All language subtitles for The.Food.That.Built.America.S04E01.Breakfast.That.Pops.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

The first
two titans of cereal

created a $398 billion industry

and revolutionized the most
important meal of the day.

And now, in the 1960s,

they're gearing
up to do it again,

with a new arsenal
of innovations.

What would normally
take someone hours to bake

was suddenly there, popping
up in a matter of moments.

There was no product
like this in stores.

It was almost a new
category of food.

A rivalry
is renewed.

I told you we
needed to act now.

These guys have
been duking it out

since the early part
of the 20th century.

They'll channel
the power of modern technology.

The first company to
harness toaster technology

in the breakfast market

stands to make millions.

Completely
reinvent how food is sold.

There's a way
to reach consumers

in a way there never
has been before.

Yabba dabba doo!

What was not to love?

It was an edible cartoon.

They taste like joy.

And
revolutionize the way

Americans start their day.

Now, you have created
a new breakfast category,

a new taste sensation,
an innovation,

and something that will populate
American breakfast tables

for years to come.

It's 1962,
and for the past 70 years,

ready-made breakfast
has been a battleground

between two major players,
Kellogg's and Post.

Before then, most breakfasts
were leftovers, meats, eggs.

Suddenly, there is this
move to things like cereal,

and it's quick.

Since
its inception,

Kellogg's has pioneered
healthy cereals

like Corn Flakes,
Special K, and All-Bran.

While Post has its
flagship icon Grape Nuts,

they're largely
following Kellogg's

with imitations like their
version of Corn Flakes,

Post Toasties.

They've got Post
Rice Krinkles,

sort of just the bad
version of Rice Krispies.

People just said "No."

They looked at it
and they was like,

"Oh, if I want Rice Krispies,
I'll just get Rice Krispies.

I don't need to
buy Rice Krinkles."

Post has always sort of been
second fiddle to Kellogg's.

Now, Post
Cereal has a new president.

C.W. Cook, he's clearly
a very ambitious guy.

When he becomes
president in '62,

it's almost like when, you know,

when Kennedy became president,

he was like, "We're gonna
send man to the moon."

I think C.W. Cook,
his own moonshot,

was, "We're gonna be number
one in breakfast foods."

Cook wants to
get there with innovation,

not imitation.

Post, they've been
losing the big games,

and they wanna win a
championship, finally.

Cook directs
his top food technician,

Stan Reesman,

to create a product to lead
Post into a new frontier.

He's a product
development guy,

and he's tasked
with coming up with,

really, food innovations.

Stan Reesman has been
at Post for 20 years,

and he really wants
to leave his mark.

Okay, Stan.

I'll bite.

What's with the dog food?

Reesman's
unprecedented strategy

is to actually pivot
Post away from cereal.

At the time, there's
a popular product

that was a dog food
called the Gaines Burger,

which was really innovative,

because you had a
soft form of dog food

that didn't require refrigeration,

so you didn't have to
worry about it spoiling

and getting a lot of bacteria.

The thing is, the process
of making Gaines Burgers

was a process of dehydration.

Moisture is
notoriously unforgiving

when it comes to
bacteria, and pathogens,

and all kinds of stuff

that will send you
running to the bathroom.

So, he was looking
at that and thinking,

"Okay, what else can
we make for breakfast

using this process?"

We're about to
reinvent breakfast.

You gotta give him credit,

for a guy who
looked at dog food,

and he sees maybe the
future of breakfast.

Meanwhile,
Kellogg's executive

William LaMothe has
worked his way up

through the ranks of
the cereal company

for the last 12 years.

William E. LaMothe
is a true go-getter.

Straight out of
Fordham University,

he goes to work for Kellogg's,

and immediately shows

an incredible aptitude
for advertising,

so much so that he
eventually gets promoted

to vice president of product
development and marketing.

Under
LaMothe's leadership,

Kellogg's has had success,
starting in the '50s,

by leaning into
a new demographic

who they believe
is not looking for

bland, nutritious cereals.

Now, the
sort of war years,

you saw sugar rationing
and everything.

