In 1906, after disagreeing with his brother about the future of their invention – toasted wheat flakes – Kellogg decided to start his own business. He left his brother’s company and created his own, calling it the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. His first product was, as expected, corn flakes.
Kellogg continued to experiment with and perfect his flakes by changing the ingredients his brother had used. For instance, instead of using whole corn, Kellogg decided to try using corn grits. He also added malt to improve their taste. He knew little about running a cereal business, but his recipe was a success. And all the while, Kellogg remained certain of the potential the new food had, saying, “I sort of feel it in my bones that we are preparing a campaign for a food which will eventually prove to be the leading cereal of the United States, if not the world.”
Kellogg decided to focus solely on selling corn flakes for the first few years in business. He began to advertise heavily, using large billboards to get people’s attention. In fact, in 1912, when the company erected a sign that stood 106 feet wide and 50 feet high, it proved to be the largest advertising billboard in the world at the time. It featured a painting of a young farm girl holding corn, and she quickly became known as the “Sweetheart of the Corn.”
In Kellogg’s first year in business, he continued to operate under the Sanitas name. But within a year, he had replaced the name with his own. He created a new slogan for his boxes, which read: “The original bears this signature, W.K. Kellogg.” Sales began to soar.
As Kellogg became more successful, so too did his brother begin to notice. In 1908, his brother changed the Sanitas company’s name to the Kellogg Food Company and began selling similar corn flakes overseas in much the same packaging as Kellogg was using. As a result, the brothers’ relationship became strained. After two years, Kellogg decided to sue his brother in a court case that would drag on for years. Kellogg won the case, but his relationship with his brother would never mend.
Kellogg continued to work long hours as he had done at the sanitarium in order to get his products to market. He had expanded from just selling corn flakes to a range of other breakfast food products. He maintained a hands-on approach, walking through his factories to observe operations. Despite the strict attitude he held towards his workers, Kellogg did in fact pay them better-than-average wages.
In time, Kellogg became the world’s leading cereal manufacturer. He was no longer the poor man he feared he would always be. In fact, by the 1920s, Kellogg had become one of the richest men in America. With homes in Michigan, Florida, and California, Kellogg spent much of his free time raising Arabian horses. He retired from the company he had founded in 1938, but remained on as chairman of the board. After being diagnosed with glaucoma, Kellogg would spend the last years of his life blind. And still, with the help of a seeing-eye dog, Kellogg continued to visit his company’s plants.
Kellogg died in 1951 at the age of 91. His signature remains the trademark of the company he founded almost 50 years earlier.
Crunching the Competition: Corn Flakes Take Off
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