In deal, MoonPies nibble cheese straws

Chattanooga Bakery has been churning out MoonPies for 90-plus years, but now employees are saying "cheese." The bakery recently purchased Betsy's Cheese Straws, an Alabama company.

It's a way for the bakery to get its foot in the gourmet food industry door, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Campbell, "a way for us to test the waters."

This is not the first time the bakery has produced items other than MoonPies. In the 1920s and 30s, it baked such confections as butter cookies, ginger snaps, lemon drop cakes, raisin cookies, saltines and sugar cookies.

And, Ms. Campbell said, Chattanooga Bakery also produces small pecan pies and coconut pies, along with some private-label foods. But this is its first venture into the cheese business.

Betsy's Cheese Straws was founded in Millbrook, Ala., in 1998 by partners Betsy Parker and her daughter-in-law Ashley Parker. Both retired following the acquisition of their company by Chattanooga Bakery.

"They weren't looking to sell. The Chattanooga people came to them," said Ashley Spencer, manager of Betsy's Cheese Straws.

That's because, according to Ms. Campbell, "They're the best on the market and taste as good, if not better than, homemade."

The cheese straws are made with butter, not margarine, and are baked to order, Ms. Spencer added.

Ms. Spencer said the company's sales base has been primarily in the Southeast. But after Chattanooga Bakery introduced the cheese straws at a New York trade show, sales expanded into the Northeast and elsewhere.

In Chattanooga they are sold at specialty stores such as Fischer Evans on Market Street, Twiggs on Lookout Mountain, Genevieve Bond in East Brainerd, The Feathered Nest on Graysville Road and The Antique Market on Williams Street.

The cheese straw company has eight employees.

In the near future, Chattanooga Bakery plans to move the business from Alabama to Chattanooga.