Post-war, you've got all
those resources back.

You've also got all these
people coming back from war,

all these kids being born.

Kids, of course, love sugar,

so that by the time you
get into the '50s and '60s,

you've got an entirely
new category of consumer,

consuming, believe it or not,

19 billion bowlfuls of
sugary cereal per year.

That is a huge market.

Kellogg's
sugary pioneers,

including Sugar Pops, Sugar
Smacks, and Frosted Flakes,

have cemented them as the
most popular cereal company.

But Kellogg's can't lay claim

to having the top
cereal in the country.

That honor belongs to a
bland, unsweetened, oat cereal

from a smaller company.

So, there's General Mills.

They had the number
one cereal in America.

Cheerios,
with power protein.

Kellogg's basically
invented breakfast.

It drives LaMothe crazy

that they don't have
the number one cereal.

LaMothe tried to
capture the magic of Cheerios

with his own oat cereal.

Kellogg's new OKs.

But OKs cereal
fails to gain traction,

and sales have been
in a steady decline.

OK is not really a fun cereal.

K is not a really fun letter.

Why would you choose
a name like OKs?

Why would you want to have
a cereal that's just okay?

OKs
is losing money,

but despite pressure
from the Kellogg's board

to stop production,

LaMothe refuses to admit defeat.

LaMothe is the
kind of guy that,

if he had 10 successes
and one failure,

he would obsess about
that one failure.

Gimme another month.

LaMothe is
about to risk his reputation

on a last-ditch idea to
salvage his OKs debacle.

You can save millions of
dollars, and tons of time,

in figuring out ways to use
what you've already got,

and figure out a way

to creatively put a fresh
coat of paint on them

that doesn't require

new lines being built
at your factories.

He sees how well
Cheerios is doing,

and they're essentially these
little, beautiful O shapes.

LaMothe makes
the decision to ditch the K

and just sell the Os,

but to avoid simply
being a Cheerios clone,

he ups the ante.

Let's go with
what we know works.

Starting with the word sugar.

Realizing that he really
can't dethrone Cheerios,

LaMothe says to
himself, you know what?

I am not gonna be outdone in
this sugary cereal market.

But it's his
next innovation that will

make this cereal unlike
any that have come before,

trying to incorporate a flavor

that has yet to be used
in any Kellogg cereal.

Fruit.

They absolutely do
not have any real fruit,

but they taste like
what people imagine

fruit should taste like.

They taste like joy.

It looks like Cheerios,

but a little bit more
fantastical, and exciting,

and kid-like.

They weren't
different flavors,

but they were different colors.

Very cool, very exciting.

Unlike anything that
Kellogg's had ever had before.

LaMothe's new creation

will evolve into a brighter
cereal with six different colors

and will one day sell more
than 90 million boxes a year

and become a cereal aisle icon.

Fruit Loops.

But right now,
it's just another sugary cereal

in a crowded market.

LaMothe knows he
needs another big hook

to set Fruit Loops apart.

While LaMothe has his sight set

on having the nation's
number one cereal,

his rivals at Post are
thinking bigger, beyond cereal.

Stan Reesman has
been experimenting

with Gaines Burger dog food

and ways to apply its food
dehydration technology.

One food that really
dehydrates well is fruit.

It can be dry, but it
still has its flavor.

So, Stan Reesman
wants to figure out

how to use dehydrated fruit
in a breakfast product.

Maybe we can make
a breakfast pastry

so it's not completely dry,

but you don't have
to refrigerate it.

Reesman has set

a near-impossible
task for himself,

and it would be a first
in the breakfast market.

Create a dehydrated,
shelf-stable fruit pastry.

Anyone who's ever
gone to a bakery

and bought pastries
knows they go stale.

Jellies, equally, turn
spoiled, go rancid,

and become a health hazard,
let alone taste terrible.

This is a very challenging
scientific problem,

and if you can figure that out,

you've probably got a winner.

Reesman and
Post will figure it out,

and they will pioneer a new
category of breakfast food

that will be worth
close to $1 billion.

