Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Quaker Oats history
Quaker Oats company history timeline
1877: Henry Parsons Crowell--owner of the Quaker Mill in Ravenna, Ohio--becomes the first marketer to register a trademark for cereal: the Quaker symbol.
In 1879, the Imperial Mill was built at 16th and Dearborn Streets in Chicago by a group of investors that included John and Robert Stuart.
In 1885 Crowell and Stuart joined forces in a price war against Schumacher's larger operation.
However, when a fire destroyed his Jumbo mill in 1886, uninsured Schumacher lost everything he had worked for.
Half of Consolidated's earnings were spent this way, and in 1888, under financial and legal pressure, it collapsed.
1888: Seven of the largest American oat millers--including the Consolidated principals--unite as the American Cereal Company.
Opposed to both actions, Schumacher requested and secured Stuart's resignation in 1897.
In 1899, after a proxy fight, Schumacher lost control of the company to Stuart and Crowell.
In 1901, the Quaker Oats Company was formed by the consolidation of Schumacher’s German Mills American Oatmeal Company, Crowell’s Quaker Oats Company in Ravenna, Stuart’s mill in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the Rob Lewis & Co.
In 1901, they incorporated the Quaker Oats Company in New Jersey.
In 1909, the company used new machines to produce its “Puffed Rice” and “Puffed Wheat” ready-to-eat cereals, which proved popular.
Annual sales in 1918 exceeded $120 million.
Also in 1921 the company weathered a grain-surplus crisis; dealers had been caught with an oversupply and prices fell rapidly, leading that year to the company's first reported loss.
Crowell, president until 1922, was succeeded by Stuart’s son John, who presided for 34 years, working with his younger brother R. Douglas Stuart, a promotional genius.
In 1925, the company bought the “Aunt Jemima” mills of St Joseph, Missouri.
In 1942, Quaker purchased Ken-L-Ration Dog Foods of Rockford, Illinois.
In 1942 sales reached $90 million.
The decade's slow growth and a general corporate trend toward diversification prompted him to make acquisitions outside the food industry for the first time since 1942.
The primary areas for direct grants from the Foundation, which was set up in 1947, were nutrition, hunger, health issues, and minority education.
Internal attempts to develop a cat food failed, and the company eventually purchased Puss 'n Boots brand cat food in 1950.
The company's first outside manager, Donald B. Lourie, rose to CEO in 1953.
The cost of introducing Cap'n Crunch in 1963 was $5 million.
1963: The Cap'n Crunch cereal brand is introduced.
Quaker also became one of the first companies to join the President's Plan for Progress, a program initiated in 1964 to encourage minority economic opportunities.
Robert D. Stuart, Jr., became CEO in 1966.
In addition, Fisher-Price sales had increased tenfold since 1969, to $300 million.
1969: Fisher-Price Toy Company is acquired.
Late in 1970 Stuart restructured Quaker's organization around four decentralized businesses: grocery products, which now included cookies and candy; industrial and institutional foods, which contained the newly acquired Magic Pan restaurants; toys and recreational products; and international.
A second toy company, Louis Marx Toys, was purchased in 1972.
Stuart had successfully lessened the company's dependence on grocery products, but profits also dropped, to a low of $31 million in 1975.
By 1979 Quaker had a return on invested capital of 12.3 percent--higher than the industry average, but well below competitor Kellogg's 19.4 percent.
1979: William D. Smithburg is named CEO; overall sales reach $2 billion.
In 1982 Quaker Oats formed US Games, a company that created games for the Atari 5200.
In 1983, Quaker bought Stokely-Van Camp, Inc., makers of Van Camp’s and Gatorade.
Anderson Clayton & Company, purchased in late 1986, gave Quaker a 15 percent share of the pet-food market with its Gaines brand, effectively challenging Ralston Purina's lead in that market.
By expanding Gatorade's geographic market, Quaker made the drink its top seller in 1987.
Products with leading market shares made up 75 percent of 1987 sales and over half came from brands that Quaker had not owned six years earlier.
In response, the company announced in April 1989 that it would repurchase seven million of its nearly 80 million outstanding shares, and that July, Smithburg reassigned some managerial duties.
In 1909, the company used new machines to produce its “Puffed Rice” and “Puffed Wheat” ready-to-eat cereals, which proved popular. Its “Gatorade” sports drink brand became an immensely popular and profitable product and helped push Quaker's global workforce up to 32,000 by 1989.
