@@martymcfly1312 except Nintendo was like a grifter on the side of the road doing whatever it can, while General Mills was a know-it-all Jack of All Trades having fun
This is such a huge company, please do a sequel. You didn't even mention that Kenner made the Star Wars toys. Changed the entire industry, spawning GI Joe: A Real American Hero in the 80s, one of Hasbro's biggest lines.
My dad was a lifer at the Mill in Consumer Foods Information Services (fancy name for IT). My mom still gets his pension. Fun fact is that General Mills has paid a quarterly dividend for over a hundred years. Unlike a lot of Company Man companies, General Mills has managed to be profitable for a century even while doing wild acquisitions and sales.
Also, in 2018, after Trump's massive tax cuts for the rich, General Mills paid almost ZERO in federal taxes. They paid 57 million, while making a profit of 2.57 BILLION.
@@funnyitworkedlasttime6611 you gotta be a f* idiot if you seriously believe that. What they do instead is hoard the wealth. It goes to their ceos and shareholders. Or they do like General mills and buy out smaller companies to try to establish a monopoly and gain more control so they won't have competition and can just charge whatever they want and you'll have little choice
@@austinhernandez2716 according to General Mills form 10-Q, which was for the quarter ofJun 29, 2018 to to September 18, 2018, they paid 110.7 Million in tax on 601 Million Operating Profit
10 companies most of the world consumes* Of course in the US, just like Europe there are smaller companies and local stuff you can buy, usually more expensive or in very specific stores, but in big common stores, obviously most of it is national brands
@@TimeQuxxn Yea I hear you I meant in general people are pulling out of cali it is soo expensive to do business its not worth it. I would follow Elon and the gang but Texas is WAY TO HOT!!!
As someone from Minnesota, the WCCO one was mildly surprising! I've listened to it as long as I can remember, never thought it was acquired originally to promote Wheaties 😆
With the way the company expanded its territory like that, they sound less like a generic miller and more like a military man - General Mills, sir yes sir!
Hey man, on the *incredibly* off chance you see this, I kinda just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of your work. And admire it a-lot. I genuinely think it's a genius concept grabbing people in with your cool thumbnails about brands, and how they work. They catch people's attention and say "oh wait, I knew that". Or something nostalgic they knew died, and that grabs their attention, or you have rival companies backstrories tolled, in a million different ways and ideas, and it's truly a fun and incredibly educational thing to experience. It can teach them about making right decisions in economic value or how to run a company. And Ironically, you're doing that yourself. All I wanted to say is, you're somewhat of a marketing genius yourself, and that you've been gaining a-lot of attraction, but deserve so much more. The fact this a very new channel should truly say something to you that not a-lot like this on youtube has been done before, and you'll only see a rise in popularity with so much more, arguably more interesting company's to talk about, and get more people's attention. Your personality and voice also add a huge effect on way people like to say. With the rise of popular no-name/no-face/persona behind a screen youtubers, and your incredibly charming in worming, genuine, almost Bob Ross like style of explaining things and showing it to the viewer and how you say it or create a video, with perfect impeccable timing, and the way you view things, markeingly genuinely, also makes it no surprised why people love coming back. And I'm no acception. I'm almost an incredibly new viewer, but still love your channel, and so glad UA-cam put this at my recommended tab, definitely some of the better stuff they've offered me. And I find myself watching your videos for hours and kinda get into a rabbit hole of company's, and their backstories making me feel like a genius and all this knowlege, when really it's hand delivered to me on a silver platter by another guy who does all the work. (That's also another theory right now why I think you're becoming successful, people love to think they're smart) and again, shows how you're just a really nice guy, with a-lot to offer on subjects like these, which can be incredibly useful about learning how industries adapt throughout time. So with that said, I just hope you really wanted to know that your stuff is appreciated on UA-cam, even iff very little people see it, I can assure you they're genuine. (If you think 1.15M is small, but it can be for UA-cam's algorithm, but still congrats on your success) Just keep making great videos like these, and I'll enjoy watching your stuff, in hopefully the very near future. The only other reason I wanted to comment this is because I just wanted to name a few more brands I think you could really make a compelling video about, with an interesting/intriguing topic. If you want my suggestion you should talk about (or maybe even have the tittle) they would be : ·"UA-cam, why they're so big!" ·"Coke, The success" ·"AMC : What happened/The-rise and fall, (and rise again?)