Later Henry Parson Crowell took over the company in 1881, and quickly gained acceptance from the public in part because of his method of packaging the oats in a two pound paper package with cooking directions. This is understandable as the method of packaging by his rivals were in the not-so-handy 180 lb barrels. He was called a cereal tycoon at that time.
In 1882 Crowell launched the first advertisement campaign in national magazines for breakfast cereal. In 1885 he began to use the recently patented folding carton for Quaker Oats packaging.
These developments helped to establish oatmeal as the most popular breakfast item in the United States and as a significant ingredient in many ready to eat cereals and other food products.
The symbol of a man in Quaker dress was registered as a trademark in 1877 by forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company, becoming the first to register a trademark for a breakfast cereal. This symbol was chosen because it was considered that Quakers represented an image of purity and honesty. This move was seminal, because Quaker Oats was the first cereal to be marketed as a brand rather than a commodity.
Crowell allied with Schumacher in 1888, and the two men formed a monopoly of oat cereal production, which lasted until Cromwell controlled the firm in 1906.
The company’s greatest contribution to kitchen efficiency was a quick cooking Quaker Oats, introduced in 1922.
In August 2001, after one hundred years a publicly traded company, Quaker Oats Company merged with PepsiCo, Inc.
The Quaker Oats Company in history