But one of the biggest mistakes

in the history of American food

is about to drop their idea
right into Kellogg's lap.

In 1963, Kellogg's
is about to unleash the cereal

that could solidify them

as the undisputed number one
breakfast makers in the nation.

But executive William LaMothe

knows that it takes more than
a good product to stand out

in the cutthroat cereal market.

William LaMothe realized
you needed a good slogan,

and, in many cases,
a good mascot.

In
the 1950s and '60s,

advertising is more
crucial than ever

thanks to a new, popular medium.

Television is new the
hearth for the family.

So, there's a way
to reach consumers

in a way there never
has been before.

Plus, with cartoons, you
immediately reach children.

And Kellogg's
is at the forefront.

In 1955, Rice Krispies characters

Snap, Crackle, and Pop

appeared for the
first time on TV.

I'm Snap.

I'm Crackle.

I'm Pop.

These are not just
pushing the cereals,

they're pushing kind of a
cartoon connection with them.

So, Tony the Tiger is almost
as cartoon-like and lovable

as Bugs Bunny.

They're great!

What was not to love?

It was an edible cartoon.

The driving force

behind these iconic characters

is none other than
William LaMothe.

Now, he needs to
work his magic again.

The man behind
Snap, Crackle, Pop,

Tony the Tiger,

the sunshine scooping down
two scoops of raisins,

introduced Toucan
Sam to the world.

Follow your nose.

Yahoo!

It always knows.

Toucans are known for
jumping through trees

and foraging for fruit.

Ironically, toucans
cannot smell,

but they have a colorful beak,

and I think that's why
Kellogg's picked it, you know,

the colorful beak
matched their cereal.

Fruit Loops
bursts onto the market

and will eventually reach
annual sales of $270 million.

But LaMothe doesn't know
the breakfast battleground

is about to shift away
from cereal entirely.

Post Cereal's Stan Reesman

presents C.W. Cook with
his newly-developed

oven-warmed pastry with
strawberry filling.

He's an innovator

and did something no
one had ever seen before

when it came to the
creation of pastries.

This is something
that's gonna, you know,

change the face of breakfast
and how we have our mornings.

Good.

But.

So, Cook thought of
something that Reesman

really hadn't thought about.

Kids have to turn on the oven

to make themselves breakfast.

That's not gonna fly.

This is the 1960s.

You know, mom was home,
and mom cooked everything.

The idea that children
would heat up the oven,

put a pastry in the oven,
was not very convenient,

but most importantly,
it wasn't safe.

But children can make a
bowl with cereal on their own,

and it's quick, it's easy.

So, Reesman goes
back to the drawing board.

They're really
trying to create

a very easy-to-use experience,

have a warm, delicious
pastry in an instant.

In 1963,

the microwave is not yet
a common household item,

but Reesman sees
untapped potential

in another appliance that is.

We don't think twice

about throwing a slice
of bread in a toaster.

Well, now imagine a world

where toasters are the new
vanguard of technology.

Although
General Electric

invented the toaster in 1909,

it wasn't until 1926

that the first easy to use
pop-up toaster was released.

But the toaster is so
prohibitively expensive.

While
toasters in the 1930s

could cost up to about
$540 in today's money,

by the 1960s, the price
has dropped to about $11,

but its only function

was toasting bread.

Pretty much all
you used it for

was to turn bread
into toast, right?

That was it.

Which means that
the first company

to harness toaster technology
in the breakfast market

stands to make millions.

Reesman alters
the dimensions of his pastry

into toaster-sized squares.

Boom, you can
throw in a toaster.

Ah, there's that delicious,
warm, fruity filling

with the crusty, flaky
layers around it,

and it works.

What would normally
take someone hours to bake

was suddenly there, popping
up in a matter of moments.

There was no product
like this in stores.

It was almost a new
category of food.

And they came up with a name.

Country Squares.

Bet you thought I was
gonna say Pop-Tarts.

I think when Post named
their breakfast pastry

the Country Squares,

they were really trying
to invoke that feeling

of something that's homemade.

C.W. Cook
believed he found the product

that will finally put
Post ahead of Kellogg's.