?" ·"Walmart : bigger then you know" ·Redbull v.s. Monster Energy" ·"Coke-a-cola v.s. pepsi" ·"Dr Pepper" (I'm a bit biased cause I love Dr Pepper, it's my personal favorite and think it's better then coke/pepsi, nothing outstanding behind it. Maybe you could make a "underrated companys" thing or : "rising company's" I'm just biased, and feel like I can't mention soda without Dr Pepper.) ·"McDonals : remarkable industry" ·"7-11, bigger then you know" ·"Instagram : A Scandal" (multiple stories about it stealing your data, along with a-lot of other social media websites, that are shown to be true) ·"Microsoft/Android v.s. Apple" ·"Gold's Gym : The Rise, and fall" Anyway, again. Just wanted my "help" or "two cents" on it (if it even made an impact on even the incredibly small chance you'll even see this) but that's what I thought could be cool to see as an average enjoyer of your cool stuff, and only want to see success come out of you, even more then it has. And some added positivity to you, thanks man, you're appreciated more than you know. And just an added basic but true statement/compliment : you're stuff is pretty stinkin' awesome. Later man, hope that would help or helps. Just an average enjoyer of your stuff.
Wow Nixon, I'd say your comment was pretty stinkin' awesome. Really appreciate all the kind words. Probably the longest, most well constructed compliment I've ever received. I love getting genuine feedback like this, it makes me believe I'm doing the right things and moving in the right direction. For the record, I don't think 1.15 million is small at all. It's far more than I ever expected when I started doing this almost 4 years ago. All solid video ideas. Some of which I've already covered in a slightly different way so I'd be likely to avoid them in favor of spending time on things I haven't talked about at all. Dr. Pepper is something I was already considering so seeing it mentioned here makes me more confident in the idea. But overall Nixon, thanks for watching and supporting the videos. I know you're new here but I hope you stay part of the channel for a long time and continue voicing your opinion of the channel and the videos. It's all more appreciated than you realize.
@@companyman114 He's not kidding either. I've loved every video I've seen you make. Your incredibly talented and you've got a perfect voice for narration
Im a truck driver and I pick up loads for General Mills about every other week. I can tell you what, the workers there are some of the nicest people Ive met that work the docks and the yard and I hadnt heard anything negative about working there
I love a new Company Man video! Big fan! It seems like General Mills was almost like a corporate investor. They picked up businesses that they believed had a likelyhood of success. Helped make them successful, then sold them. Still almost a monopoly though.
I'm from Minneapolis and currently live in Minneapolis... and this video was filled with information I didn't know.. Minneapolis has a nickname of Mill City, we also have streets named after Pillsbury and Washburn, also schools and other public places named after these companies, even city parks dedicated to the city's mill history along with old ruins of old mills.. there's even a few places in the metro area named after Crosby... a lot of the city's history in relation to the old milling companies can be found on plaques through-out the city.. that part of the city's history is something a lot of people here know about.. and I GUARANTEE that you've covered more in this video, and in a more comprehensive manner than any local history buff in Minneapolis could ever do in 12 minutes. I tip my hat to you, good sir. You have done a phenomenal job in covering the history of General Mills, as you always do a phenomenal job in every video you put out. You have a gift, you have a talent. Have you ever considered writing history books, or making historical documentaries? Your extensive works available here on UA-cam shows that you could do so, and be successful in your efforts.
LOVE your videos. Theyre a great pick me up. Your positivity, and gentle way breaking down complex things make your videos very easy and relaxing to watch. Im sad that Ive already gone through your catalog. Waiting to forget the old ones so I can watch them all again. Thanks, man!
