I’m going to do my best to make the history of the Kellogg’s
company to be as theatrical as possible.
The story begins in 1863 in the rural valley town of
Dansville in western New York. Dr. James Caleb Jackson, operator of the
Dansville Sanitarium (a health spa/hospital), wanted to create a nutritious
breakfast for his patients. He came up with the idea of soaking dense brand
nuggets over night until they became a chewable breakfast treat (sounds good
right?). Jackson created the first ‘cereal’ but little did he know that his
invention would spark a controversy.
25 years later a man with a strikingly similar story struck
gold...
John Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan operated his own
sanitarium and also wanted his patients to have a quick, healthy breakfast.
Kellogg used different ingredients than Jackson to make his cereal– biscuits
made of oats, cornmeal, and wheat – but called it ‘granula’ just as Jackson
did. To this day it’s unclear whether Kellogg had knowledge of Dr. Jackson’s
creation, but when Jackson heard of the success of Kellogg’s cereal he did not
go down without a fight.
An epic legal battle ensued…
Jackson sued Kellogg for brand name infringement. Eventually
they reached a settlement and Kellogg was forced to change the name to
‘granola.’
Unfortunately for Jackson, his product never came close to
reaching the popularity of Kellogg’s cereals.
The Kellogg’s brand didn’t take off until John’s brother,
William Kellogg, helped create a cereal break-through. One night the brothers
mistakenly left their boiled wheatmeal out overnight. They decided to try and
salvage their wheatmeal by putting it through rollers. Instead of the normal
flat sheet of wheatmeal they were accustomed to, a flaky creation emerged. The
brothers then roasted these accidental flakes and served them to their
patients.
And thus the modern day Cornflake was born.
John Kellogg, undervaluing the company’s worth, refused to
package the cereal and market it. Will Kellogg saw the popularity of the
Cornflake rise and decided to buy out John’s portion of the company and market
the cereal towards supermarkets.
With Will’s leadership the new company sold over one million
cases of cereal by its third year.
After 105 years in the cereal business, Kellogg’s continues
to thrive. Snap, Crackle, and Pop – the original cereal characters – still
promote Rice Crispies on boxes and in ads. Cornflakes – Kellogg’s beautiful
mistake – is a top selling cereal brand and Tony the Tiger has led Frosted
Flakes in Kellogg’s cereal sales for the last 50 years.
That’s one successful accident.
Sources:
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