The
Quaker Oats Company is an American
food
conglomerate based in Chicago
.
Early history
1905 magazine advertisement
Quaker Oats was founded in 1901 by the merger of four
oat mills:
- The
Quaker Mill Company of Ravenna
, Ohio
, which held
the trademark on the Quaker name, and was founded by Henry Parsons Crowell, bought the
bankrupt Quaker Oat Mill Company also in Ravenna, OH. He was
holding the key positions between the general manager, president
and chairman of the company from 1888 until late 1943. He was
called the cereal tycoon. He donated more than 70% of his wealth to
Crowell Trust.
- A
cereal mill in Cedar
Rapids
, Iowa
owned by
John Stuart, his son Robert Stuart, and their partner George
Douglas;
- The
German Mills American Oatmeal Company, owned by "The Oatmeal King",
Ferdinand Schumacher of
Akron
, Ohio;
- The Rob Lewis & Co. American Oats and Barley Oatmeal
Corporation. Formally known as "Good For Breakfast" instant oatmeal
mix.
The company expanded into numerous areas, including other
breakfast cereals and other food and drink
products, and even into non-related fields such as toys. In August
2001, Quaker merged with
PepsiCo.
Modern history
In 1969, Quaker acquired
Fisher-Price,
a toy company and spun it off in 1991.
In the 1970s, the company financed the making of the film
Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate Factory, obtaining in return a license
to use a number of the product names mentioned in the movie for
candy bars.
Quaker bought
Snapple for $1.7 billion in
1994 and sold it to
Triarc in 1997 for $300
million. Triarc sold it to
Cadbury
Schweppes for $1.45 billion in September 2000. It was spun off
in May 2008 to its current owners, Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
In August 2001, Quaker was bought out by
Pepsico because Pepsi wanted to add
Gatorade to its arsenal of beverages and thus break
into the isotonic sports beverage market. The merger created the
fourth-largest consumer goods company in the world. Though the main
prize for PepsiCo was
Gatorade
noncarbonated
sports drink, Quaker's
cereal and snack food division serves as seemingly healthier
complement to the existing
Frito-Lay
salty-snacks division.
Since the late 1980s, actor
Wilford
Brimley has appeared in television commercials extolling the
virtues of oat consumption, typically to a young child, as to
introduce the concept of oatmeal consumption as a long
tradition.
History in Canada
The major
Canadian production facility for Quaker Oats is located in Peterborough
, Ontario
. The
factory was first established as the
American Cereal Company in 1902 on
the shores of the Otonabee River during that city's period of
industrialization. In 1916, the factory all but completely burned
to the ground. When the smoke had settled, 23 people had died and
Quaker was left with $2,000,000 in damages.
Quaker went on to
rebuild the facility incorporating the few areas of the structure
that were not destroyed by fire, creating what is today still the
most visibly recognizable industrial facility in Peterborough. When
PepsiCo
purchased
Quaker Oats in 2001, many
brands were consolidated from facilities around Canada to the
Peterborough location - which assumed the new QTG moniker (Quaker
Tropicana Gatorade). Local production includes Quaker Oatmeal,
Quaker Chewy bars, Cap'n Crunch cereal,
Aunt
Jemima instant pancake mixes and pancake syrups, Quaker Oat
Bran and Corn Bran cereals,
Gatorade
sportdrinks and the
Propel
fitness water sub-brand,
Tropicana juices, and various
Frito-Lay snack products. Products are easily
identified by the
manufactured by address on the
packaging.
The Peterborough facility exports to the
majority of Canada
and limited
portions of the United
States. The Quaker plant sells cereal production
byproducts to companies that use them to create fire logs, pellets
and janks.
Informed Consent Controversy, Research on Children
In the
1950s, researchers from Quaker Oats Company, MIT
and Harvard
University
carried out experiments at the Walter
E.