I'd say if it wasn't for being a Jay Ward fanboy and being drawn to the Cap'n Crunch/Quaker mascots, Big G would totally be my favorite collection of cereal mascots of all time. You have a rabbit that can't even eat the cereal his face is on the box of, and a hopeless addict bird who is constantly enabled by various small children and at one time his OWN grandfather. They have cereals that drive their mascots INSANE! That's marketing.
Generally, Company Man... I'm always surprised to find out just how many products are created/owned by a single company. It's crazy how big of a game flour was in the late 19th century. Thanks for the great videos.
My dad was a sales manager with General Mills for 35 years. He started in 1973. I'm not sure about now, but while he was working there, it was a wonderful company to work for. He has been retired for years and still misses that job.
@@edbrooks4793 my dad worked for the mills in Chicago until they closed that plant in '94 if my memory serves me right. Yeah he had a rough time there as well. He had one accident which resulted in his finger being pulled off. It was recovered and reattached, and that was that.
@@Luke-zx4nx As a lifelong Michigan resident who was raised Seventh Day Adventist, I'm inclined to agree with you. I even had a cat named Kellogg. But unfortunately, Kellogg's has of late become a seriously woke company, donating money to organizations that lecture people about "white privilege" and other leftist fairy tales like that. And most of their cereals aren't even remotely healthy. Even if they aren't loaded with sugar, they're still heavily refined (I love me a bowl of Rice Krispies in milk, but can't eat it often for this reason). Of course, cereal in general isn't very good for you, but if you have to eat it then Kellogg's doesn't really have a lot of less unhealthy options.
@@hotwax9376 I hardly eat cereal either, I'm just saying I would choose Kellog's over General Mills, Kinda how I'd choose Ford over foreign companies. But like I said, I hardly give either company my money and with Kellogg's doing all that stuff I'm glad I don't support them often haha. I usually have meat, fruit and eggs with veggies for breakfast, as toast, bagels, pancakes, cereal, etc can be unhealthy.
The most unexpected part of this video is the fact that General Mills and Pillsbury were long time rivals. And Pillsbury was bought by General Mills years later
fun fact: hamburger helper got involved in a n64 game called glover which makes general mills slightly involved in video games (it was originally the hamburger helper game)
Doing some work in a general mills plant, I have to say they are very organized, clean, and the majority of the employees seem happy. All ingredients for success
I worked at GM 12 hour shifts at night packing Reeses puffs for wholesale sams club/ Costco I was 20 at the time that was over 2 years ago. I've been a sub for a couple years thank you!
You should do a video on the Lifetime brand of folding tables Those weirdly textured white plastic tables are so synonymous with special events that I'd kinda like to know more about them and how they got to the point where if you've ever been to any kind of family gathering or party that chances are there were at least one or two of their tables set up
And why ARE they so expensive? That's what I'd like to know. It's some pretty basic plastic molding and honestly not a lot of metal holding it up. But they command a very good price. It's got to be extremely profitable.
I work in the food business. You'd think it would be huge, but honestly, it's a small world. Few companies dominate the market and own almost every brand you use. The deeper you go, the crazier it gets.
Nerf was the biggest surprise to me. But at the same time it's crazy to think how big these monopolies get, like in the entertainment industry how everything is basically owned by Disney
Pretty amazing, Not that they were able to acquire so many American culture-defining brands, but that they did so without failing. We often see big companies buy out smaller ones, but then run them into the ground and then thrown away. These guys knew when to expand, and when to scale back whenever they sensed they were getting too big for their own good, like with clothing, etc. even if those brands were doing okay.
Minnesota..... We've created Target, Best Buy, General Mills, 3M, Cargill, Ecolab, Medtronic, Great Clips, United Health Group, Land O' Lakes, U.S Bank and The Mayo Clinic. Just to name a few...
This is one of your best videos yet! I found myself laughing in surprise with some of those acquisitions. It must've taken you quite some time to research!
Looking back as someone who played a lot of Millsberry in the early 2000s, it's kind of shocking. I remember it being a really well made and complex game for the time, with a surprising amount of content and new features being constantly added. I can now see it was a brazen ad designed to get kids to buy General Mills products, but they clearly put a lot of effort into its development. My friends and I loved it.
