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The Rise of Wilton
In 1929, Dewey McKinley Wilton dedicated himself to bringing his passion and talent for making confections to the masses. He opened The Wilton School of Cake Decorating, where he taught cake decorating to hotel pastry chefs. Wilton later expanded the school, and by 1948, the school was operating in a 6,000-square-foot space and teaching candy and fudge making in addition to cake decorating.
Soon after the Wilton brand was publishing cookbooks and manufacturing baking supplies. Today, the Wilton test kitchen evaluates more than 600 new products and develops more than 200 new recipes annually.
The Role of the OU
At some point during the company’s impressive growth phase, the wildly popular baking company partnered with OU—the world’s largest and most widely recognized kosher certification agency—to add its kosher symbols to a number of its products. Why?
Over $150 billion in kosher certified products are consumed annually, and the OU kosher symbol appears on close to 70% of America’s most popular kosher certified foods, from Chobani to Coca-Cola.
“Often labels will sport an ‘O’ with a ‘U’ inside. This is the stamp of approval of the largest kosher-certification body, and basically means there’s no need to read the label….” — Wall Street Journal
Busy shoppers don’t have time to stop and read labels. They will choose the products that have a clear kosher certification. Because of this, a product with a prominent OU symbol is more likely to make it into a shopper’s cart.
OU Provides the Competitive Edge
There is clear evidence that kosher symbols boost market share and win more highly coveted shelf space—a kosher product will outperform a non-Kosher product by 20%.
Wilton knows this—they recognize the kosher logo as an extremely important tool to enhance their products’ marketability. They know that because products with the OU symbol sell faster, stores favor OU certified products and give them the best shelf space. Ultimately, this generates more sales, and leads to an increase in business.
OU Signifies Quality
Brands that have experienced decades of success, like Wilton, also know consistency builds brand loyalty. And because the OU carefully reviews all ingredients and production practices before granting its seal, consumers trust that products with the OU seal are consistent in quality. When brands like work with OU, their products become an easy first choice, particularly for the kosher consumer.