Perfection Biscuit Company — Perfection Bakeries — Aunt Millie's

1901 – today

Founded: John B. Franke established the company in Fort Wayne in 1901, at 350 Pearl Street. The company's own history and the History Center give the original name as the Wayne Biscuit Company; an ACGSI place page also renders it "Fort Wayne Biscuit Company" in one line — the company name of record is Wayne Biscuit.

Founder: John B. Franke (died 1927, in a car accident; the 80-acre farm he donated became the city's Franke Park). The company stayed in the family: John F. Popp, the founder's grandson, led it in the 2000s.

What it did: Crackers and biscuits first — Perfection Wafers (P.W. Crackers) — then bread, cakes and cookies. In 1923 it became the first bakery in Indiana to offer wrapped bread.

Course: The name became Perfection Biscuit Company, then Perfection Bakeries. The company joined Quality Bakers of America in 1944 and began baking Sunbeam Bread in the mid-1940s (the ACGSI compilation gives both 1944, with QBA membership, and 1946 for the start of Sunbeam production); the animated Sunbeam sign — slices of bread falling from the loaf — was installed on the Pearl Street bakery roof in 1957 and renovated on its fiftieth birthday in 2007. The cookie and cracker lines were phased out by the mid-1950s. The company created its Aunt Millie's brand in 1991 and renamed itself Aunt Millie's Bakeries in 2005; the legal corporation remains Perfection Bakeries, Inc.

Fate: Still operating. In 2017 the company announced the Fort Wayne bakery would close while its corporate headquarters remained at Pearl Street; the headquarters has since moved to 6230 Bluffton Road in Waynedale. The Fort Wayne plant at its height baked about 200,000 loaves a day; the company employs some 1,700–2,000 people across the Midwest.

Sources:

1. Aunt Millie's, "Aunt Millie's Story" (company history) — founded 1901 by J. B. Franke as Wayne Biscuit Company; the 1991 brand; the 2005 renaming.
2. The History Center, virtual exhibit (Perfection Brand shipping crate) — Perfection Wafers; first wrapped bread in Indiana, 1923; Sunbeam from 1946; the 1957 sign.
3. ACGSI, "Aunt Millie's, Fort Wayne" — Pearl Street; QBA 1944; the sign's 2007 renovation; the 2017 bakery announcement and Waynedale move.
4. The Post & Mail, "Rise and shine" — 200,000 loaves a day; John Popp, founder's grandson; Franke's 1927 death and Franke Park gift.