The first Pop-Tarts reached shelves on September 14, 1964, and they looked nothing like the sprinkled, frosted versions that fill grocery aisles today. Kellogg’s launched the toaster pastry with 4 flavors and no frosting.
The product was built in a hurry. A rival cereal maker had already told the press about a similar pastry, and Kellogg’s wanted its own on shelves first.
A race against Post
According to Wikipedia’s Pop-Tarts entry, Post, Kellogg’s biggest competitor, announced a toaster pastry called Country Squares to the press several months before it reached stores. It was eventually sold as Post Tostem Pop-Ups.
Kellogg’s hired Bill Post, a former Keebler employee, and developed its own pastry in about four months. Mental Floss describes Post as the manager of Keebler’s Grand Rapids, Michigan, plant and says he began work in September 1963.
The pastry was first called Fruit Scones. Wikipedia says the name was changed to Pop-Tarts as a pun on the Pop Art movement.
The original four flavors
The 4 flavors that launched nationally in 1964 were strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon and apple currant. The apple currant flavor was later renamed apple-berry, according to Wikipedia.
The tarts were unfrosted. Mental Floss says the first ones had rounded corners and a long diagonal score meant for splitting. Pairs came in each packet because wrapping machines were expensive, and doubling the number of tarts per packet cut the machinery budget in half.
The pastry also carried “docker holes,” small punctures that let steam escape so the crust does not turn soggy.
A hit before it went national
Before the national launch, Kellogg’s tested the pastry in Cleveland in late 1963. Mental Floss reports it was an instant hit there. The company raised its first national shipment from 10,000 to 45,000 cases, and the entire run sold out.
That early demand helps explain how a product developed in about four months turned into a lasting brand.
The product fit a broader American habit. The Wikipedia entry on the toaster says the automatic pop-up toaster was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921, and that the Waters Genter Company released the Toastmaster Model 1-A-1 in 1925 as a household version. Toasters had been in American homes for decades by 1964, which gave a pastry made for them a ready-made place in the kitchen.
Foods from that era are a popular subject for nostalgia. Readers can look back at 15 foods boomers loved or at little rituals from the 1980s and 1990s, decades that followed the pastry’s launch. A piece on boomer habits making a comeback shows how old routines return.
Kitchen history has its own collectors. A list of vintage kitchen items collectors still hunt for may bring back memories of appliances like the early toaster, and a look at why the Sunday family dinner faded covers how mealtimes have shifted.
Built for the toaster
Mental Floss notes one drawback of the design. The corn syrup in the filling can ignite under toaster heat, and it cites a 2001 Philadelphia Inquirer report that linked the pastries to at least 17 fires. That is why the pastry is best watched while it warms.
The same article describes a pastry designed around the appliance, with a precooked crust, a sealed filling and a shape that fits a toaster slot. Wikipedia adds that Pop-Tarts are precooked and meant to be warmed in a toaster or microwave.
Frosting arrives in 1967
Frosted versions followed in 1967. Wikipedia says Kellogg’s developed a frosting that could withstand the toaster, and sprinkles were added to several flavors in 1968.
Mental Floss adds a detail about how the change was approved. Prototypes were made by running regular tarts through a cookie-icing machine, and when executives worried the frosting would melt, Bill Post brought a toaster to a meeting. The full line was then approved for frosting.
By 1966, the lineup had grown to six flavors, according to Wikipedia. Frosting was the biggest change in the first decade, and it set the template for the many flavors that came after.
How the snack looks today
The pastry has grown into one of the biggest names in the grocery toaster aisle. Wikipedia says Pop-Tarts sales topped $985 million in 2023, and that sales rose for 32 straight years as of 2014. As of 2024, there are more than 24 standard flavors, and the maker keeps 20 to 30 in production at any time.
The brand has also found its way into promotions. Wikipedia lists a Pop-Tarts World store in Times Square that ran from August 10 to December 31, 2010, a “Crazy Good” campaign that launched in 2004, and a Pop-Tarts Bowl sponsorship that began in 2023.
Ownership has changed as well. According to Wikipedia’s entry on Kellogg’s, the company completed a split on October 2, 2023. Kellanova took the global snacking business, and the North American cereal business became WK Kellogg Co. Pop-Tarts now sit with Kellanova.
Kellogg’s itself dates to February 19, 1906, when W.K. Kellogg launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. The company took the Kellogg Company name in 1922.
Looking back at breakfast and snack history
The rivalry behind Pop-Tarts was not new. Post was founded by C.W. Post in 1895 in Battle Creek as well, and its first product was Postum, a roasted cereal-based drink, according to Wikipedia’s Post entry. The two companies had competed from the same Michigan town for decades before the toaster pastry race.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube, USA – CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons
