EASY-BAKE OVEN
THE CREATION OF EASY BAKE
The Easy Bake Oven was created by toy designer Ronald Howes for Kenner in 1963. The idea was brought to Ronald by sales manager Norman Shapiro, who was inspired by the way street pretzel vendors made pretzels. The toy uses two 100-watt incandescent light bulbs to safely allow children to bake small sweet treats. Easy Bake Ovens were originally sold for $15.95 and sold over 500,000 units in their first year alone.
FROM LIGHT BULBS
TO LEGACY
Kenner expanded the Easy Bake Line in 1965 to include new colors, and they introduced the Easy-Pop Corn Popper and the Bubble Gum Set. A few years later, Kenner partnered with Betty Crocker to offer a variety of mini cake boxes, cookies, brownies, pancakes, and other mini desserts. These additions helped keep the Easy-Bake Oven popular with children and contributed to millions of units being sold worldwide. Kenner and the Easy Bake Products were acquired by Hasbro in 1991and kept adding and improving the line. They released the Easy-Bake Super Treat Center, which allowed children to make ice cream, soda, and fudge, as well as the Easy-Bake Oven & Snack Center introduced in 1993 with a built-in warming tray for toppings. They also created a savory version called the Easy-Bake Real Meal Oven that could make pizza, nachos, and pretzels. The Easy-Bake Oven's ability to adapt to changing tastes and generations of children helped make it one of the best-selling toy appliances in history, with over 30 million sold worldwide.