Boy, C.W. Cook,

he really wants to
stick it to Kellogg's.

And
in February, 1964,

he publishes a
national press release

to tout their new creation.

The only problem?

The launch is still months away.

They've announced it,
they haven't released it.

Stan Reesman was
still figuring out

the mass production
ramifications of this

when they announced it.

He's just like, "I figured
out how to make one."

You know, "I didn't figure
out how to make a million."

One of the things
you're taught

is never telegraph your punch.

Post did not get this memo.

Now, the
whole food industry

knows that Country
Squares are coming,

including Kellogg's.

A toasted breakfast.

LaMothe realizes
he has a small window

to beat his arch-rival, Post,

and create his version
of the toaster pastry.

Now, the race is on

for LaMothe to hit
the market first,

ensuring that
Kellogg's, not Post,

is the name that changes
breakfast as we know it

and reaps the untold
millions in profit

which could have been Post's.

In 1964, the Post
Company announced to the world

that they invented a
revolutionary new product,

the first shelf-stable pastry,

which is also the
first toaster pastry,

but the announcement
is premature.

It's a great idea,

but they don't have
the product yet.

Post, in the breakfast game,

had been number two
for a long time.

Maybe making that
announcement early

was a desire to sort
of throw a punch.

Now, Kellogg's
VP, William LaMothe,

is tipped off

and determined to
perfect the same idea

and race it to market first.

So, he does what any innovator
in his position would do.

He turns to Post.

Not the company.

Plant manager of
Keebler, Bill Post.

Though not a
part of the Kellogg's umbrella

at the time,

the Keebler Company is also
located in Battle Creek

and has been
mass-producing cookies

for over a hundred years.

And for the past 20 years,

37-year-old Bill Post
has worked his way up

through the ranks at Keebler,

gaining knowledge of how
to create baked goods.

They looked to Bill
and said, "Can you help?

Can you bring this
vision to life?"

Bill
Post is given weeks

to back-engineer a product

that Stan Reesman worked
on for over a year.

Bill Post, he can make a
cracker, he can make a cookie,

but now you have to
create a toaster pastry

that won't burn

and will come out
to market faster

than Post's Country Squares.

Initially,

when the first iterations of
the pastry came out,

the steam inside of them

was causing them to
explode in the toaster.

Then, not only is your
toaster pastry ruined,

your toaster's ruined.

That would've been an
instant brand killer.

So, because he is a
self-taught technologist

and a problem-solver first,

Bill Post has an innovation

that most home bakers
already know about.

He employs a
technique used in pie making

and is reminiscent of Keebler's
popular saltine crackers.

Docking holes are basically

little, tiny pinpricks
in the dough,

but they allow for the
steam to be released.

You now have a
more durable dough

that won't explode,
won't expand,

and still give you that
delicious, flaky pastry crust

that you're looking for.

With
the code cracked,

Kellogg's can now rush their
toaster pastry into production.

There were a
lot of people that

pushed back on this
idea with Bill,

and said, "That's not
gonna work in a toaster,

you will not find
success with that."

Bill Post is one of the
coolest characters to me.

One of the things that
really defined his success

was that, whenever
anyone told him

something couldn't be done,

he took it kind of personally

and decided he was
gonna prove them wrong.

While at Post,

Stan Reesman has completed
the development of his pastry,

but the release of Country
Squares is still delayed.

There was battles
about the flavors,

and the distribution, and the
packaging, and the pricing.

Stan Reesman, he's gotta
be pulling his hair out.

Like, throw me a line.

Let's get this thing in stores,

people are gonna go
crazy when they see it.

And they did go crazy
when they saw it,

except it wasn't Country Squares.

By
the fall of 1964,

Kellogg's has one final hurdle

before they unleash their
own pastry on the market.

They need a name.

The interests of
teenagers and of kids

start to become more central

to the mainstream
of American culture.

So, you see brands who are
distinctly trying to court

that younger consumer,

and you see the
tastes of young people

actually be what's
considered cool.