Quaker's international sales continued to be a significant percentage of the company's total, and in 1991, the company restructured both its European and Latin American operations to focus marketing on a continental, as opposed to a country-by-country, basis.
1993: Company acquires the Near East rice and pasta product brand.
Quaker's largest acquisition was its 1994 purchase of Snapple Beverage Corporation, a maker of ready-to-drink juice beverages and teas, for $1.7 billion.
On the international front, Quaker continued its aggressive Gatorade marketing drive, and by 1994 the beverage was available in 25 countries across Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
sellers, patricia. "can coke and pepsi make quaker sweat?" fortune, 10 july 1995.
Despite its record sales figures, Quaker's overall financial outlook was not so bright as it entered 1995.
For fiscal 1995, the combined cash contributions and product donations of both the company and the Quaker Oats Foundation were $11.6 million, which represented 1.1 percent of the company's pretax domestic income.
However, according to Supermarket Business magazine, this move had no impact on sales for the 52-week period ended September 8, 1996.
burns, greg. "crunch time at quaker oats: ceo smithburg has to solve the snapple mess-and fast." business week, 23 september 1996.
During the same period, the company reported a loss of $931 million, as opposed to a profit of $248 million in 1996.
In 1996, four major cereal companies—Kraft Foods' Post unit, Kellogg Company, General Mills, and Quaker Oats—all reduced cereal prices to bring their list prices closer to those of private label products.
pollack, judann and ira teinowitz. "quaker, general mills start out bran ads: fda approves limited health claims for soluble fiber." advertising age, 27 january 1997.
puri, shaifali. "quaker acts—at last." fortune, 26 may 1997.
"quaker oats seen extending gatorade/nfl." reuter's, 8 june 1998. available at http://www.newsalert.com.
These and other moves led to $65 million in savings during 1998.
Some applauded the restructuring Morrison began in early 1998.
In 1998, Quaker Oats launched two major campaigns geared toward shoring up market positions.
Officers: Robert Morrison, Chmn. & CEO, 1998 salary $950,000, bonus $1,000,000; Robert S. Thomason, Sr.
New products for 1998 included Fruit & Oatmeal Cereal Bars in strawberry, blueberry, and apple cinnamon; Peanut Butter Crunch Cap'n Crunch Bars; and two new rice cake flavors, Caramel Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter.
the quaker oats 10-k form, 1998. available at http://www.sec.gov.
In late 1999 the company announced a ten percent workforce reduction, equivalent to about 1,400 employees, as part of a cost-saving plan centering around Quaker's slower growing cereal operations.
Triarc sold it to Cadbury Schweppes for $1.45 billion in September 2000.
The company changed its name to Quaker Foods and Beverages after being acquired by PepsiCo, Inc., in 2001.
Since the late 1980s, actor Wilford Brimley has appeared in television commercials extolling the virtues of oat consumption, typically to a young child, as to introduce the concept of oatmeal consumption as a long tradition. It was spun off in May 2008 to its current owners, Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
Rate Quaker Oats' efforts to communicate its history to employees.
Quaker Oats jobs
Do you work at Quaker Oats?
Does Quaker Oats communicate its history to new hires?
Quaker Oats competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PepsiCo | 1898 | $91.9B | 267,000 | 634 |
| General Mills | 1866 | $19.9B | 35,000 | 169 |
| Post Holdings | 1895 | $5.0B | 11,410 | 576 |
| Pinnacle Foods Group LLC | 1998 | $3.1B | 4,900 | - |
| McDonald's | 1940 | $25.9B | 210,000 | 51,588 |
| Wendy's | 1969 | $2.2B | 12,500 | 7,317 |
| Kellogg | 1906 | $12.7B | 34,000 | 41 |
| Ach Food Companies | 2013 | $1.0B | 3,500 | 10 |
| Wells Enterprises | 1913 | $1.2B | 2,800 | 96 |
| GC America | 1992 | $46.8M | 200 | 13 |
Quaker Oats history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Quaker Oats, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Quaker Oats. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Quaker Oats. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Quaker Oats. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Quaker Oats and its employees or that of Zippia.
Quaker Oats may also be known as or be related to QUAKER OATS CO, Quaker Oats, Quaker Oats Company, The Quaker Oats Co., The Quaker Oats Company, The Quaker Oats Company Inc and The Quaker Oats Company, Inc.