SO HOT THEY'RE COOL [461]

“Kellanova?!”

This began upon seeing a headline: “Shares in Pringles maker Kellanova jump on Mars bid talks”. The subheading on the article then talks about the “cereal and snacks company formerly known as Kellogg’s”.

If there was ever a time to think “I beg your pardon”, and realise you’ve completely missed something, this might be it. Kellogg’s is so synonymous with breakfast cereal that their products having been made of basic food ingredients has prevented the brand from becoming a verb, in the way “Hoover” and “Sellotape” have done.

However, the article led with their ownership of Pringles, bought in 2012 as a way of pushing Kellogg’s appeal through the rest of the day. That hadn’t necessitated a name change up to now.

I was initially wrong-footed in my understanding of this situation when I looked at an American story which confirmed that, in October 2023, Kellogg’s had split their snacks portfolio from their cereal business: WK Kellogg Co. would remain in the company’s historic base at Battle Creek Michigan, while the everything-else arm would be based on the other side of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois.

Jerry Seinfeld had made the point that Kellogg’s were unaware, until a couple of weeks before its release on Netflix, that he was making a fictionalised retelling of the birth of Pop-Tarts in his film “Unfrosted”. However, it now appears that Kellogg’s no longer own Pop-Tarts, so it hardly would have mattered to them anyway, and their brand no longer appears on its boxes...

...in North America, at least. A cursory glance in a local supermarket confirms the Kellogg’s name still appears on boxes of Pop-Tarts, Nutri-Grain bars and Fruit Winders in the UK, and that is because the cereal-snack split happened only in North America, where the market for cereals is not growing as quickly as demand for everything else Kellanova makes. On the other hand, Kellanova has a hand in one American market that I have not yet seen it try in the UK: plant-based foods, through its ownership of Gardenburger vegetarian burgers, and of Morningstar Farms, which makes soy-based “meatless meat” burgers, patties and pieces. 

I am not sure whether this is all due to changing tastes or changing times. I don’t have enough time in the morning to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal each morning, and when I do, I still don’t do it. However, I will have a Nutri-Grain oat bar, preferably with raisins.

Going back to the interest in Kellanova by Mars, I found it interesting that the headquarters of its confectionery decision, through its previous purchase of the Wrigley chewing gum company, is also in Chicago, so I expect that Kellanova’s offices there is on a short lease. Furthermore, Mars is synonymous with snacks, but does not make breakfast cereals. In purely business terms, consolidating the two businesses together may provide savings, but there is – I hope – very little crossover between the brands: someone will be paid to develop a future box of cereal with some M&Ms chucked into the bag.