Pop-Tarts

Pop-Tarts, toaster-ready breakfast pastries with a sweet filling, have appealed to American consumers for almost five decades, thanks to their convenience, high sugar content, long shelf life, and low cost. In 1964, Post Foods introduced a pastry called Country Squares that could be heated in a toaster, but the company was slow to market it, and sales were stagnant. The Kellogg Company saw an opportunity and launched Pop-Tarts in 1967. The product soon took off, and by the 1990s sales in Kellogg’s toaster-pastry category had tripled. Pop-Tarts became the nation’s fastest-growing breakfast product, with 29 flavors in both frosted and unfrosted varieties. However, consumer complaints in 2006 forced Kellogg’s to eliminate the phrase “made with real fruit” from the packaging.