Pop-Tarts

The Pop-Tarts story begins with a bit of a caper. In February 1964, Kellogg’s rival Post announced a new breakfast pastry called “Country Squares” to great fanfare—albeit before the product was ready for market. While Post tinkered and perfected the product in their labs, Kellogg’s jumped into R&D and beat them to the shelves by September of that year. footnote

Named with a wink after Andy Warhol’s flourishing pop art movement, footnote Pop-Tarts were originally available in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon, and apple-currant (soon changed to apple-berry when it was revealed that few consumers were familiar with currants). They were also pre-perforated diagonally for easier snacking. You can see the perforation featured on the packaging on this box, as well as an updated list of flavors that also includes raspberry-apple, Concord grape, and cherry, the former two introduced in 1966 and the latter in 1967. footnote footnote

Pop-Tarts were an instant smash; the first shipment sold out in a mere two weeks. footnote Other companies would attempt their own version of the toaster pastry, which became a $45 million market by 1967, footnote including Nabisco’s Toastettes, General Mills’ Toastwich, and Post’s original Country Squares (which had been renamed to Toast-Em Pop-Ups), but Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts had already handily won out the competition.