nice place to come to sit and enjoy coffee or tea and maybe a piece of pie with friends.”
Part of Spaans’ success is that it’s family owned and run, with its a close-knit and friendly community of workers.
“We’re ‘people people’,” said Jim. “We have great employees, in particular, the Staggs family; four of them work for us. Their father was one of the original bakers with us.”
Sheila (Staggs) Watts has been with Spaans for 23 years and is the operations manager; Patti Staggs supervises the pies, rolls and pastries department; and Shari (Staggs) Green oversees shipping and receiving. Supervisor of the packing department Josie Hughes has been with Spaans for 15 years.
“They treat it like it’s their own business,” Jim said. “They have a vested interest in it.”
Jim’s daughter, Melissa Thompson, has been the vice president since 1996.
“We have a lot of long-term employees,” Melissa said. “We pride ourselves in that. Sometimes they are here during the day longer than us.”
Melissa recalls growing up around the bakery with her brothers and doing different jobs, such as stripping the tape off the shipping boxes.
“We all worked,” said Melissa. “I would earn a little bit of money and then would run down to the pharmacy and buy ice cream.”
Melissa’s husband, L.T. Thompson, said that it’s been a great experience since he became the general manager in June 2007.
“I’m trying to learn as much as I can from Jim,” said Thompson. “I can see why it’s been here for over 50 years. This job couldn’t be bad … I’m working with cookies … I get to be an official taster.”
Spaans cookies are sold in markets all over California, and they also ship to Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and even American Samoa. They are locally sold at Save Mart, Raley’s, and Galt Super, as well as Ralph’s, Albertsons and Kroeger Markets. But the biggest selection, of course, would be right here at the Galt retail store.
From the very start, with one of the first and still popular ‘spice windmill’ cookie, which brings back memories of Holland three generations ago, to the marble cookie recalled by Jim Spaans as one of the original creations, to the constant new additions, everyone has their favorite.
You never know what you’ll find but, for sure after 50 years, Spaans will continue to be a tasty, fun and irresistible destination and experience in the town of Galt for years to come.
Call Spaans Cookies at 745-1974 or visit www.spaanscookies.com.
The History of Spaans Cookies
Spaans’ history in the bakery business dates to 1896 when 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, Mich. 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 Spaans married Anna 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 1940s, 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 more than 140 cakes.
William and his family moved to sunny California where they opened and ran a bakery in Modesto from 1948 to 1958. They wanted to live in a smaller town, so they moved to Galt in 1958 (population 1,200).
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. They didn’t always want to work but, at an early age, were instilled with responsibility to the family business and a strong work ethic. They 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. Son Rick works as an actor on Broadway.
Spaans bakes more than 28 varieties of cookies with distribution throughout California and in several states. More than 100 years after Peter Spaans learned the art of baking cookies in Holland, his grandkids are still baking them, some with his original recipes.
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