William Kellogg’s accidental discovery of cereal in 1894 marked the beginning of a multi-national food empire. While experimenting with different food production techniques at the Battle Creek Sanatorium in Michigan, William and his brother, Dr. Kellogg, decided to run boiled wheat dough through rollers which enabled them to produce thin sheets of wheat. After a sudden interruption in their laboratory activities left cooked wheat exposed to the air for more than a day, the Kellogg brothers decided to run the wheat through the rollers despite the fact it was no longer fresh. To their amazement, instead of a single, large sheet of wheat, the rollers discharged a single flake for each wheat berry -- cereal flakes were born.

Prompted by William Kellogg’s belief that diet played an important role in a healthy lifestyle and that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, he spent the next eight years further developing the newly invented cereal, culminating in its first production in 1906. That same year, in order to increase awareness of the revolutionary product, W.K. bought a full-page ad in the July issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. As a result, sales leapt from 33 cases to 2,900 cases per day.

Adhering to his strong commitment to communicating the importance and benefits of health and nutrition, in 1923, William Kellogg hired Mary Barber to establish the industry’s first professional home economics department to develop recipes using Kellogg’s® cereals. Her work with consumers and educators initiated a company tradition of providing the latest information about diet, nutrition and health.

With 2001 sales of about $8 billion, Kellogg Company is the world’s leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, frozen waffles, meat alternatives, piecrusts and ice cream cones. The company’s brands include Kellogg’s®, Keebler®, Pop-Tarts®, Eggo®, Cheez-It®, Nutri-Grain®, Special K®, Rice Krispies®, Murray®, Austin®, Morningstar Farms®, Famous Amos®, Carr’s®, Plantation®, Ready Crust® and Kashi®. Kellogg products are manufactured in 19 countries and marketed in more than 160 countries around the world.

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