William LaMothe,
marketing genius that he is,

realizes that Andy Warhol's
pop art movement of the time

is sweeping the nation.

The pop
art movement was a

cultural phenomenon in the
late 1950s and '60s.

Pop art was essentially

an artistic appreciation of
that which we saw every day.

The most famous
pop artist, Andy Warhol,

burst onto the scene
with his iconic paintings

of Marilyn Monroe,
Campbell's Soup, and others,

transforming these beloved
celebrities and brands

into fun, avant garde art.

So, to embrace the movement,

William LaMothe renames the
toaster scone, the Pop-Tart.

On
September 14th, 1964,

Kellogg's beats Post to market,

releasing their first
non-cereal creation.

And while Post had visions
of reinventing breakfast

with their toaster pastries,

LaMothe aims bigger.

Store owners were
actually forbidden

from putting Pop-Tarts
in the cereal aisle.

They wanted Pop-Tarts
to be perceived

as a any-time-of-day snack,

not just a breakfast food.

Back then, snacking was

something done
rather infrequently.

Whereas today, snacking
starts when you wake up

and it lasts until
you go to bed.

Put some Pop-Tarts in
the toaster, and boom,

you have something
that you can snack on.

Although
they didn't invent

the first toaster pastry,

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts
are an instant smash.

People went crazy for them.

It was a huge innovation.

It was the first thing,
you know, other than bread,

you would put in a toaster.

It was so easy, even
a kid could do it.

Pop-Tarts give people
even greater convenience

and greater diversity in
terms of what they can eat

in the morning, on
their way out the door,

on their way to school,
on their way to work.

It hit all the marks.

I told you we
needed to act now.

Can you imagine,

you have come up with this thing

that you know is
gonna work, right?

And then someone
else does it first?

- I was ready, it was done.
- All right.

I couldn't get
past your red tape.

It's gotta just
tear your soul apart.

I gotta go.

I mean, ah, I can't imagine.

Two months
after Pop-Tarts' release,

Country Squares finally
makes it to market.

They did an
orange-pineapple flavor,

which maybe in a juice
is a great combination,

but in Country Squares,
it just wasn't very good.

Pop-Tart has now
dominated the market,

rendering any competition
completely worthless.

From the start,

sales of Country
Squares are flat,

and Post is once
again second place.

You know, it's
ironic that the company

who really innovated the product

did not get to be the
star of its own show.

Country Squares didn't work out.

Maybe at this point it's time
to choose a different battle.

Reesman isn't
going down without a fight.

This time, he'll hit
Kellogg's with a page

from their own playbook.

He lost the pastry battle,

but he can still
win the cereal war.

It's 1964, and Post
food technician Stan Reesman

is reeling after Kellogg's
beat him to market

with their own toaster pastries.

So, Stan Reesman is
trying to figure out

what else can we do to
stick it to Kellogg's?

I think it was
Einstein who said,

you know, inspiration
is everywhere.

So, Reesman, he's looking at

their Post Rice Krinkles
cereal, and thinking,

what can we do with these
products we already have?

And then he's looking
at Fruit Loops, right?

A Kellogg's product, and is
like, "Hmm, interesting."

He's like, "Wait a second,

we could take this hit product,

and our currently-not-a-hit
product,

and they seem like they're
a match made in heaven."

Meanwhile,

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts have
hit the market with a bang.

I don't think anyone
could have prepared

for the success that
Pop-Tart was going to have.

They've
sold out completely.

Kellogg's, and William
LaMothe, and Bill Post,

were under the gun almost
from the beginning.

They had to create it
and get it to the market

faster than the
Post-announced Country Square.

Now, it goes to market, it's
a hit, but it sells out.

LaMothe
worries that,

without Pop-Tarts on shelves,

consumers may turn
to other products,

like Post's Country Squares.

With no product on the market,

and a nation demanding
a toaster pastry.

Well, you've now left
yourself wide open

to the possibility of a
competitor meeting the demand

that you simply can't.

It kind
of was a disaster.

Food, it's all
about distribution.

He's gotta come up
with some really novel,

you know, solutions.

