Although generations equate the name Electrik Maid with a popular bakery in Mobile, the name originated with a Minnesota inventor named Albert Grapp, who designed an electric oven for baking bread in 1916.
Although the first electric stove dated to 1892, the idea was slow to take off. By the first decades of the 20th century, however, cooking and baking using electricity was promoted as safer, cleaner and more efficient than gas. Even Mobile’s Battle House boasted a new electric grill by the early 1920s.
Grapp trademarked his oven in 1920 and was soon offering franchises for his Electrik Maid Bake Shop, which boasted that its “bread is mixed by electricity, baked by electricity and sealed by electricity.” Franchises were to have their operations visible to the public through large plate-glass windows.
Everyone Who Eats
In 1920, Grapp was advertising the franchises as “A good money maker on small capital….Bake and sell bread, rolls, pies and pastries the Electrik Maid Way. Profits start the first day. Everyone who eats is your customer! We supply all equipment and instructions.”
Franchises were soon popping up in Alabama. Birmingham had an Electrik Maid Bake Shop, which advertised itself as “Offering the finest in Home Cooked Meals and Baked Delicacies.” Even Union Springs had one by 1924.
And it was in 1924 that John Samuel Marshall opened Mobile’s original location at 301 Dauphin Street, which is currently occupied by Cathedral Square. Marshall, a native of Monroe County, first appeared in Mobile in the 1920 census and gave his occupation as “retail grocer.” The 1922 city directory listed him as the manager for the R. O. Harris Grocery Company, which was operating three U-Sav-It stores.
Taste the Difference
Ads for the new bakery invited Mobilians to “Taste the Difference,” and apparently, they liked it. By 1926, a second location was operating at Five Points at 1305 Springhill Avenue. According to the 1930 directory, there were now five Electrik Maid Bake Shops with 860 Government Street, a location at the Loop at 1859 Old Government Street and a fifth at 857 Davis Avenue. In addition to the usual bakery items, Marshall added a “Delicatessen Department” to his chain of shops.
All of the locations were selected at busy intersections and near businesses and churches, making them accessible and popular. By 1935, the family name had been added to the business name. Marshall’s Electrik Maid Bake Shops were eventually taken over by his son, John S. Marshall Jr.
In 1956, the locations had been pared down to just one at 860-62 Government Street at the Broad Street intersection. That location held on until it was last listed in the 1963 directory.
From Bakery to Biscuits
Following his father’s death in 1958, the younger Marshall decided to move his focus from a retail business to wholesale baking. He opened his Marshall Biscuit Co. at 1715 Virginia Street near Ladd Stadium in 1960. That much-beloved product was moved to the freezer case in the 1980s, and the company was sold to an Ohio entity in 2007.
However, Mr. Grapp’s firm, the Despatch Oven Company, is still in operation and produces a variety of industrial ovens in Minnesota today.
