The Minneapolis-based cereal company said the new name showcases its continued growth beyond the Malt-O-Meal line of products.
Minneapolis-based Malt-O-Meal Company announced Tuesday it has changed its name to MOM Brands effective immediately.
The company said that its new name reflects the wide range of products and brands that it now sells instead of the one product that it started out with in 1919—Malt-O-Meal Hot Wheat cereal.
In addition to a line of products under the Malt-O-Meal name, the company today produces nine brands of cereal, including five all-natural, ready-to-eat brands and a line of instant oatmeal under the name Better Oats.
While the company’s name is changing, all of its individual brand and product names will remain the same and will be produced under the MOM Brands umbrella.
“Malt-O-Meal will continue to be a brand name we sell, but it will no longer be our company name,” MOM Brands Chairman and CEO Chris Neugent said in a statement. “We’re not the same company we were 10 years ago, and we wanted a name to reflect the company we’ve grown to be. MOM Brands is a great platform for all of our brands.”
MOM Brands said it has experienced steady growth in the past decade. Citing data reported by research company Nielsen, MOM Brands claims that it is now the third-largest cereal seller based on sales in pounds during the 52-week period ending on December 17. The company said that its food sales in pounds were up 5.8 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year, outperforming giant competitors such as Kellogg’s, General Mills, Post, and Quaker.
“Today, cereal is the third largest dry grocery category—$8 billion annually—but it is also a category that has been flat for the last decade,” Neugent said in a statement. “But at MOM Brands, sales are up.”
MOM Brands packages most of its lines of cereal in a bag instead of the traditional bag and box. The company claims that its bag-only packaging not only saves the company money, but also uses 75 percent less packaging by weight per pound of cereal than the traditional bag-and-box combination.
“We’re proving that great cereal doesn’t have to come in a wasteful and expensive box,” Neugent added.
—Nataleeya Boss
(nboss@tcbmag.com)