And
without a quick fix,

Pop-Tart's success may
just be a flash in the pan.

Within weeks,

Stan Reesman has transformed
Post's Rice Krinkles

into a colorful,
fruit-flavored cereal.

He created this thing
that feels brand new,

even though it's sort of
just from the ingredients

that they already
had sitting around.

What do we call them?

What do they look like?

Chips?

Pebbles.

Pebbles.

They named the
small, colorful rice flakes

Fruity Pebbles.

Nice job, Stan.

I think we got it.

Nice job.

Before sending
Fruity Pebbles to market,

Post will look to employ
a beloved spokesman,

transforming it from
basic new cereal

into a breakfast
table powerhouse.

Over at Kellogg's,

LaMothe is facing down a
public relations nightmare.

Pop-Tarts is completely
sold out nationwide.

William LaMothe's a
savvy marketing man.

He decides to embrace it.

They release a slogan,

"Oops, we goofed."

They put it on billboards,
they put it everywhere.

A complete admission of the fact

that they didn't make enough

of America's first, and now
favorite, toaster pastry.

It's an ad
campaign that LaMothe hopes

will buy Kellogg some time.

But, as everybody knows,

from sneakerheads like me

to collectors of
art or fine wines,

limited supply, well, that
only increases demand.

Two weeks after
it's released to the market,

Pop-Tarts completely
sells out of stores.

And though LaMothe has saved
face with some honesty,

creating a clever, "Oops,
we goofed" ad campaign,

demand for Pop-Tarts
has only skyrocketed.

People were obsessed
with this product.

It was something that
everybody wanted to try.

So, they were ramping up

and doing a level
of manufacturing

they had never done before.

Kellogg's
pours nearly $20 million

into equipment and
factory expansion

in order to get Pop-Tarts
back into the hands

of every consumer
across the country.

The staff, the workers,

they were all working
a lot longer shifts,

third shifts, to try to
keep up with the demand.

Kellogg's
revamped production line

has them replenishing
store shelves,

to the delight of
loyal customers.

And over the decades,

the Pop-Tart will evolve
into a true American icon.

There aren't a ton of products

that start out super successful
and stay super successful,

and we've seen that
with the Pop-Tart.

After
months in development,

Post is nearly ready to unleash

their brand new
Fruity Pebbles cereal.

And like all other kids'
cereals, they need a mascot.

It's always vital to have
an exciting, lively mascot.

You want to interact with
kids and have this image.

But the market is
really getting jammed.

Mascots are everywhere.

Dig 'Em the Frog, the Trix
rabbit, Tony the Tiger.

So, they had to figure out a way

to stand out from other similar
products in the marketplace.

While
LaMothe, at Kellogg's,

is the king of original mascots,

Post wants to up the ante
and do something bigger.

Any mascot that already
has some familiarity

with the general public,

people are just going
to gravitate to that

before a brand new character.

So, they tie it together

with one of the
biggest sitcom hits

that happened to be
animated in the '60s.

Yabba dabba doo!

Yabba dabba do
not count out Post.

Spokesmen were big back then.

They would have
celebrities being spoke,

but they said, "Okay, we're
gonna get Fred Flintstone,

put him on this cereal."

And, boy, they made magic.

Try the Flintstones'
new Fruity Pebbles.

Inspired
by the character

of Pebbles Flintstone,

Fruity Pebbles is
the first Post cereal

to join forces with
a television series.

Most companies that are
beginning with a mascot

have to have some
kind of origin story.

They've gotta invest
children emotionally.

You'd always had these
kind of, you know,

cutesy animals, for example,

but they didn't have a show
that went along with it

to kind of drive it.

Kids know Fred Flintstone.

So, we've got somebody
who's easily recognizable,

slap him on the box,

and voila, built-in
target audience.

As a kid, looking
at the Flintstones,

you're obsessed with the
world they live in, right?

Fruity Pebbles does
look like a cereal

that you could have
found in Bedrock.

We live in a day and age

where there are
streaming services,

where you could watch
whatever you want

at any time you want.

