Company origins are often more confusing than you might expect. We know , and (no Italians are involved here), while other companies feel more obscure. But all things have a known beginning, especially modern companies.
This holds true even for one that seems impossibly old-fashioned — like Quaker Oats. The history of the Quaker Oats brand isn't just long; it's bizarre, too. If the iconic branding being trademarked in 1877 sounds like an absurdly old origin for a company still operating successfully today, you'd be surprised to know the actual origins of the company go back even further than that to the 1850s.
Moreover, the company wasn't simply an oats company; despite its branding around oats, it has sold everything from other breakfast products and sports drinks to children's toys and restaurant chains during its long history. Quaker Oats expanded its portfolio to include many items It's wild to think the specific branding of Quaker was so successful that it expanded into other foods while still labeling itself as an oat company, but that's exactly what happened. Oat and wheat cereals were one thing, but the company had rapidly diversified into producing baby food, corn meal, hominy, and animal feed by the time it went with "Quaker Oats" as its official name.
From there, other breakfast products – Cap'n Crunch cereal, Aunt Jemima syrup, frozen waffles and pancakes — only made sense. Even Gatorade, acquired in 1983, and Snapple, in 1994, were at least food products. W.
