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The '''breakfast cereal''' industry in the U.S. is a $10 billion industry created by a dozen entrepreneurs and health food enthusiasts in the late 19th century. They invented non-meat breakfast foods that were easily packaged, marketed and consumed. Thanks to systematic national distribution and heavy advertising, their cereals became big business by 1910, transforming American eating habits. They built an industry controlled by four oligopolistic firms—originally Kellogg, General Mills, Post, and Quaker Oats and now Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo—that control 83% of the market.<ref> The top 4 firms controlled 82.9% of the market in 1997, the highest concentration in the food industry, and comparable to tobacco; see [http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/m31s-cr.pdf]</ref> Worldwide they offer hundreds of branded cereals to millions of consumers of all ages, along with forty small regional or specialty firms.<ref> On the industry in 1997, see  Matthew Roy, "Analysis of the Cereal Industry" online at [http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-analysis.html]</ref>

The '''breakfast cereal''' industry in the U.S. is a $10 billion industry created by a dozen entrepreneurs and health food enthusiasts in the late 19th century. They invented non-meat breakfast foods that were easily packaged, marketed and consumed. Thanks to systematic national distribution and heavy advertising, their cereals became big business by 1910, transforming American eating habits. They built an industry controlled by four oligopolistic firms—originally Kellogg, General Mills, Post, and Quaker Oats and now Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo—that control 83% of the market.<ref> The top 4 firms controlled 82.9% of the market in 1997, the highest concentration in the food industry, and comparable to tobacco; see [http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/m31s-cr.pdf]</ref> Worldwide they offer hundreds of branded cereals to millions of consumers of all ages, along with forty small regional or specialty firms.<ref> On the industry in 1997, see  Matthew Roy, "Analysis of the Cereal Industry" online at [http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-analysis.html]</ref>

==Oatmeal==

==Oatmeal==

Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant, began the cereals  revolution in 1854 with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store in Akron, Ohio. His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation's first commercial oatmeal manufacturer. He marketed the product locally as a substitute for breakfast pork. Improved production technology (steel cutters, porcelain rollers, improved hullers), combined with  an influx of German and Irish immigrants, quickly boosted sales and profits. In 1877,  Schumacher adopted the Quaker symbol, the first registered trademark for a breakfast  cereal. The acceptance of "horse food" for human consumption encouraged other entrepreneurs to enter the industry. Henry Parsons Crowell started operations in 1882, and John Robert Stuart in 1885. Crowell cut costs by consolidating every step of the processing—grading, cleaning, hulling, cutting, rolling, packaging, and shipping—in one factory operating at Ravenna, Ohio. Stuart operated mills in Chicago and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Stuart and Crowell combined in 1885 and initiated a price war. After a fire at his mill in Akron, Schumacher joined Stuart and Crowell to form the Consolidated Oatmeal Company. In 1888, a trust or holding company combined the nation's seven largest mills into the American Cereal Company using the Quaker Oats brand name. By 1900 technology, entrepreneurship, and the "Man in Quaker Garb"—a symbol of plain honesty and reliability--gave Quaker Oats a national market and annual sales of $10 million.

Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant, began the cereals  revolution in 1854 with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store in Akron, Ohio. His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation's first commercial oatmeal manufacturer. He marketed the product locally as a substitute for breakfast pork. Improved production technology (steel cutters, porcelain rollers, improved hullers), combined with  an influx of German and Irish immigrants, quickly boosted sales and profits. In 1877,  Schumacher adopted the Quaker symbol, the first registered trademark for a breakfast  cereal. The acceptance of "horse food" for human consumption encouraged other entrepreneurs to enter the industry. Henry Parsons Crowell started operations in 1882, and John Robert Stuart in 1885. Crowell cut costs by consolidating every step of the processing—grading, cleaning, hulling, cutting, rolling, packaging, and shipping—in one factory operating at Ravenna, Ohio. Stuart operated mills in Chicago and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Stuart and Crowell combined in 1885 and initiated a price war. After a fire at his mill in Akron, Schumacher joined Stuart and Crowell to form the Consolidated Oatmeal Company. In 1888, a trust or holding company combined the nation's seven largest mills into the American Cereal Company using the Quaker Oats brand name. By 1900 technology, entrepreneurship, and the "Man in Quaker Garb"—a symbol of plain honesty and reliability--gave Quaker Oats a national market and annual sales of $10 million.

[[Image:Oats1.JPG|thumb|225px]]

[[Image:Oats1.JPG|thumb|225px]]