Goodbye Old Friend

December 15, 2025

I’m sad today. At first, I couldn’t figure out why. As I began to ponder the cause, I didn’t have to search too long to figure it out.  And, like many times, it is an odd thing for me to be melancholy about. Or in this case, maybe not. It seems I lost a good friend today. Not a person, but a friend, nonetheless. Maybe it’s more apt to call it a companion. Regardless, it is a loss.

I worked for 30 years at the Kellogg Company.  A fairly massive multinational business that had been around for almost 100 years before I joined it in 1989.  For most of my career I lived in Battle Creek, Michigan, the city where Kellogg’s was founded and where its world headquarters was located.  It is a city synonymous with the Kellogg Company and its roots. After all, cereal was “discovered” here, and it is where it proliferated to become the massive food category it grew to be.  Battle Creek became known globally as “The Cereal City”.  It is still called that.

Of course, the Kellogg Company became far more than just a breakfast cereal giant.  Through innovation and acquisition, it became a major food company. One with strong, well-known products, like Eggo waffles and Lender’s bagels, Townhouse crackers, Keebler cookies, Cheez-Its snacks, Nutri-Grain snack bars, Pop Tarts, and Rice Krispie Treats. There are also Natural foods like Kashi and Bear Naked as well as Veggie meats like MorningStar Farms. Finally, in 2012 Pringles were added to round out the portfolio.  Many of these were, and are, iconic brands. Most continue to resonate and satisfy consumers globally.

In Battle Creek, Kellogg is a name that dominates the landscape. It is also a company that has, for decades, helped make a living for many of its inhabitants. If you were a local, your parents, grandparents and even great grandparents might have been employed by Kellogg’s and made a better than average living in doing so. Kellogg’s was always about people, and it took good care of them. To say Kellogg’s is “engrained” in the community is not just a pun, it is a fact.

But all good things must come to an end.  It was announced several years ago that the Kellogg Company was breaking into two parts.  I will keep it simple, but let’s just say that the snacking part was to be called Kellanova, and the cereal portion called the WK Kellogg Company.  Many were in denial, but the whole business world knew why they made this split. It was an effort to make each of these components more attractive and accessible, so that each could be more easily acquired.  It was only a matter of time.  And now, that is what has happened.

Just a few months ago, the WK Kellogg Company was acquired by Ferrero, an Italian multinational company known for products like Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and Kinder. It is one of the largest sweet-packaged food companies in the world. So, the WK Kellogg Co. is gone, and now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrero.

Today, it was announced that Mars, the global snacking giant, completed the successful acquisition of Kellanova and all of its brands.  Kellanova immediately becomes a part of Mars Snacking. Now, this is something that has been in progress for some time, but it wasn’t legally final until today. So essentially, as of this moment, The Kellogg Company no longer exists.

When I read this announcement this morning, at breakfast of course, I felt an immediate, deep sadness. It was only then that I realized, Kellogg’s was not only the identity of the city of Battle Creek, but they were also a significant portion of my own. Even though I knew this was coming, I had no inclination that I would take this personally. But today, I felt like I had lost a friend. One that I had dedicated a significant portion of my life to. One that I had grown up with.

Even though I have not worked there for over 6 years, I still felt a considerable amount of loyalty to it.  Allegiance to what it represented, and to the part it played in my life. Especially how it had allowed me to prosper and grow as a person, and how it permitted me to influence and benefit so many others. Essentially, Kellogg's helped create the story of my life. I spent over half of it as a part of its family.

Now, I am deeply saddened by what I consider to be the end of an era.  This represents a major loss to my psyche, as I described, almost the loss of a close friend.  There was no illness, there will be no obituary, nor funeral. There was no chance to say goodbye. Nothing to help create closure.  I just have to accept that my friend is gone, and I have to move on. 

Fortunately, I will move forward with the appreciation of what that friend has done for me, for our community and for people all around the world. Without that friend I would not be who I am, and my family would not be who they are. Yes, I sacrificed much for it, but I always got a great deal in return. I had some of the best times of my life while I was a part of the Kellogg family. And I know I am not alone. 

So, to create my own personal closure, I say goodbye Kellogg’s!  May you thrive as a part of your new family. So many of us that knew you in your heyday will never fail to recall the bounty you provided, and the positive impact you have had. Godspeed my old friend. There will never be another company, another family, another friend, like you!