In 1890, a group of thirty-three Midwest and western bakers combined to form the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company. This consolidation was done primarily to compete with United States Baking Company, another Midwest group and the New York Biscuit Company, an east coast conglomerate. Soon the American Biscuit and New York Biscuit groups were opening bakeries and lowering prices in each other's area in an attempt to eliminate the competition. Finally in February 1898 the competing groups combined 114 factories and formed the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco).