MOM Brands

Malt-O-Meal with coffee

The company was founded in 1919 as the Campbell Cereal Company by John Campbell, a miller in Owatonna, Minnesota. He invented a combination of farina wheat and malted barley[6][7] hot breakfast cereal he called Malt-O-Meal. Campbell intended to compete with Cream of Wheat.

In 1927, the company moved production of its cereal to the Ames Mill in Northfield, Minnesota. Nine years later, corporate headquarters were moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in 1953, it was renamed the Malt-O-Meal Company.

Attempts in the 1940s to market Campbell's Corn Flakes, and in the 1960s to sell State Fair brand Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice, were abandoned in the face of competition.[8]

The company sponsors "Make it with Malt-O-Meal" State Fair Recipe Contests at the Oregon and Arizona State Fairs.[9][10]

In 2002, Malt-O-Meal acquired the bagged cereal business from the Quaker Oats Company.[11]

In 2007, Malt-O-Meal took part in the "reverse product placement" marketing campaign for The Simpsons Movie and packaged one of their cereals, Tootie Frooties,[12] as "Krusty-O's". The cereal was sold in 7-Eleven stores across America along with other The Simpsons Movie related products.[13]

In 2007, Malt-O-Meal began construction on their new manufacturing facility in Asheboro, North Carolina. The building, formerly occupied by Unilever Best Foods, became the fourth manufacturing facility for Malt-O-Meal. Operations at the plant began in late 2008.[14]

In December 2009, Malt-O-Meal acquired the Farina brand of hot cereal from U.S. Mills. Farina was started by Pillsbury in 1898.

On February 21, 2012, the Malt-O-Meal Company re-branded as MOM Brands—the new name is intended to reflect the company's wider product range, while still acknowledging its flagship product through the use of its abbreviation. At the same time, it also announced that it had surpassed Post to become the third largest producer of cereals in the United States.[4]

MOM Brands purchased the CoCo Wheats brand from Denny and Kim Fuller on June 30, 2012, while the rest of the company assets except the factory building were sold to Gilster-Mary Lee, a major competitor. The Fullers had become the fourth generation to own and operate Little Crow in 1983.[15]

On October 11, 2013, MOM Brands announced a reduction in force that would affect approximately 100 employees. Voluntary separations were taken until October 18 and resulted in 35 people applying, but not all were approved. Remaining employees were notified beginning October 25, with 88 employees affected.[16]

On January 27, 2015, Post Holdings announced that it was purchasing MOM Brands for $1.15 billion ($1.05 billion cash and 2.5 million shares of Post Holdings stock).[17] The sale was completed on May 4, 2015.[5] Production of cold cereal continued in the Northfield plant.[1] As of February 2017, Post is continuing the Malt-o-Meal brand.[18]

• Post Holdings

• Malt-O-Meal