• by Tanya Gazdik , February 19, 2024

Photo Credit: Tanya Gazdik/MediaPost

Bill Post, co-creator of  Pop-Tarts, could not have imagined the eventual popularity of the shelf-stable and portable breakfast pastry.

Post began working part time washing trucks at Hekman Biscuit Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to his obituary. 

After serving in the Army Air Corps in occupied Japan during World War II, Post returned to Hekman at the age of 21 to work full time as the personnel manager while also assisting with sales and production, along with many other elements of the business, according to ABC News. 

“Mr. Post led the bakery plant that developed the first Pop-Tarts for Kellogg’s in 1964, his son said,” according toThe New York Times. “The snack quickly became a popular treat for many people in the United States, including Mr. Post’s children, who were among the first taste testers.”

The toaster pastry was originally called a “fruit scone” and was sold in four flavors — strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar-cinnamon and apple-currant — before it was released nationwide the following year, according to The Associated Press. 

Over the past 60 years, Pop-Tarts have expanded from four flavors to more than 30.

While they can’t be considered health food by any stretch of the imagination, Post, who died Feb. 10 at age 96, didn’t deny himself the sugary treat. 

“He said he continued to eat three or four Pop-Tarts a week into his 90s and always had a pack on hand in his car, which he emblazoned with a “POP-TART” license plate,” according toThe Washington Post. “His favorite: frosted strawberry, untoasted.”

Jerry Seinfeld is currently working on a movie about the morning treat. Seinfeld directs, co-writes and stars in “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story,” which debuts on Netflix in May, according to HuffPost. 

"Kellanova, which recently split off from Kellogg, makes 7 million Pop-Tarts a day that generate nearly $1 billion in yearly sales for the company,” according to CNN Business. 

Last year, the pastry even got naming rights to the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The game “culminated with the ‘death’ of the game’s mascot, an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart named Strawberry,” according to The Washington Post. “After the mascot descended into a giant toaster, an oversized Pop-Tart was released through a slot at the bottom and devoured by the winning team. A single googly eye, the last vestige of Strawberry, was all that remained.”