Quaker Oats Company
In 1901, the Quaker Oats Company was founded in New Jersey with headquarters in Chicago, by the merger of four oat mills: the Quaker Mill Company in Ravenna, Ohio, which held the trademark on the Quaker name; the 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 in Akron, Ohio, owned by Schumacher; The Rob Lewis & Co. American Oats and Barley Oatmeal Corporation. Formally known as "Good For Breakfast" instant oatmeal mix. In the same year, the whole merged company was acquired by Crowell, who also bought the bankrupt Quaker Oat Mill Company, also in Ravenna.[5]
In 1908, Quaker Oats introduced the first in a series of cookie recipes on the box. In 1911, Quaker Oats purchased the Great Western Cereal Company. The iconic cylindrical package made its first appearance in 1915. Later that year, Quaker offered the first cereal box premium to buyers. By sending in one dollar and the cutout picture of the "Quaker Man", customers received a double boiler for the cooking of oatmeal.
In the 1920s, Quaker introduced "Quaker Quick Oats", an early convenience food, and also offered a crystal radio set built in the same cylindrical canister as Quick Oats, with the same label, for US$1 plus two trademarks cut from Quaker Oats packages.[6] In the 1930s, Quaker was one of the many companies using the Dionne Quintuplets for promotional purposes.[7] The Quaker Oats mill in Cedar Rapids was photographed during the 1930s by Theodor Horydczak, who documented the building, operations, and factory workers at the plant.[8]
During World War II, the company, through its subsidiary the Q. O. Ordnance Company, operated the Cornhusker Ordnance Plant (six miles west of Grand Island) as a government-owned, contractor-operated 11,960-acre site.[9] Construction began in March 1942, and production ended in August 1945.[10] The plant manufactured millions of pieces of various artillery munitions.[11]
In 1946, artist Jim Nash was commissioned to produce a head portrait of the Quaker Man, which became the basis for Haddon Sundblom's famous version of 1957.
In 1968, a plant was built in Danville, Illinois, which now makes Pearl Milling Company pancake mixes, Oat Squares, Life Cereals Quaker Oh's, Bumpers, Quisp, King Vitamin Natural Granola Cereals, and Chewy granola bars, as well as Puffed Rice for use as an ingredient for other products in other plants.
In 1969, Quaker acquired Fisher-Price, a toy company. In 1991, Quaker Oats spun off its Fisher-Price division.
In 1971, the company financed the making of the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, based on the children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl. In return the company obtained a license to use a number of the product names mentioned in the film for candy bars. The film was considered a box office disappointment at the time of release, and the film’s original distributor Paramount eventually sold the rights back to Quaker Oats, who then sold the rights to Warner Bros. because the company had no involvement in the film business. The film became extremely popular in the 1980s via repeated television airings and home video sales.[12]
In 1972, Quaker Oats purchased Louis Marx and Company, a company that created one quarter of all toys and trains manufactured in the mid-1950s. It sold the business after four years.
In 1982, Quaker Oats purchased US Games, a company that created games for the Atari 2600. It went out of business after one year. That same year, Quaker Oats acquired Florida-based orange juice plant Ardmore Farms, which it would own until selling it to Country Pure Foods in 1998.[13][14]
In 1983, Quaker bought Stokely-Van Camp, Inc., makers of Van Camp's and Gatorade.[15]
Quaker bought Snapple for $1.7 billion in 1994 and sold it to Triarc in 1997 for $300 million.[16] Triarc sold it to Cadbury Schweppes for $1.45 billion in September 2000.[17] It was spun off in May 2008 to its current owners, Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
In 1996, Quaker spun off its frozen food business, selling it to Aurora Foods (which was bought by Pinnacle Foods in 2004).
In August 2001, Quaker Oats was acquired by PepsiCo for $14 billion,[18] primarily for the Gatorade brand.
Starting in 1987 through the 1990s, actor Wilford Brimley appeared in television commercials for Quaker. In the commercials, he extolled the virtues and healthfulness of oat consumption, sometimes to a young child. "It's the right thing to do" was a common slogan during the commercials.[19]