Well, that was not the case

when "The Flintstones"
were airing on television.

So, cereals like Fruity
Pebbles were really special,

because that was how you kind of

carried the magic of
the cartoon you loved

into the times you couldn't
watch the cartoon itself.

In
October of 1971,

this novel
partnership gives both

the new cereal and
the syndicated cartoon

a big boost in popularity.

By the time they're
coming up with this,

"The Flintstones" is
almost off the air,

but after the partnership,
it's in syndication nonstop.

So, Fruity Pebbles is
a hit out of the gate,

and it was a big one.

I'm sure Kellogg's
was like, "Whoa."

You know, "That one,

we didn't expect that
coming from these guys."

And it was a big shot.

With Fruity Pebbles

becoming the favorite
debut cereal of 1971,

Post launches a
chocolatey spinoff,

Cocoa Pebbles.

- Yeah.
- It's new Cocoa Pebbles.

And
that's a hit, too.

Chocolatey good.

Cocoa Pebbles give you
chocolate milk at the end.

You gotta love that.

Meanwhile,
food companies nationwide

are desperate to gain
their own foothold

in the kid-friendly
breakfast market.

In the wake of the
success of Pop-Tarts,

food manufacturers of
all shapes and colors

are trying to figure out,

what else can we
turn into a shape

that can go into a toaster?

In San
Jose, California,

Frank Dorsa, an unknown,
independent food engineer,

has been experimenting with
his own toaster product.

Frank Dorsa loved
tinkering with things

and inventing things.

He and his two brothers
decided to start a business,

and their business really
took off in the 1950s.

Their first product

is a popular new brand of
mayonnaise called Eggo,

but it won't be mayonnaise
that he's famous for.

It'll be the $200
million jackpot

that rivals Pop-Tarts
in popularity.

By the early 1970s,

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts
has helped the toaster

become a common
household appliance,

with over 50 million of
them in American homes.

Toaster technology
becomes even more refined,

the price comes down,

they're able to be to be
made cheaper and lighter

to give people even
greater convenience

and greater diversity

in terms of what they
can eat in the morning,

convenience that no
self-respecting homeowner

wanted to be without.

In San
Jose, California,

Frank Dorsa is working
on his own contribution

to the booming toaster market.

But Dorsa already has a
popular flagship product.

One of the biggest acclaims
they got for their mayonnaise

was that it had higher egg
content than anyone else.

Apparently, this is a quality

that a lot of
people really liked.

The
popular high egg-content

in their mayonnaise

inspires their
company name, Eggo.

Eggo rides the success
of their mayonnaise

with a notable lineup
of convenience foods

like potato chips and
ready-to-make waffle mix.

With waffles, at the time,

the prevailing wisdom
dates back to 1896

to the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook,"

where adding yeast
to this batter

helps it rise overnight,

creating that fluffiness,

and contributing to
the crisp that you get

the following day.

But the problem with this is,

it takes a little bit
of advanced planning.

So, the dry mix that
Frank Dorsa developed

was pretty remarkable,

in that it really took
a lot of the legwork

out of making waffles.

All you had to do
was just add milk.

Having a dry mix allowed
you to spontaneously

wake up and say, "You know what?

I could really go for
some waffles, right now."

Dorsa is determined

to make waffles even
more convenient.

When you're making
something like waffles,

you have to preheat
that waffle iron.

You have to add just the
right amount of batter.

We've all added too much,

but then you have waffle batter

that drips down the
sides of the waffle iron

and it is no fun to clean up.

If I was a high
schooler in the '60s,

and I wanted to
make some waffles,

I would need to be
doing a lot of work

that I don't know if
I would wanna be doing

as a high schooler.

Dorsa
believes he can create

a whole pre-made
waffle for consumers

by using a new method
in food technology.

Flash freezing.

Flash freezing is an
alternative to the old method,

which was just freezing
over a period of time.

That slower method
tends to create

these larger crystals of ice.

The problem is, when
you thaw the food,

the flavor drains
out with the water.

Flash freezing
fixes that problem,

because it freezes right
through immediately,

instantaneously,

so there's none
of those crystals,

so it maintains the flavor.

