Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2010

Photo by Kohji Shiiki

Wally Amos isn’t one to waste a moment of any day. The creator of popular snack brands Famous Amos and Chip & Cookie exudes enthusiasm for whatever he does, whether it’s baking, reading to children, giving motivational talks, or wearing his trademark watermelon shirts and playing his ever-present kazoo. “It’s the passion for making cookies that drives me,” says Amos, 74, during a recent visit to Japan, where he was exploring business opportunities and baking 1,500 cookies at the US Embassy.

Born in Tallahassee, Florida, Amos went to live with his Aunt Della in New York at the age of 12. Not only was she the first person to bake him chocolate chip cookies, Della instilled in him a “can-do” attitude, he recalls. After a four-year stint in the Air Force, he worked at Saks Fifth Avenue and then the William Morris Talent Agency, where he handled top performers such as The Supremes, Simon & Garfunkel and Marvin Gaye. Shortly after, he took up a new hobby—baking cookies—and opened his first Famous Amos store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in 1975. His initial foray into Japan came in 1986: “We partnered with Sony Plaza to open stores in Ginza and Hiroo, but we only lasted for about two years.”

Amos eventually lost control of his company. “I made some mistakes and ownership changed hands many times,” he says. “Kellogg’s owns the brand now.” But he kept his baking hand in with Uncle Wally’s Muffins (headquartered in Long Island, NY), and then five years ago established Chip & Cookie with his wife Christine in Honolulu, where Amos has been living for the past 33 years.

“The brand is based on two character dolls named Chip & Cookie,” he explains. “We have one store in Waikiki and now we’re looking for business opportunities in Japan, because Japanese tourists buy my cookies all the time. I think there are a thousand different places in Tokyo you could open in and have instant success.”

So what is the secret to making a great cookie? “The best cookies are handmade,” Amos says. “First, I chill my batter because it gives the cookies a better texture and nice little rise. I also use 33 percent semisweet chocolate. Then we use pure butter and Watkins pure vanilla extract. In the end, it is the feeling I have about chocolate chip cookies that surpasses what anybody else feels. I imagine that’s the same way Colonel Sanders felt about his chicken.”

To this day, Amos credits Aunt Della for his success. “After I moved to New York to live with her, I never had to eat anybody else’s cookies. She passed away in 1974, the year before I started Famous Amos. But I like to think of her as my secret ingredient—she’s been a guardian angel for me in the business.”

Nowadays, Amos—whose straw hat and watermelon shirts are in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington—is well known for his support of charitable causes. He and his wife established the Read It Loud! Foundation, which encourages parents to share books with their children. “I’ve been promoting adult literacy since 1979,” he says. “When we started Chip & Cookie, we decided to use our business to promote some causes related to children. It’s important for parents to read to their children for at least ten minutes a day. I want to create a groundswell of awareness of the importance of this because I believe so many positive things will happen. We are launching a national campaign in America this fall.”

Amos has received many honors and awards for his culinary and charitable efforts, including the President’s Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, and he’s also the author of eight books, among them The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips. Over the years, he’s appeared in numerous sitcoms, TV commercials and educational programs, and he’s in demand as a motivational speaker. “Just before I came to Japan, I was in Borneo giving a talk at a conference. When I went to Gifu, I gave a lecture there and read to children for the first time in Japan. It was a great experience.”

How does he keep up his energy level? By eating cookies every day, of course. “After meals, I always have a desire to have something sweet,” he says. “And somehow, they keep me slim.”

For more information on Wally Amos, see www.chipandcookie.com or www.readitloud.org.
Chris Betros is the editor of Japan Today (www.japantoday.com)