General Mills Company

In 1856 Cadwallader Colden Washburn (1818-1882) established the Minneapolis Milling Company, which began to mill flour in 1866.

It started as ‘Washburn’s Folly’. People sneered, snickered and some even laughed right out loud as Washburn completed his first grain refinery on banks of Mississippi River.

Washburn later formed Washburn-Crosby with John Crosby, twenty years later, what became one of the nation’s leading million companies.

Minneapolis Milling Company concentrated on promoting its signature product, Gold Medal Flour.

After acquiring twenty seven other milling operations, in 1928 the Washburn Mills Company incorporated as General Mills and then introduced a cereal, Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes. Its named was shortened to Wheaties.

Cheerios was created in 1941 as ‘Cheerioats’ but renamed several years later. During the 1950s, General Mills began marketing its cereal to children, and sugar-coated wheat cereals became common.

In 1997 General Mills acquired the rights to Yoplait and in 1997 the company acquired the cereals division of Ralcorp Holdings, makers of Chex cereals.

In 2001 general Mills acquired the Pillsbury Company, which had begun as the mill across the river more than one hundred years earlier, to create one of the world’s largest food companies. General Mills believed that the merger could help it break into fast-growing food categories with new products to augment its tried and true, yet quite mature cereal product lines.

In 1989, General Mills established a partnership, called the Cereal Partners Worldwide, with Nestlé to distribute its cereals outside of North America.
General Mills Company

History of Post Cereals Company

Post Holdings is a global consumer packaged goods holding company, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Post Holdings founded in 1895, and is one of the largest cereal company in America, including to their portfolio Grape-Nuts, Raisin Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats and protein brands include PowerBar. The holding operates four different segments: Post Consumer Brands, Michael Foods Group, Active Nutrition, and Private Brands.

It was C. W Post, the founder of Post Cereals who first clearly comprehend that convenience and flavor were more forceful and more widely appreciated advantages than were the healthfulness and vegetable origin previously relied upon as selling points by producers of these foods.

C.W Post makes his first batch of Postum, a cereal beverage, in a barn in battle Creek, Michigan and starts the Postum cereal Company. The first cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897 followed by Elijah's Manna in 1904 which was renamed Post Toasties in 1908. In January 1906, Post Cereals introduced a new version of the corn flakes.

In 1911, Post introduced a refinement of his original product, POSTUM Instant Cereal Beverage. Post used marketing techniques that are now considered industry standards, but which were innovative for their time.

The Postum Cereals company, after acquiring Jell-O gelatin in 1925, Baker's Chocolate in 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, and other food brands, changed its name to General Foods Corporation in 1929.

Through the years, the management at General Foods refined and improved its product line in part through acquisitions and divestitures and, in part, through research and development. Internally-developed products included JELL-O Pudding and Pie Fillings (1936), MAXWELL HOUSE Instant Coffee (1945), TANG Flavour Crystals (1957), DREAM WHIP Topping Mix (1957) and COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (1966).

C.W Post's daughter bought out Birdseye, changed the name to General Foods Corporation. General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris Companies in 1985.

History of Post Cereals Company

Pop-Tarts of Kellogg Company

In 1963 Post Cereals released their first product of breakfast cereals, Country Squares to the public. This was part of long term goal set by Post, which was to develop non cereal products after World War II that did not require refrigeration.

To counter Post Cereal’s Country Squares Kellogg came up with product that was initially called a Fruit Scone. It was designed to expand the range of items that could be cooked in a toaster.

The name was changed to Pop-Tart, which was inspired by the pop-art movement. Pop-Tarts have sugary fillings, which are sealed inside two layers of a pastry crust. Pop-Tarts were sold in the grocery stores in Cleveland, Ohio, Kellogg’s instructed store managers to stock the Pop-Tarts in the baked goods or baking supplies aisle and not in the cereal aisle, because they did not want Pop-Tarts to be substituted for cereal.

Post Cereals’ Country Squares failed to take off, but Pop-Tarts sakes were extremely successful when they were released in 1964. Pop-Tarts rapidly grew popular because of television commercial for them that featured a talking cartoon named Milton.

Over the years, some of the delicious flavors of Pop-Tarts have included Blueberry, Cherry Strawberry, Grape, Raspberry, Apple Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, Chocolate Fudge, Vanilla Crème, S’mores, and Peanut Butter and Jelly.

As of 2011, Kellogg produced thirty flavors of Pop-Tarts. The most popular flavors are frosted strawberry and frosted brown sugar cinnamon.
Pop-Tarts of Kellogg Company 

History of Quaker Oats Company

History of Quaker Oats Company
The Quaker Oats Company has been around for over 120 years producing many different products and cereals. It all started with The Quaker Mills Company in Ravenna, Ohio when Henry D. Seymour and William Heston registered the Quaker trademark in 1877. Later Henry Crowell purchased the company and quickly gained acceptance from the public in part because of his method of packaging the oats in a two pound paper package with cooking directions. This is understandable as the method of packaging by his rivals were in the not-so-handy 180 lb barrels. He was called a cereal tycoon at that time.

It is unclear exactly how many different companies were involved in the late 1880s, but others involved in the formation of Quaker Oats, include Ferdinand Schumacher known as “The Oatmeal King” (American Oatmeal Company), John Stuart, his son Robert and George from cereal mills of Cedar Rapids.

Another on was Rob Lewis & Co. American Oats and Barley Oatmeal Corporation.

Over the years many different premiums were given out to promote the Quaker man, starting with trade cards and puzzles in 1900 era, to cookie jars in 1997. The most popular premium in the 1950's was Sgt Preston of the Yukon Promotion with free deeds for one square inch of land in the Yukon Territory.

The symbol of a man in Quaker dress was registered as a trademark in 1877 by forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company. This symbol was chosen because it was considered that Quakers represented an image of purity and honesty. This move was seminal, because Quaker Oats was the first cereal to be marketed as a brand rather than a commodity.

Further more, in 1886 Quaker oats pioneered the retail sale of cereals in packages. These developments helped to establish oatmeal as the most popular breakfast item in the United States and as a significant ingredient in many ready to eat cereals and other food products.

In August 2001, after one hundred years a publicly traded company, Quaker Oats Company merged with PepsiCo, Inc.
History of Quaker Oats Company