Fernald State School to determine how the minerals from cereals were
metabolized. Parents of mentally challenged children were
asked for permission to let their children be members of a
Science Club and participate in research. Being a member
of the Science Club gave the children special privileges. The
parents were told that the children would be fed with a diet high
in nutrients. They were not, however, told (and the consent form
contained no information indicating) that the food their children
were fed contained
radioactive
calcium and
iron.The
information obtained from the experiments was to be used as part of
an advertising campaign. The company was later sued because of the
experiments. The lawsuit was settled on December 31, 1997.
Logo and Quakers
The monochromatic 1971 Quaker Oats Company Logo was created by
Saul Bass, a graphic designer known for
his motion picture title sequences and corporate logos. The current
logo (on which the Saul Bass logo was apparently modeled) was
painted by
Haddon Sundblom in 1957.
Although it is popularly believed that the man on the box is
Province of Pennsylvania
founder, namesake and Quaker
William
Penn, the company states that "The 'Quaker man' is not an
actual person", but is instead a generic representation of a "man
dressed in Quaker garb"
The company has no formal ties with the
Religious Society of
Friends . When the company was being built up, Quaker
businesspeople were known for theirhonesty (
Truth is often considered a
Quaker testimony).
The Straight Dope writes "According
to the good folks at Quaker Oats, the Quaker Man was America's
first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal, his registration
taking place on September 4th, 1877. "The name was chosen when
Quaker Mill partner Henry Seymour found an encyclopedia article on
Quakers and decided that the qualities described — integrity,
honesty, purity — provided an appropriate identity for his
company's oat product."
H2g2 tells that part of
the company began trading with the name Quaker Mill because of a
link with Pennsylvania - 'the Quaker State', however the Mill was
based in Ohio and no such link has been revealed. In the 1800s,
when the company was formed, Quakers did wear clothes similar to
those shown in the picture. This was because of the Quakers'
Testimony of Simplicity -
they did not want to show off their wealth with expensive clothing.
Quakers currently do not tend to dress in that manner - they might
instead avoid clothing with brand names advertised.
US brands
, these are the product brands marketed under the Quaker Oats name in the U.S.:
Breakfast cereals
Other breakfast foods
- Quaker Oatmeal
- Quaker Oatmeal To Go (re-branded from Breakfast Squares in
2006)
- Quaker Grits
- Aunt Jemima Syrups and Mixes (Aunt
Jemima frozen breakfast foods is owned by Pinnacle Foods, who use the Aunt Jemima
trademark under license from Quaker Oats Company)
- Quaker Breakfast Cookies
- Quaker Instant
Oatmeal
Snacks
- Quaker Rice Cakes (known as Snack-a-Jacks in
the UK
)
- Quakes Rice Snacks
- Quaker Soy Crisps
- Quaker Snack Bars
- Chewy Granola Bars
- Quaker Mini Delights
Mixes
Drinks
UK brands
, these are the product brands marketed under the Quaker Oats name in the UK:
Hot cereals
(the Scott's brand, previously a rival, is now also owned by
Quaker)
Ready to eat cereal
Honey Monster Foods
- Sugar Puffs
- Honey Waffles
- Honey Melts
- Banana Puffs (Limited Edition 2009)
- Monster Rocks
Cereal bars
- Oat Bars (Original with golden syrup or Mixed berry
flavours)
Chewy bars
- Toffee
- Milk Choc Chip
- White Choc Chip
- Chocolate Chunk
- Chocolate Chip
- S'mores
References
- Amazon.com: Cereal Tycoon: The Biography of Henry
Parsons Crowell: Joe Musser: Books
- Generous Giving: Store
- The
Crowell Trust
- Quaker Oatmeal -Our History
- The Legacy of Henry Parsons Crowell, Founder of Quaker
Oats - Christian Business Daily
-
http://www.morevalue.com/glossary/restrict/Divestiture-Snapple.html
-
http://www.fool.com/news/breakfast/2000/breakfast000918.htm
- D'Antonio, Michael. The State Boys Rebellion. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
External links
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