Food Entrepreneur - August 17, 2021 - 12

SOSLAND PUBLISHING
years
Setting
table
The enduring legacies of George Hormel, W.K. Kellogg and Milton Hershey
BY MONICA WATROUS
W
.K. Kellogg, Milton S. Hershey
and George A. Hormel were
among the visionary entrepreneurs
who more than a century ago paved
the way for how the world eats today.
The founding fathers of the packaged
food industry demonstrated ingenuity
and resilience in the face of failed businesses
and factory fires, worker strikes
and world wars, a global pandemic and
the Great Depression.
Today, the companies that bear their
names honor the founders' legacies while
elevating a new generation of food entrepreneurs
to ensure the next century of success.
A cereal entrepreneur
By the late 1800s, former broom
salesman William Keith Kellogg had
W.K. Kellogg
As Sosland Publishing Co.,
publisher of Food Entrepreneur, prepares to
celebrate 100 years of providing food industry
professionals timely information, news and
commentary, we are publishing a series of
articles across all of our titles to celebrate
the past, present and future of the people and
industry that feed the world.
36
Food Business News
KELLOGG CO.
wheat and oats. (A guest there named
Charles W. Post was accused of swiping
the recipe that would inspire the launch of
Grape Nuts cereal).
An experiment with the grain mash
led to the accidental invention of flaked
cereal. The discovery would lead to a bitter
joined his older brother, renowned
physician Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, to run
a health spa in Battle Creek, Mich. The
younger Kellogg handled bookkeeping
and other responsibilities at the Battle
Creek Sanitarium, where patients ate a
vegetarian diet that included an early
form of unsweetened granola based on
brother rivalry, including a legal dispute
over naming rights, but more significantly,
it would revolutionize the traditionally
meat-based morning meal.
Soon after W.K. Kellogg founded his
boxed cereal business in 1906, dozens of
competitors flocked to Battle Creek, eager
to capitalize on this new convenient and
wholesome breakfast concept. Mr. Kellogg
distinguished his offering by adding his
signature to each package of Kellogg's
Corn Flakes. A savvy businessman, Mr.
Kellogg continually improved the product
line, packaging technology and marketing
strategy to meet changing consumer
tastes. He later established the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation to promote the health
and well-being of children.
" W.K. Kellogg was an early conservationist,
a leading philanthropist and the
original well-being visionary, " said Kris
Bahner, spokesperson for Kellogg Co. " His
values live on today through our K Values
- they shape our Kellogg culture and
guide the way we run our business. They
help to define what makes our company
and our people special and how we all play
a unique and critical part of the ongoing
success of our business. "
Today, Kellogg Co. invests in emerging
businesses with innovative product
concepts through its venture fund, eighteen94
capital. Kellogg also is a founding
sponsor of The Hatchery, a food business
August 17, 2021
the
Food Entrepreneur - August 17, 2021

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