Post Consumer Brands

Who owns Post Consumer Brands?
Post Consumer Brands LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POST), a publicly traded American consumer packaged goods company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Who makes Fruity Pebbles?
Fruity Pebbles is manufactured and marketed by Post Consumer Brands, a subsidiary of Post Holdings, Inc. The cereal uses Flintstones character licensing from Warner Bros. Discovery. It was first introduced in 1971.

Is Post Consumer Brands publicly traded?
Post Consumer Brands LLC is not publicly traded as a standalone entity. Its parent company, Post Holdings, Inc., is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker POST.

What cereals does Post Consumer Brands make?
Post Consumer Brands makes Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Honey Bunches of Oats, Grape-Nuts, Great Grains, Honeycomb, Alpha-Bits, Golden Crisp, and the Malt-O-Meal family of bagged cereals.

Where is Post Consumer Brands headquartered?
Post Consumer Brands is headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. Post Holdings, its parent company, is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

When was the Post cereal business founded?
Charles William Post introduced his first grain product, Postum, in 1895 in Battle Creek, Michigan. Grape-Nuts followed in 1897. The Post cereal brands have since been held by a succession of corporate owners, most recently Post Holdings since 2012.

The Post cereal business traces to 1895 when Charles William Post, a Michigan health food entrepreneur, introduced Postum, a hot grain beverage marketed as a coffee substitute. Post had spent time at John Harvey Kellogg's sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, and became interested in grain-based health foods.

In 1897, Post introduced Grape-Nuts, a dense wheat and barley cereal marketed with health claims. Despite having neither grapes nor nuts, the product became one of the earliest nationally marketed ready-to-eat cereals and remains in production today, making it one of the oldest surviving branded food products in the United States.

Post Toasties (later reformulated and renamed) followed in 1904. Charles Post died in 1914, and the company was reorganized as Postum Company in subsequent years. The Jell-O brand and other products were acquired, and in 1929 the company was renamed General Foods Corporation.

General Foods Corporation, one of the 20th century's great American food conglomerates, retained the Post cereal brands alongside Maxwell House coffee, Kool-Aid, Birds Eye frozen foods, and many other brands. Philip Morris Companies acquired General Foods in 1985 for 5.75 billion US dollars, one of the largest acquisitions in US history at that time.

Philip Morris merged General Foods with Kraft Foods in 1989. The Post cereals became part of the Kraft General Foods portfolio and subsequently of Kraft Foods, Inc. after Philip Morris spun off Kraft in 2001. Ralcorp Holdings acquired the Post cereals business from Kraft Foods in 2012 for approximately 2.45 billion US dollars.

Almost immediately after closing, Post Holdings, Inc., a newly formed public company led by former Ralcorp CEO William Stiritz, acquired Ralcorp in 2012 for approximately 2.7 billion US dollars (including the assumption of debt). This transaction gave Post Holdings control of the Post cereal brands. Post Consumer Brands LLC was formally established as the operating subsidiary for Post Holdings' cereal business.

In 2015, Post Holdings acquired MOM Brands, the parent of Malt-O-Meal bag cereals, for approximately 1.15 billion US dollars. Malt-O-Meal bag cereals had long competed directly with national brand cereals at lower price points by packaging in resealable bags rather than boxes. The acquisition made Post Consumer Brands the second-largest branded cereal manufacturer in North America.

Post Consumer Brands is headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota, and operates multiple cereal manufacturing facilities across the United States and Canada.

Post Consumer Brands participates in Post Holdings' corporate sustainability reporting. The company has set targets for reducing energy and water consumption at its manufacturing facilities and has committed to increasing the use of sustainable and traceable commodities in its supply chain. Post Holdings publishes an annual corporate responsibility report.

No B Corp, Leaping Bunny, or equivalent independent certification has been granted to Post Consumer Brands or Post Holdings as of June 2026.

Grape-Nuts Supply Disruption (2020-2021): Post Consumer Brands temporarily discontinued Grape-Nuts production in late 2020 due to manufacturing disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The product's dense, hard-to-produce format required specific milling equipment that was offline. The shortage generated significant media attention. Post offered coupons and eventually restored production and distribution in early 2021. A promotion offering shipping costs covered by Post for Grape-Nuts purchasers was widely covered in consumer and marketing media.

Licensing Dependency: Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles depend on a license from Warner Bros. Discovery to use Flintstones characters. Any material change in the licensing terms or a decision not to renew would require a rebranding of two of Post Consumer Brands' most marketed products.

Cereal Category Decline: The broader decline in ready-to-eat cereal consumption is a structural challenge. Per-capita cereal consumption in the US has fallen steadily since approximately 2012 as consumers have adopted yogurt, eggs, protein bars, and other breakfast alternatives.