Ralcorp Holdings is a manufacturer of various food products, including breakfast cereal

Breakfast cereal

A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...

, cookie

Cookie

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have...

s, crackers, chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

, snack foods, mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...

, pasta

Pasta

Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...

 and peanut butter

Peanut butter

Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...

. The company is based in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, Missouri. The majority of the items Ralcorp makes are private label

Private label

Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company's brand. Private label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting...

, store brand

Store brand

Store brands are a line of products sold by a retailer under a single marketing identity. They bear a similarity to the concept of House brands, Private label brands in the United States, own brands in the UK, and home brands in Australia and generic brands...

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

Bank of America Plaza (St. Louis)

The Bank of America Plaza is an award-winning skyscraper located in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Formerly Boatmen's Bancshares of St. Louis and First National Bank, the tower is 384 ft tall and has 31 floors. Built in 1982, it comprises , and has a view of the downtown skyline. It is the fourth...

 in downtown St. Louis

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 east, Chouteau Avenue to the south, and Jefferson Avenue...

.

History and description

Originally part of Ralston Purina, the Ralston name was more associated with food for humans; soda crackers and a farina

Farina (food)

Farina is a cereal food, frequently described as mild-tasting, usually served warm, made from cereal grains. In contemporary American English use, the word usually refers to Cream of Wheat made from soft wheat. Wheat farina is a carbohydrate-rich food, often cooked in boiling water and served warm...

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

Purina Mills

Purina Mills, LLC, is the animal feeds unit of Land O’ Lakes. It was previously part of Ralston Purina, but the animal feeds portion was sold in 1986.- History :...

, which made animal feeds

Fodder

Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...

, began making breakfast cereal. He sought and received the endorsement of Webster Edgerly

Webster Edgerly

Webster Edgerly 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 this lifestyle....

 (a.k.a. Dr. Ralston) who founded the Ralstonism

Ralstonism

Ralstonism was a minor social movement in 19th century USA. It claimed about 800,000 followers. Ralstonism was the brainchild of Webster Edgerly . In Edgerly's words, "Ralstonism is the grandest movement that man is capable of establishing"....

 social movement

Social movement

Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....

. 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

Chex is a brand of breakfast cereal, introduced in 1937 and currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally owned by Ralston Purina, and the Chex name reflects the "checkerboard square" logo of Ralston Purina. The product line was part of the spinoff of the Ralston portion of Ralston...

 and Cookie Crisp

Cookie Crisp

Cookie Crisp is a breakfast cereal introduced in 1977 by Ralston Purina and attempts to recreate “the great taste of chocolate chip cookies and milk.” It is currently manufactured by General Mills in the United States since Ralston Purina’s spin-off of cereals in 1997 and Cereal Partners in other...

 cold breakfast cereal

Breakfast cereal

A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...

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

General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...

 and its Continental Baking division (Wonder Bread

Wonder Bread

Wonder Bread is the name of three North American brands of white bread: One produced by George Weston Bakeries in Canada, another by Hostess Brands in the United States, and the third by Grupo Bimbo in Mexico.- United States :...

 and Twinkie

Twinkie

The Twinkie is an American snack cake made and distributed by Hostess Brands. They are marketed as a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling".-History:...

s) to Interstate Bakeries. The Purina part of the company is now split. The pet food company was sold to Nestle

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 is now called Nestlé Purina PetCare

Nestlé Purina PetCare

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company is the pet food division of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A., following its acquisition of the American Ralston Purina Company on December 12, 2001 and subsequent merger with Nestlé's Friskies PetCare Company. As a wholly owned subsidiary, it is headquartered at the General...

. The livestock food company is called Purina Mills, LLC and is a unit of Land O'Lakes

Land O'Lakes

Land O'Lakes is a member-owned agricultural cooperative based in Arden Hills, Minnesota, focusing on the dairy industry. The co-op states that it has about 3200 producer-members, 1000 member-cooperatives, and about 9000 employees who process and distribute products for about 300,000 agricultural...

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

Grocery store

A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...

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

Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...

 to acquire the Post Cereals

Post Cereals

Post Foods, LLC, also known as Post Cereals is a food company that was founded by C.W. Post in 1895 with the first Postum, a "cereal beverage," developed by Post in Battle Creek, Michigan. The first cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897. Post has its headquarters in the Bank of America Plaza...

 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

Ry-Krisp is a brand of rye crisp bread 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 company called Ralcorp Holdings with the Ry-Krisp operations included...

 crisp bread

Crisp bread

Crisp bread or hard bread is a flat and dry type of bread or cracker, containing mostly rye flour...

.

In 2011, Ralcorp received an unsolicited offer for the company from ConAgra. Ralcorp is resisting the takeover attempt. Ralcorp also announced it was spinning off its Post Foods unit.

Subsidiaries

• American Italian Pasta Company
  American Italian Pasta Company
  American Italian Pasta Company is 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...
  
   (acquired 2010)
• Post Foods (acquired 2008)
• Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products
• Ralcorp Snacks, Sauces & Spreads
  • Bremner Food Group (acquired 1978)
  • Carriage House Companies (formed 2000)
• Ralston Foods
  • Bloomfield Bakers/Lovin Oven llc (acquired 2009)