Fred Wolferman

Fred Wolferman (September 13, 1870 – October 2, 1955) built Wolferman’s from a small failing grocery into Kansas City’s premier gourmet food emporium — a multi-store institution remembered for its Tiffin Room restaurants, its “Good Things to Eat” slogan, and the oversized English muffin that later became a national mail-order brand.

Biography

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 13, 1870, Wolferman came to Kansas City and, with his father Louis, took over a roughly $750 bankrupt grocery in 1888.¹ He grew it into Wolferman’s, the city’s leading gourmet grocer — eventually eight stores and restaurants employing hundreds, anchored by the company’s reputation for quality under the motto “Good Things to Eat.”¹ The business originated the distinctively thick Wolferman’s English muffin, which long outlived the stores as a mail-order and grocery product.²

A prominent businessman in Pendergast-era Kansas City, Wolferman died on October 2, 1955, at age 85.²

Legacy

Fred Wolferman shaped how Kansas City shopped and ate for the first half of the 20th century, and his name survives nationally on the English muffin he made famous.

See also

• wolfermans
• country-club-plaza

Sources

Footnotes

1. Kansas City Public Library, KC History; Pendergast KC — Wolferman’s built from a ~$750 bankrupt grocery (1888) into KC’s premier gourmet grocery; “Good Things to Eat”; the Tiffin Room. ↩ ↩²

2. Fred Wolferman memorial (Find a Grave) — born September 13, 1870, Milwaukee; died October 2, 1955, age 85; originator of the Wolferman’s English muffin. ↩ ↩²