n 1894 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was superintendent of a famous hospital and health spa in Battle Creek, Michigan. His younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg, was the business manager. The hospital stressed healthful living and kept its patients on a diet that eliminated caffeine, meat, alcohol, and tobacco.
The brothers invented many foods that were made from grains, including a coffee substitute and a type of granola, which they forced through rollers and rolled into long sheets of dough. One day, after cooking some wheat, the men were called away. When they finally returned, the wheat had become stale. They decided to force the tempered grain through the rollers anyway.
Surprisingly, the grain did not come out in long sheets of dough. Instead each wheat berry was flattened and came out as a thin flake. The brothers baked the flakes and were delighted with their new invention. They realized they had discovered a new and delicious cereal, but they had no way of knowing they had accidentally invented a whole new industry. Will Keith Kellogg eventually opened his own cereal business, and its most famous product is still sold today:
It wasn’t until 1906 that Kellogg’s® Corn Flakes were made available to the general public. In 1909, the very first cereal premium was offered: The Funny Jungleland Moving Pictures Booklet available with the purchase of 2 packages. The offer was available for twenty-three years!
