Who founded Pepperidge Farm?

Pepperidge Farm was founded by Margaret Rudkin.

Rudkin began the business in 1937 at her family’s Pepperidge Farm estate in Fairfield, Connecticut. She started baking distinctive whole-wheat bread for her youngest son, Mark, who had asthma and was allergic to many commercially processed foods. His doctor praised the bread and encouraged her to sell it to other families.

Demand quickly outgrew Rudkin’s kitchen, so production moved first to the family garage and then to a factory in 1940. She insisted on high-quality ingredients, even reducing production during World War II when butter and other supplies were rationed. On July 4, 1947, she opened a modern bakery in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The company’s name came from the family farm and the pepperidge tree. Rudkin later expanded Pepperidge Farm beyond bread, including its famous Goldfish crackers. Campbell Soup Company acquired the business in 1961, but Rudkin remained central to its identity and became Campbell’s first female board member.