Business Wars

It’s the late 1800s and America is in the grip of a bellyache epidemic. But, thanks to a divine revelation, help is on the way in the form of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. In his quest to calm the nation’s bowels, Dr. Kellogg is feeding his patients a new kind of breakfast: ready-to-eat cereal. But when he refuses to exploit the full profit potential of his creations, one of his former patients seizes the opportunity to become a breakfast millionaire — much to the frustration of Dr. Kellogg’s long-suffering younger brother Will.

It’s 1904 and Quaker Oats is about to make an, ahem, explosive entry into the cold cereal business. With the Kellogg brothers at risk of being left behind, Will Kellogg finally decides it’s time to stand up to his brother. He cuts ties and brings the original corn flakes to market — aided by some shrewd advertising and an army of housewives — but sets off a legal battle that pits brother against brother. But there’s about to be another entrant to the cereal business. General Mills is an upstart out of Minneapolis with an idea for a new cereal that will help the company stand out from the competition. The donut-shaped oat puffs even have a catchy name: Cheerioats.

World War II is in the rearview mirror, and breakfast cereal is on the brink of a new calorific era. Post Cereals decides to break from its healthful past and start sugar coating its cereals. It’s a move that leaves Kellogg’s and General Mills in a quandary: should they follow Post’s lead or stick to their nutritional traditions? But sugary cereal isn’t the only new challenge the cereal giants are wrestling with. A new, exciting medium called television is taking off fast and changing the rules of cereal promotion. And this TV and sugar boom is going to put children at the heart of the cereal business.

It’s the late 1950s and General Mills is playing catch-up. While Kellogg’s and Post are thriving on the back of animated characters and sugary cereals, General Mills’ cereals are looking stale. So now the Cheerios maker is on a mission to create its own roster of cartoon heroes who can charm children into demanding its cereals. As General Mills fights back, Post is looking to the stars. It's planning a direct attack on Kellogg’s best-selling cereal with help from the space race. But after years of selling sugary cereal with loveable characters, the cereal giants are about to face a backlash on Capitol Hill.

It’s the 1980s and General Mills is making waves with a new cereal based on the world’s hottest video game: Pac-Man. But Kellogg’s is hoping to cash in on a different trend: the growing clamour among adults for healthier breakfasts. So it’s plotting a taboo-busting ad campaign that will rewrite the rules of cereal promotion and spark an all-out battle among the cereal makers to win over the health conscious.

It’s the year 2000 and, for the first time in almost a century, Kellogg’s is no longer America's top cereal maker. Now a new CEO is in the driving seat, and he’s on a mission to win back the cereal crown from General Mills. But even as the two rivals slug it out for number one, they’re both facing a new reality: a market that’s losing its appetite for cereals as people abandon their breakfast bowls for grab-and-go morning meals of granola bars, bagels and Egg McMuffins.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Or is it? While that phrase sounds scientifically and nutritionally sound, it’s origins can be traced back to cereal company marketing departments. We conclude our series on the cereal wars with Alex Mayyasi, editor of Gastro Obscura. Alex has traced the origins of breakfast as a meal and how cereal marketing came to be so aggressive.