Ralcorp Holdings is a manufacturer of various food products, including

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...

cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...

s, crackers,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, snack foods,

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

, and

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

. The company is based in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The majority of the items Ralcorp makes are

private-label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

, store-brand products. It has over 9,000 employees. Ralcorp has its headquarters in the Bank of America Plaza in

downtown St. Louis Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the eas ...

History and description

Originally part of

Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fri ...

, the Ralston name was more associated with food for humans;

soda cracker A saltine or soda cracker is a thin, usually square cracker usually made from white flour, sometimes yeast (although many are yeast free), and baking soda, with most varieties lightly sprinkled with coarse salt. It has perforations over its surf ...

s and a farina cereal, among other products, were marketed under this name. Ralcorp can trace its ancestry to 1898 when

William H. Danforth William H. Danforth (September 10, 1870 – December 24, 1955) was an American businessman known for founding Ralston Purina in St. Louis, Missouri in 1894. He was a co-founder of the American Youth Foundation (AYF) and the author of the book, ...

Purina Mills Purina Mills, LLC is the farm animal feeds unit of Land O' Lakes. It was previously part of Ralston Purina, until the U.S. animal feeds portion was first sold in 1986. History Purina traces its roots back to 1894, when founder William H. Danfo ...

, which made animal feeds, began making breakfast cereal. He sought and received the endorsement of

Webster Edgerly Albert Webster Edgerly (1852 – 1926) was a 19th and 20th century American social reform activist. He believed in euthanasia programs, a healthy diet, and the power of personal magnetism, and began the Ralstonism movement as a way to live out thi ...

(Dr. Ralston) who founded the

Ralstonism Ralstonism was a social movement in the United States in the 19th century. It claimed about 800,000 followers. Ralstonism was the brainchild of Webster Edgerly (1852–1926). In Edgerly's words, "Ralstonism is the grandest movement that man is ca ...

social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...

. Ralston cereal became so successful that Purina Mills was renamed Ralston Purina in 1902. Ralston Purina also for many years produced the familiar line of

Chex Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally produced and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, using the name Chex starting in 1950. The Chex brand went with corporate spi ...

and

Cookie Crisp Cookie Crisp is a breakfast cereal that is manufactured to look like chocolate chip cookies. It is produced by General Mills in the United States and Cereal Partners Worldwide, Cereal Partners in other countries. Introduced in 1977, it was origina ...

cold

s. The animal and human food businesses were seemingly only tenuously related. In 1994, the human food business was spun off to Ralcorp Holdings, operating as Ralston Foods, which then sold its branded breakfast cereal lineup to

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

and its Continental Baking division (

Wonder Bread Wonder Bread is a brand of sliced bread which originated in the United States in 1921 and was one of the first to be sold pre-sliced nationwide in 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States. History The Taggart B ...

and

Twinkie A Twinkie is an American snack cake, described as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc. (), having been formerly owned by private ...

s) to

Interstate Bakeries Old HB, Inc., known as Hostess Brands from 2009 to 2013 and established in 1930 as Interstate Bakeries Corporation, was a wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products in the United States. Before its 2012 closure and liquidation, it owned ...

. The Purina part of the company is now split. The pet-food company sold to

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

is now called

Nestlé Purina PetCare Nestlé Purina Petcare (), or simply Purina, is an American subsidiary of the Swiss corporation Nestlé, based in St. Louis, Missouri. It produces and markets pet food, treats, cat and dog litter. Some of its pet food brands include Purina Pro P ...

. The livestock-feed company is called Purina Mills, LLC, and is a unit of

Land O'Lakes Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 ...

. Ralcorp manufactures many store-brand foods that are sold in

grocery A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, an ...

outlets across the United States under the retailers' private labels. In late 2007, Ralcorp signed an agreement with

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

to acquire the

Post Cereals Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...

brands, thus returning to the major-branded cereal business. The acquisition was completed August 4, 2008. Another brand name product Ralcorp makes and markets is

Ry-Krisp Ry-Krisp is an American brand of rye crisp bread that was introduced in 1899. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Ry-Krisp plant was purchased by Ralston Purina in 1926. In 1994, the Ralston portion of Ralston Purina was spun off into a new comp ...

crisp bread Crispbread ( sv, knäckebröd (lit. crack bread), ''hårt bröd'' (hard bread), ''hårdbröd'', ''spisbröd'' (stove bread), ''knäcke'', da, knækbrød, no, knekkebrød, fi, näkkileipä or näkkäri, et, näkileib, is, hrökkbrauð, fo, k ...

Purchase by ConAgra

In 2011, Ralcorp received an offer for the company from

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

. Ralcorp resisted the attempt. Ralcorp also announced it was spinning off its Post Foods unit. The spinoff was completed in 2012. On November 27, 2012, ConAgra officials announced they were purchasing Ralcorp, pending Ralcorp shareholder approval, for about $4.95 billion. Stockholders of Ralcorp Holdings Inc. would receive $90 per share. The acquisition was completed in January 2013. The acquisition made ConAgra the largest private-label packaged food business in the United States at that time.

Purchase by TreeHouse Foods, Inc

On February 1, 2016,

TreeHouse Foods TreeHouse Foods Inc. is a multinational food processing company specializing in producing private label packaged foods headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. Created in 2005 and consisting entirely of acquisitions, in 2010 the company had sales ...

announced that it completed the acquisition of ConAgra Foods' private brands operations. "TreeHouse paid $2.7 billion in cash plus transaction expenses for the business and financed the transaction through the closing of its previously announced offerings of $775 million in aggregate principal senior notes due 2024 with a 6.0% annual interest rate and common stock issuance of 13.3 million shares at a price of $65 per share (which includes the exercise, in full, of the overallotment option), aggregating $862.5 million in gross proceeds. The remainder of the purchase price was financed under the Company's revolving credit facility." The rumor of the deal broke in October 2015. According to a FoodProcessing.com article from 10/23/2015:"TreeHouse Foods is rumored to be in advanced talks to purchase the Ralcorp business from ConAgra Foods in a deal valued at $2.5- to $2.7 billion, according to a report from ''Reuters''." This was a huge loss from the $5.1 Billion ConAgra paid for Ralcorp two years earlier.

Purchase by Post Holdings

On June 1, 2021,

Post Holdings Post Holdings (officially Post Holdings, Inc.) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in St Louis, Missouri with businesses operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice and food ingredient categori ...

announced it acquired the ready-to-eat ("RTE") cereal business of TreeHouse Foods.

Subsidiaries

American Italian Pasta Company American Italian Pasta Company (AIPC) was a pasta manufacturing company with corporate offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and plants in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; Tolleson, Arizona; and Verolanuova, Italy. APIC was acq ...

(acquired 2010) * Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products ** Bakery Chef (acquired 2003) ** Cottage Bakery (acquired 2006) ** Earl of Sandwich frozen breads ** Krusteaz frozen products (acquired from Continental Mills in 1999 by Bakery Chef) ** Lofthouse Foods (acquired 2002) ** Panne Provincio * Ralcorp Snacks, Sauces and Spreads ** Bremner Food Group (acquired 1978) ** Carriage House Companies (formed 2000) * Ralston Foods ** Bloomfield Bakers/Lovin Oven LLC (acquired 2009)

References

External links

* *
Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products
*
Ralston Foods
{{Post Holdings Food manufacturers of the United States Holding companies of the United States Ralston Purina Baking mixes Manufacturing companies based in St. Louis American companies established in 1994 Food and drink companies established in 1994 Holding companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Missouri Conagra Brands brands Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2013 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2021 mergers and acquisitions Corporate spin-offs Post Holdings