True Tales of Packaging History: The Birth of Breakfast Boxes

Revolutions in the packaging and converting industries are seeing the rise of digital printing, robotic equipment, and even printable solar panels. To offer some respite from the march of technology, we’d like to take you back to a simpler time when the cutting edge of technology was the hand-powered wrapping machine and boxes came in any color so long as it was brown. Here’s a look at some of the people, products, and processes that shaped the package printing industry from its beginnings--and how better to begin than with a complete breakfast?

CEREAL: FROM BLOCKED BOWELS TO BOX-TOPS

At the dawn of the 20th century, the Kellogg brothers operated a health sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan. Dr. John Kellogg was a celebrity physician who attracted notable patients like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and even President Taft. His younger brother, William Kellogg, had only three months of formal education past the 6th grade, and toiled as a combination accountant, secretary, handyman, and janitor.

Dr. John Kellogg’s radical health regimen included exercise, cold showers, fresh air--and a number of less orthodox measures, like yogurt enemas. He also had extreme beliefs on a number of subjects beyond conventional health, including a support of eugenics: “People of greatly disproportionate heights should not marry” is perhaps one of the less offensive quotes from his best-selling book, Plain Facts for Old and Young. Although today many of the Doctor’s views have been debunked and the short and the tall are now free to wed one another without shame, John Kellogg’s interest in well-maintained intestinal tracts led to lasting positive results: the popularization of breakfast cereals and the refinement of their packaging.

The Doctor and his younger brother experimented with varieties of granola, wheat, and bran to serve to patients as an additional measure to ensure clean and healthy bowels. One day an interruption in production led to a sheet of boiled wheat drying out completely. Forced through the rollers of their factory and baked, the result was individual crunchy pieces—the invention of flaked cereal. Easy to produce, effortless to prepare at home, and soon a popular product to ship to patients interested in maintaining a Kellogg-approved diet. The packaging for the product was as bland as its contents: a plain box emblazoned with a rather unappealing name like “Sanitas” or “Kellogg’s Sterilized Bran,” although still an improvement on the common practice of selling cereal directly out of barrels.