Changes

Ready-to-eat precooked cereals was the next development, pioneered by Shredded wheat, which Henry Perky introduced in Denver in 1893. Perky soon built a national distribution system to grocery wholesalers nationwide. He sold out to the National Biscuit Company in 1928. In St. Louis William Danforth, with financial help from his wealthy father, bought a local firm manufactured feed for dairy cows and chicken feed under the Purina brand name. He capitalized on the 1890s health food craze and succeeded in having his cereal named the official breakfast food of the popular Dr. Ralston health clubs. Sales boomed, and human cereal became a major part of the business. However the Ralston-Purina Company by 1920 focused primarily on animal feeds

Ready-to-eat precooked cereals was the next development, pioneered by Shredded wheat, which Henry Perky introduced in Denver in 1893. Perky soon built a national distribution system to grocery wholesalers nationwide. He sold out to the National Biscuit Company in 1928. In St. Louis William Danforth, with financial help from his wealthy father, bought a local firm manufactured feed for dairy cows and chicken feed under the Purina brand name. He capitalized on the 1890s health food craze and succeeded in having his cereal named the official breakfast food of the popular Dr. Ralston health clubs. Sales boomed, and human cereal became a major part of the business. However the Ralston-Purina Company by 1920 focused primarily on animal feeds

==Grand Rapids: two Kelloggs and a Post==

==Grand Rapids: two Kelloggs and a Post==

New breakfast-food concepts came from John K. Kellogg and Charles W. Post. The Battle Creek, Michigan, cereal industry rose from a combination of sincere religious belief and commercial interest in health foods. Dr. John H. Kellogg (1851-1943), son of an Adventist factory owner in Battle Creek was encouraged by his church to take an MD at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City in 1875. He became medical superintendent at the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, established in 1866 by the Adventists to offer their natural remedies for illness.  Many wealthy industrialists came to Kellogg's sanitarium for recuperation and rejuvenation. They were accustomed to breakfast of ham, eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, hot biscuits, hotcakes, and coffee. In Battle Creek they found fresh air, exercise, rest, "hydrotherapy," a strict vegetarian diet, and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea.  Kellogg experimented with granola; it resembled toasted bread crumbs.  He boiled some wheat, rolled it into thin films, and baked the resulting flakes in the oven; he acquired a patent in 1891. In 1895 he launched Cornflakes, which overnight captured a national market. Soon there were forty rival manufacturers in the Battle Creek area.  

New breakfast-food concepts came from John K. Kellogg and Charles W. Post. The Battle Creek, Michigan, cereal industry rose from a combination of sincere religious belief and commercial interest in health foods. Dr. John H. Kellogg (1851-1943), son of an Adventist factory owner in Battle Creek was encouraged by his church to take an MD at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City in 1875. He became medical superintendent at the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, established in 1866 by the Adventists to offer their natural remedies for illness.  Many wealthy industrialists came to Kellogg's sanitarium for recuperation and rejuvenation. They were accustomed to breakfast of ham, eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, hot biscuits, hotcakes, and coffee. In Battle Creek they found fresh air, exercise, rest, "hydrotherapy," a strict vegetarian diet, and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea.  Kellogg experimented with granola; it resembled toasted bread crumbs.  He boiled some wheat, rolled it into thin films, and baked the resulting flakes in the oven; he acquired a patent in 1891. In 1895 he launched [[Corn flakes|Corn Flakes]], which overnight captured a national market. Soon there were forty rival manufacturers in the Battle Creek area.  

Charles W. Post, a former Kellogg patient, discovered a new angle, with Postum, a cereal coffee substitute that eliminated most of the caffeine found in regular coffee. "It Makes Red Blood," the Postum ads proclaimed.  In 1898 he introduced Grape-nuts, the concentrated cereal with a nutty flavor and in the late 1890s Post joined the cornflake wars with Post Toasties. Good business sense, determination, and powerful advertising produced a multi-million dollar fortune for Post in a few years.  After his death in 1914 his company acquired the Jell-O company in 1925, Baker's chocolate in 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, Birdseye frozen foods in 1929, and changed its name to General Foods in 1929.  Philip Morris tobacco bought General Foods for $5.6 billion in 1985, merged it with its Kraft division, then spun off Kraft as independent.

Charles W. Post, a former Kellogg patient, discovered a new angle, with Postum, a cereal coffee substitute that eliminated most of the caffeine found in regular coffee. "It Makes Red Blood," the Postum ads proclaimed.  In 1898 he introduced Grape-nuts, the concentrated cereal with a nutty flavor and in the late 1890s Post joined the cornflake wars with Post Toasties. Good business sense, determination, and powerful advertising produced a multi-million dollar fortune for Post in a few years.  After his death in 1914 his company acquired the Jell-O company in 1925, Baker's chocolate in 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, Birdseye frozen foods in 1929, and changed its name to General Foods in 1929.  Philip Morris tobacco bought General Foods for $5.6 billion in 1985, merged it with its Kraft division, then spun off Kraft as independent.