Dorsa develops
the first frozen waffle.

He took the waffle,

something just about
everyone loves,

and the toaster,
that was just about

every household in the country,

and combined it with
flash freezing technology,

and created a whole
new dimension.

Not only breakfast foods,

but American foods, and
toaster foods, forever.

Frank Dorsa's really
capturing lightning in a bottle

with creating a fully-formed,
fully-fledged waffle

in frozen format

that's becoming available
for more and more Americans.

This revolutionized
how waffle lovers

can have waffles for breakfast.

We can just take
those frozen waffles,

put them in the toaster, and
then all you need is syrup.

This concept doesn't
have a name yet.

Frank decides to
make a portmanteau.

He puts together the word
frozen, the word waffles,

come together to make

the very catchy, I
think, word froffles.

Dorsa's froffle
has caught the attention

of the biggest
name in breakfast.

William LaMothe of
Kellogg's realizes,

"Hey, we know we can put
a pastry in the toaster.

Now our competitors do too.

We have to find the next great
thing to put in the toaster.

Why not a waffle?"

LaMothe
summons Frank Dorsa

to Battle Creek Michigan,

and in 1970, Kellogg's
buys Dorsa's frozen waffle.

Kellogg's, as an international
breakfast conglomerate,

has the reach to put Froffles
in every American household.

But before LaMothe

launches Froffles nationwide,

he reconsiders the name.

The name Froffle is,
technically speaking,

stupid.

So, he looked back

to one of Frank Dorsa's
early developments,

mayonnaise, and potato
chips, the Eggo brand.

So, LaMothe chooses a name

that literally
means waffles to me

and just about everyone
in the United States.

It's
now the Eggo Waffle.

So, with the
invention of the Eggo,

suddenly you had
this opportunity

to take it outta your freezer,
throw it in the toaster,

and have it done for kids.

Well, the marketing mind
of LaMothe wins again.

He creates a slogan that has
withstood the test of time.

Leggo my Eggo.

The marketing around the
Eggo waffle, "Leggo my Eggo,"

was brilliant,

and I think echoed
what happened in

households across the country,

where siblings battled to
be the first, or the last,

to eat the Eggo waffles that
were still left in the box.

So, because of Frank
Dorsa's ingenuity,

you take something that is
as beloved as the waffle,

and the marketing savvy
of William E. LaMothe.

Well, now you have created
a new breakfast category,

a new taste sensation,
an innovation,

and something that will populate

American breakfast
tables for years to come.

The Eggo purchase
would result in $115 million

in annual frozen waffle sales,

and now, makes up
to $186 million.

Today, Kellogg's has combined
its two toaster all-stars

into one treat,
the Eggo Pop-Tart.

Kellogg's not only
became the first word,

and first name, in terms of
the American breakfast table,

they redefined
breakfast in America,

and maybe the world
as we know it.

People still, in
the 21st century,

are talking about two
scoops of raisins,

Snap, Crackle, and Pop,

Leggo my Eggo.

For a long time, breakfast
was, frankly, very boring,

and then suddenly,
there was this sort of

explosion of joy in the morning,

this idea that
you could have fun

with something that
came out of a box.

Kellogg's has released

over 25 different
flavors of Pop-Tart

since their debut in 1964,

and still introducing new
varieties to this day.

Pop-Tart's massive sales reach

nearly 2 billion units annually.

But despite all the innovation
and reinvention of breakfast,

cereal still reigns supreme.

I love Fruit Loops,

but Fruity Pebbles, the
way the milk hits them,

when you can scoop up

such a high pile of
Fruity Pebbles in a bowl,

and you get that nice crunch,

and all the flavor
just pops out.

1.4 billion
bowls of Post's Pebbles

are eaten each year.

There's still something
magical, though,

about, like, the ice-cold milk
with the crunch of cereal.

How could you not love this?

I just want to
salute every teacher

that had to contend
with a room full of kids

that just consumed bowls
of cereal like this.

This had to be rocket fuel

in the system of a first grader.