Charles Meyer began his baking career at the age of 18 as a driver for a bread wagon in 1907. Four years later he would open American Bakery in Little Rock Arkansas with $230 including $150 from the sale of his horse and buggy. In 1912 he made his first wholesale delivery of baked products in a hand-made basket using a horse-drawn wagon. By 1914 he replaced the wagon with an automobile capable of driving 15 miles per hour. Within another 14 years he would add air service to his expanding market, often times using his private aircraft to assist flood ravaged communities with wholesome baked products.

Meyer’s focus was not only on transportation but on employee welfare, product development and on harnessing the power of mass media.  He was one of the first baking companies to utilize intensive marketing and innovative packaging promotions. By the early 1950s Meyers Bakeries was effectively using television. In addition, he initiated one of the most comprehensive employee benefit programs in Arkansas introducing payroll savings plans, group life insurance and hospitalization and eventually a retirement plan for his entire workforce.

In 1949 Charles Meyer was one of the first to adopt the new Brown’n Serve baking technology transforming the baking company into a nationally recognized organization with four baking plants serving 42 states and producing over 279 brand named products.

Click on the images below to view .pdf files of the inductee’s biography and plaque.