22161 Walter Baker, 1792-1852
Grandson of James Baker, the founder of the Baker chocolate company, Walter took over the company from his father in 1823. For almost thirty years Walter Baker expanded production and made Baker’s Chocolate a recognizable name across the country. Walter did not have a son involved in the chocolate business, so when he died in 1852 the company was passed along to his brother-in-law and long-time assistant, Sidney Williams.
from: http://earlybirdpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SWEET_HISTORY_2005.pdf
Walter Baker (tenure 1823-1852)
Walter Baker, the eldest son of Edmund Baker, tried to establish himself in a few different careers before settling down to manage and run the chocolate business that would eventually bear his name. As an 1811 graduate of Harvard, Walter had studied law. He soon left that profession and went into the very profitable woolen cloth business after war with England was declared in 1812. When the war ended three years later, Walter ventured south to teach and occasionally trade cloth in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1818 Walter returned to Dorchester to become a partner in the family chocolate business. Walter took his job seriously, making sure the business ran smoothly and accurately. He took an aggressive approach to tracking his correspondence and made copies of all his letters. Walter’s business acumen and attention to detail might be part of the reason Edmund decided to retire in 1823, leaving Walter to take full ownership that same year. Walter renamed the family business Walter Baker and Company, and by 1827 he started
branding his chocolate “W. Baker,” replacing his father’s “E. Baker” brand. In the early 1830s Walter established relationships with more merchants up and down the east coast. And by 1840 Baker’s was shipping goods to clients as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Portland, Maine, and also to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and multiple ports in Virginia, Georgia, and as far south as New Orleans.
Walter Baker was a prolific letter writer and personally kept in contact with distributors, retailers, and occasionally even individual customers. He was concerned about the quality, reputation, and advertising of his chocolate products and looked for ways to develop the company and strengthen customer loyalty. He corresponded with distributors about marketing ideas, noting how attractive the foil wrapping of Baker’s Spiced Cocoa Sticks would look in store windows, or how chocolate tins could be reused for storage. Walter was very involved in how his products were advertised, and personally kept tabs on regional advertising campaigns. With one wholesale grocer in particular, Walter had concerns about a lack of ads and stated, “I do not see any advertisements of yours, although, perhaps, I may not look in the right newspapers. In what newspapers do you advertise? Advertising, I conceive, at proper seasons is the best mode of reaching both city and country traders.”