Malt-O-Meal history

1897 Grape-Nuts Cereal Postum Cereal Company introduces Grape-Nuts cereal, one of the first ready-to-eat cereals.

1904 Post Toasties Postum Cereal Company launches a brand of corn flakes, which becomes known as Post Toasties.

1914 C.W. Post's death Following C.W. Post’s death, the Postum Cereal Company continues to expand its product line.

Chocolate Malt-O-Meal was the company’s first successful new product since 1919.

John S. Campbell in his office, 1921

1927: The company relocates to Northfield, Minnesota, in the Ames Mill.

Campbell established a Minneapolis sales and marketing office in 1932 and began working with an advertising agency.

Service station at Ames Mill, 1935

In 1936, the company headquarters moved to Minneapolis, but the manufacturing plant remained in Northfield.

Campbell's Corn Flakes was introduced in 1939.

Originally called “Cubs,” the name is changed to Shreddies in 1941.

1942 Post Raisin Bran Post Raisin Bran cereal is introduced.

The Campbell Cereal Company became the Malt-O-Meal Company in 1953.

Northfield Independent article on Malt-O-Meal, 1954

Competitor Cream of Wheat was purchased by the National Biscuit Company in 1961, the year Malt-O-Meal added a second flavor.

The Malt-O-Meal Company started making cold ready-to-eat cereals in 1965.

John Campbell was succeeded as president of Malt-O-Meal by his son-in-law Glenn S. Brooks in 1966.

Malt-O-Meal 100 Plus, which the company touted as the first hot cereal with 100 percent of the established daily minimum requirements of vitamins and iron, was added to the hot cereal line in 1969 but discontinued four years later.

Pophitt Cereals, Inc., purchased in 1970, bolstered Malt-O-Meal's ready-to-eat cereal segment with its Whiffs and Sunland Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice line.

Chairman and CEO John Campbell died in 1971.

In 1975 Malt-O-Meal introduced Toasty O's, a lower-cost, bagged version of General Mills, Inc.'s Cheerios.

Northfield, MN: The City of Northfield, 1976.

In 1985 the ready-to-eat cereal segment of the business contributed about two-thirds of the year's estimated $50 million in revenues.

Chair and CEO Brooks died in 1988.

1989 Honey Bunches of Oats Post Honey Bunches of Oats is introduced.

Revenues reached an estimated $137 million in 1991.

Original and chocolate-flavored cereals, and Maple & Brown Sugar Malt-O-Meal, which had been produced since 1992, completed the line that produced about 15 percent of total company sales of about $250 million.

Minnesota-based Grist Mill Inc., which packaged granola cereal under its own name and private labels, began offering several more cereal varieties in 1993.

Quaker Oats, which held 15 percent of the bagged cereal market through its Stokely Van Camp subsidiary's Popeye brand, began putting its own name on the lower-cost bags in 1994.

Malt-O-Meal added Apple & Cinnamon to the hot cereal offerings in 1995.

Also in 1996 Malt-O-Meal was the first value-priced cereal maker to lower its prices in response to price cuts by Kellogg, General Mills, and Philip Morris Companies Inc., owner of Post and Nabisco brands.

By 1998, despite the recall, Malt-O-Meal had captured 4 percent of the overall United States cereal market, more than doubling its share of five years earlier.

Northfield, MN: Northfield Printing, 1999.

The cereal market took a sharp turn for the worse in 2000, leading competitors such as Post and Kellogg to slash their prices by as much as 20 percent.

Final approval of a settlement was granted in 2002, whereby the company, without admitting any liability or wrongdoing, agreed to pay $2 million to the plaintiffs, which by then numbered more than 1,000.

Meantime, Malt-O-Meal took its bagged cereal line in a new direction in 2003 with the introduction of Balance with Berries.

The deal breathed new life into the Tremonton plant. It finally opened in January 2004, producing Toasted Cinnamon Twists and Golden Puffs.

2007 Ralcorp Holdings merger Kraft spins off Post Cereals and merges it with Ralcorp Holdings, creating Post Foods, LLC.

2010 Better Oats Malt-O-Meal Co. introduces the country to 23 flavors of instant oatmeal called “Better Oats.”

2012 MOM Brands Malt-O-Meal Co. is renamed MOM Brands to reflect its wider product range of cereal brands.

Northfield, MN: Northfield Historical Society Press, 2013.

2017 Weetabix acquisition The Weetabix United States portfolio of cereal brands joins the Post Consumer Brands family.

2018 Three Sisters The company’s Three Sisters division is formed, focusing a wide range of sensible, sustainable and delicious choices.