Toaster Strudel is the brand name of a
toaster pastry
A toaster pastry is a type of bakers' confection. They are thin rectangles often made of rice bran, molasses, flour, syrup, and shortening, which on one side usually has a coating of icing that has been dried with starch. They contain sweet, sy ...
, prepared by heating the frozen pastries in a
toaster
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, o ...
and then spreading the included
icing packet on top. The brand is historically notable for being stored
frozen, due to innovations in 1980s food manufacturing processes.
History
The Toaster Strudel is marketed under the
Pillsbury brand, formerly of the Pillsbury Company. The product has found considerable success since being deployed in 1985
as competition with
Kellogg's
Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...
Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts (stylized as pop•tarts) is an American brand of toaster pastries (not tarts) produced and distributed by Kellanova (formerly Kellogg's) since 1964. The pastry consists of a sweet filling sealed inside two layers of thin, rectang ...
brand of non-frozen toaster pastries.
In 1994, the company launched the
advertising slogan
Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand.
Etymo ...
"Something ''better'' just popped up".
, the company increased the
foreign branding
In advertising and marketing, foreign branding is the use of foreign or foreign-sounding brand names for companies, goods, and services to imply they are of foreign origin, generally to make them appear to come from a place that seems attractively ...
, launching a brand ambassador character named Hans Strudel, and the new slogan of "Get Zem Göing".
In 2001,
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 ...
acquired the Toaster Strudel product line with its purchase of Pillsbury.
In 2023, General Mills used the advertising slogan, "Gooey. Flaky. Happy".
Varieties
Toaster Strudels come in several flavors, with
strawberry
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...
,
blueberry
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...
, and
apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
flavors being the most common varieties. They also come in flavors such as
cinnamon roll
A cinnamon roll (also known as cinnamon bun, cinnamon swirl, cinnamon scroll, cinnamon Danish and cinnamon snail) is a sweet roll commonly served in Northern Europe (mainly in Nordic countries, but also in Austria, Estonia, The Netherlands and ...
,
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 ...
, and
boston cream pie
A Boston cream pie is a cake with a cream filling. The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were baked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. In the late 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cre ...
. In 2020, the company released a limited-edition "Mean Girls" Toaster Strudel, which featured pink icing instead of the brand's traditional white icing.
In popular culture
In the 2004 film ''
Mean Girls
''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, and Fey. The film follows Cady Heron (Lohan), a naïve t ...
'', it was fictionally claimed that Gretchen Wieners' family fortune was due to her father's invention of the Toaster Strudel.
See also
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Convenience food
Convenience food (also called tertiary processed food) is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) for ease of consumption, and is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily portable, have ...
*
List of brand name snack foods
This is a list of snack foods by country, specific to or originating in a particular community or region. Snack food is a portion of food often smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten as snacking between meals. Snacks come in a variety of fo ...
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Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts (stylized as pop•tarts) is an American brand of toaster pastries (not tarts) produced and distributed by Kellanova (formerly Kellogg's) since 1964. The pastry consists of a sweet filling sealed inside two layers of thin, rectang ...
*
Strudel
Strudel ( , ) is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Empire. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine ...
References
External links
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{{Pastries
Brand name snack foods
Pastries
General Mills brands
Convenience foods
Products introduced in 1985
American snack foods