Ralcorp Holdings is an American manufacturer of various food products, including

breakfast cereal Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals li ...

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

s, crackers,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

, snack foods,

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

, and

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

. The company is based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. 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.

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 ...

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

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

s and a

farina Farina may refer to: Places * Farina, South Australia, a former town in outback South Australia * Farina, Illinois, a village in the United States * Farina railway station, a former railway station on the Central Australian Railway, South Australi ...

cereal, among other products, were marketed under this name. Ralcorp can trace its ancestry to 1898 when William H. Danforth of

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. Dan ...

, which made

animal feeds Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input t ...

, 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 involuntary racial euthanasia programs, a healthy diet and personal magnetism. He created the pseudoscientific Ralstonism movement. ...

(Dr. Ralston) who founded the

Ralstonism Ralstonism was a social movement founded by Webster Edgerly that promoted his pseudoscientific ideas of personal and racial hygiene. It began as the Ralston Health Club, which published Edgerly's writings. It was a hierarchical organization wher ...

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

. 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 known as Shredded Ralston, first produced in 1936 and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, then later renamed Chex in 1950. T ...

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 under the Nestlé brand in other countries. Introduced in 1977, it was originall ...

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 corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

and its Continental Baking division (

Wonder Bread Wonder Bread is an American brand of sliced bread. Established in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1921, it was one of the first companies to sell sliced bread nationwide by 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States. His ...

and

Twinkie The Twinkie is an American snack cake, described on its packaging 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., in turn currently own ...

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 Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

is now called

Nestlé Purina PetCare Nestlé Purina PetCare Company (), or simply Purina, is an American subsidiary of the Swiss corporation Nestlé, based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1893 by William H. Danforth. It produces and markets pet food, treats, and cat and dog l ...

. 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 (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

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

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

to acquire the

Post Cereals Post Consumer Brands, LLC (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known simply as Post) is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, own ...

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 is a flat and dry type of bread, containing mostly rye flour. Crispbreads are lightweight and keep fresh for a very long time due to their lack of water. Crispbread is a staple food and was for a long time considered a poor man's diet ...

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 of ...

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, Inc. is an American Fast-moving consumer goods, consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri with businesses operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice, and food ingredient categ ...

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. AIPC was acqu ...

(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