Friday Feb. 19, 2021’s Smile of the Day: Kellogg’s

On this Day:

In 1906, Will Keith Kellogg and Charles D. Bolin founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, now known as the multinational food manufacturer Kellogg’s.

The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg’s, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg’s produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaster pastries and markets their products by several well known brands including Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Pringles, Eggo, and Cheez-It. Kellogg’s mission statement is “Nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive.”

Kellogg’s products are manufactured and marketed in over 180 countries. Kellogg’s largest factory is at Trafford Park in Trafford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, which is also the location of its UK headquarters. Other corporate office locations outside of Battle Creek include Chicago, Dublin (European Headquarters), Shanghai, and Querétaro City. Kellogg’s holds a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales.

In 1876, John Harvey Kellogg became the superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium (originally the Western Health Reform Institute founded by Ellen White) and his brother, W. K. Kellogg, worked as the bookkeeper. This is where corn flakes were accidentally created and led to the eventual formation of the Kellogg Company.

For years, W. K. Kellogg assisted his brother in research aimed at improving the vegetarian diet of the Battle Creek Sanitarium’s patients, especially in the search for wheat-based granola. In 1894 at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a combination hospital and health spa for the elite and famous, W.K. Kellogg and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg were in the process of cooking some wheat for a type of granola when they were called away. When they returned, the wheat had become stale. They decided to force the tempered grain through the rollers anyway, and surprisingly, the grain did not come out in long sheets of dough. Instead, each wheat berry was flattened and came out as a thin flake.

W. K. Kellogg persuaded his brother to serve the food in flake form. Soon the flaked wheat was being packaged to meet hundreds of mail-order requests from guests after they left the Sanitarium. However, Dr. John Harvey forbade his brother Will from distributing cereal beyond his consumers. As a result, the brothers fell out, and W. K. launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906. Convincing his brother to relinquish rights to the product, Will’s company produced and marketed the hugely successful Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes and was renamed the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1909, taking on the current name of the Kellogg Company in 1922.

In 1931, the Kellogg Company announced that most of its factories would shift towards 30-hour work weeks, from the usual 40. W.K. Kellogg stated that he did this so that an additional shift of workers would be employed in an effort to support people through the depression era. This practice remained until World War II, and continued briefly after the war, although some departments and factories remained locked into 30-hour work weeks until 1980.

From 1969 to 1970, the slogan “Kellogg’s puts more into your day” was used on Sunday morning TV shows. From 1969 to 1977, Kellogg’s acquired various small businesses including Salada Foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smith’s Pies, Eggo, and Pure Packed Foods; however, it was later criticized for not diversifying further like General Mills and Quaker Oats were. After underspending its competition in marketing and product development, Kellogg’s U.S. market share hit a low 36.7% in 1983. A prominent Wall Street analyst called it “a fine company that’s past its prime” and the cereal market was being regarded as “mature”. Such comments stimulated Kellogg chairman William E. LaMothe to improve, which primarily involved approaching the demographic of 80 million baby boomers rather than marketing children-oriented cereals. In emphasizing cereal’s convenience and nutritional value, Kellogg’s helped persuade U.S. consumers aged 25 to 49 to eat 26% more cereal than people of that age ate five years prior. The U.S. ready-to-eat cereal market, worth $3.7 billion at retail in 1983, totaled $5.4 billion by 1988 and had expanded three times as fast as the average grocery category. Kellogg’s also introduced new products including Crispix, Raisin Squares, and Nutri-Grain Biscuits and reached out internationally with Just Right aimed at Australians and Genmai Flakes for Japan. During this time, the company maintained success over its top competitors: General Mills, which largely marketed children’s cereals, and Post, which had difficulty in the adult cereal market.

In 2001, Kellogg’s acquired the Keebler Company for $3.87 billion. Over the years, it has also gone on to acquire Morningstar Farms and Kashi divisions or subsidiaries. Kellogg’s also owns the Bear Naked, Natural Touch, Cheez-It, Murray, Austin cookies and crackers, Famous Amos, Gardenburger (acquired 2007), and Plantation brands. Presently, Kellogg’s is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation.

In 2012, Kellogg’s became the world’s second-largest snack food company (after PepsiCo) by acquiring the potato crisps brand Pringles from Procter & Gamble for $2.7 billion in a cash deal.

In 2017, Kellogg’s acquired Chicago-based food company Rxbar for $654 million. Earlier that year, Kellogg’s also opened new corporate office space in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart for its global growth and IT departments. In the UK, Kellogg’s also released the W. K. Kellogg brand of organic, vegan and plant-based cereals (such as granolas, organic wholegrain wheat, and “super grains”) with no added sugars.

In June 2019, Kellogg’s announced their next-generation Kellogg’s® Better Days global commitment, focusing on hunger, children, and farmers, with specific targets to reach by 2030.

In October 2019, Kellogg’s partnered with GLAAD by “launching a new limited edition “All Together Cereal” and donating $50,000 to support GLAAD’s anti-bullying and LGBTQ advocacy efforts”. The All Together cereal combined six mini cereal boxes into one package to bring attention to anti-bullying.

In January 2020, Kellogg’s has decided to work with suppliers to phase out the use of glyphosate by 2025, which has been used as a drying agent in their products (per Wikipedia).

First, a Story:

My wife thinks it’s weird that I eat a bowl of corn flakes every single day for breakfast

But I don’t see what’s wrong with being a cereal monogamist.

Second, a Song:

The Lord of the Rings is a film series of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films, it is an international venture between New Zealand and the United States. The films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Sean Bean.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, to ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, along with Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry, Pippin, and the wizard Gandalf, unite to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring in order to aid Frodo by distracting Sauron’s attention.

The three films were shot simultaneously and entirely in Jackson’s native New Zealand from 11 October 1999 until 22 December 2000, with pick-up shots done from 2001 to 2004. It was one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with a budget of $281 million. The first film in the series premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001; the second film premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 5 December 2002; the third film premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on 1 December 2003. An extended edition of each film was released on home video a year after its theatrical release.

The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made. It was a major financial success and is among the highest-grossing film series of all time with $2.981 billion in worldwide receipts. Each film was critically acclaimed, with high praise for their innovative special effects, acting, musical score, and emotional depth, and heavily awarded, the series winning 17 out of its 30 Academy Award nominations.

Klaus Wunderlich (18 June 1931 – 28 October 1997) was a German easy listening organist. He experimented with electric organs and synthesizers (from Wikipedia).

It is the highest goal for musicians – all over the world – to create their own unmistakable sound. Klaus Wunderlich reached this aim almost 40 years ago, with his first Hammond record. Since then, his name has been linked inseparably to electronic organs. Klaus was the first performer to use this instrument in the German-speaking world. Today, he ranks at the top of the list – honoured and respected by fellow artists and enthusiasts alike (from www.klauswunderlich.de/index2.html)

Wunderlich released more than one hundred albums, of which thirteen LP’s and one music cassette was credited with gold.

Gershon Kingsley (born Götz Gustav Ksinski; October 28, 1922 – December 10, 2019) was a contemporary German-American composer, a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer, a partner in the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, founder of the First Moog Quartet, and writer of rock-inspired compositions for Jewish religious ceremonies. Kingsley is most famous for his 1969 influential electronic instrumental composition “Popcorn”.

Kingsley conducted and arranged many Broadway musicals, and composed for film, television shows and commercials. His compositions were eclectic and varied between avant-garde and pop styles. Kingsley also composed classical chamber works, and his opera Raoul premiered in Bremen, Germany in 2008. His work was recognized with a Tony Award nomination for Best Conductor and Musical Director, two Clio Awards for his work in advertising music, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bob Moog Foundation. Kingsley died on December 10, 2019 at the age of 97 in Manhattan, New York.

“Popcorn” (originally spelled “Pop Corn”) is the fifth track of the album Music to Moog By, composed by Gershon Kingsley in 1969, it was recorded at the Audio Fidelity Records label in New York City. The title is generally written as one word, although some single sleeves (such as the one illustrated) present it as two words, “Pop Corn”.  Klaus Wunderlich in 1973 recorded a version of Popcorn. Klaus also composed and recorded “Corn Flakes”.

So in what must be one of the world’s most unusual mashups, here are outtakes and such in a Fun Reel from the Lord of the Rings movies set to Klaus Wunderlich’s versions of Popcorn and Corn Flakes. I hope you enjoy this!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TklxhVSeVoo)

Thought for the Day:

“I am addicted to cereal. I am one of those people who just loves their cereal morning, noon and night. Kellogg’s message is what I tell my kids every single day, which is: You’ve gotta start off your day right with a good, healthy breakfast to give yourself the potential for greatness.” – Summer Sanders

Cheers!

Dave

Have a great day!

© 2020 David J. Bilinsky and Colleen E. Bilinsky

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