R.I.P. --The Man Who Created an American Icon
William Post could not have imagined he was creating “a cultural touchstone” that would sell in the billions when he launched the Pop-Tart in 1964.
Post was as modest as his name. Maybe that’s why he didn’t get his due recognition, not even on the Kellogg’s website.
But I read the news today, oh boy, in the New York Times — a full-scale obituary for this master baker. Attention has been paid! His great heart gave out at 96.
Close readers of my Substack columns might recall that last October I wrote an ode to Pop-Tarts. I reminisced about enjoying an incalculable number of those treats in my youth before “growing out” of them as an adult. (If you’re wondering, I favored Strawberry or Raspberry, sometimes with frosting if I wanted to have a party in my mouth.)
But because the Kellogg’s website unforgivably “does not mention Mr. Post,” as the Times put it, I was unaware until today of his contribution to our breakfast culture.
I love the photo the Times ran with his obituary. He’s sitting on his porch, wearing tacky shorts and a T-shirt, grinning into the camera and holding a can of what could be a Budweiser.
And yet, as the Times reported in its lead, Post “played a significant role in inventing Pop-Tarts, a classic American snack and cultural touchstone with an enticing sweetness and simplicity.”
The obituary informed us that when the bosses at Kellogg’s approached Post in 1964, he was managing the Hekman Biscuit Company’s plant in Grand Rapids, Mich. (He moved back there in his retirement, preserving that unassuming lifestyle.)
The honchos at Kellogg’s were upset that their competitor, coincidentally named Post, had put out a toaster pastry called County Squares (later named Toast’em Pop Ups). They asked Bill Post: “Could your plant create a similar product?”
According to Post’s son Dan, “Being the absolutely positive person that he was, he said, ‘Absolutely. Give me two weeks.’”
Post would later recall the “many naysayers” who said Pop-Tarts were “not such a good idea.” But he ignored them and assembled a team to fulfill the Kellogg’s request.
How did Post fine tune this new morsel? He brought home samples for his kids to eat!
Dan Post: “He would bring samples home almost daily and say, ‘Kids, try these.’ We’d say, ‘This isn’t so great.’ After two weeks, we said, ‘Hey, these are pretty good.’”
Not only did Post take the lead on making those first Pop-Tarts; a few years later he came up with the idea of adding frosting to the top. Again he proved the “naysayers” wrong. Skeptics thought the icing would melt in the toaster. It did not.
The Kellogg’s public relations department tried to make up for overlooking Post by issuing this lame statement after he died: “He played an important role in co-creating the iconic Pop-Tarts brand.”
His son Dan said Post loved to visit classrooms, bringing kids Pop-Tarts and talking about being raised by immigrants who could barely speak English.
He told the students: “If you want to be noticed, always do more than is expected.”