For once a video that promised I would be pretty surprised was absolutely right. I knew about their origins and rivalry with Pillsbury, but man, I was not expecting how far they branched out.
For me the zinger was the Pillsbury acquisition (must check out your video). I did know about General Milling 's diversity of brands in their portfolio, ghough3 not specifics. Thank you.
4:20 General Mills is aperture science They have the same logo They were appliance company (for the most part) And they partnered with the US government
General Mills also makes sure to cover their bases in terms of where their products are sold. For example, Betty Crocker has a DEEP presence in Dollar Tree with a big line of kitchen accessories like spatulas, and another big line of disposable plastic containers. That store sells a ton of it. It's probably a third party licensing the Betty Crocker name but that again is yet another way General Mills makes money. All they have to do is sit back and cash the checks. Must be nice.
General Mills Cereal doesn't exist outside of the US and Canada Bit you can still find Trix, Golden Grahams, Cheerios, and Cocoa Puffs (under the name Nesquik) in many countries, as many of their cereal brands are licensed to Nestlé, which is how
Growing up in Minneapolis I already knew a good chunk of this, but even I was surprised by a lot of the products they used to own, like Nerf and Lacoste.
Actually I'm not surprised General Mills has owned so many other companies that have nothing to do with cereal or even flour. And it's mostly because of you and these great videos. Your other pieces have also presented companies we think we know only to find out they may have started out as something entirely different or have acquired other companies that seem pretty far removed from what they started as. Really interesting stuff. Keep 'em coming!
And that was when Pillsbury became part of Great Metropolitan, the British liquor company now known as Diageo (Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Captain Morgan...).
General Mills seems to be run by people who sit around and say, "so what business do we want to try next? None of it seems be that hard."
@Liane Hussian Bot
It reminds me of Nintendo before they got into video games.
lol you know its more complex tho
@@martymcfly1312 except Nintendo was like a grifter on the side of the road doing whatever it can, while General Mills was a know-it-all Jack of All Trades having fun
They should pivot into Artificial General Intelligence
All of their involvement with Fashion was pretty surprising.
Yes!
This is such a huge company, please do a sequel. You didn't even mention that Kenner made the Star Wars toys. Changed the entire industry, spawning GI Joe: A Real American Hero in the 80s, one of Hasbro's biggest lines.
@Laughing Skulls Agree 100%. I'm pretty sure in the Mattel vs. Hasbro video, I don't think he mentioned Transformers.
My dad was a lifer at the Mill in Consumer Foods Information Services (fancy name for IT). My mom still gets his pension.
Fun fact is that General Mills has paid a quarterly dividend for over a hundred years. Unlike a lot of Company Man companies, General Mills has managed to be profitable for a century even while doing wild acquisitions and sales.
Also, in 2018, after Trump's massive tax cuts for the rich, General Mills paid almost ZERO in federal taxes. They paid 57 million, while making a profit of 2.57 BILLION.
@@austinhernandez2716 that’s good! That means cheaper prices for consumers!
@@funnyitworkedlasttime6611 you gotta be a f* idiot if you seriously believe that. What they do instead is hoard the wealth. It goes to their ceos and shareholders. Or they do like General mills and buy out smaller companies to try to establish a monopoly and gain more control so they won't have competition and can just charge whatever they want and you'll have little choice
@@austinhernandez2716 according to General Mills form 10-Q, which was for the quarter ofJun 29, 2018 to to September 18, 2018, they paid 110.7 Million in tax on 601 Million Operating Profit
@@granny12653 Well shit it looks like they actually do pay their taxes then
I am convinced General Mills has a roulette they spin to see what field they should enter next
I thought the “general” in General Mills was an overstatement, but no.
“Extremely Various Mills” is a better fit.
Yup, they're not called "Cereal Mills" for a reason.
It's a better fit, but it just doesn't have that easy-to-remember rolls-off-the-tongue quality. : )
Isn’t there like 10 companies responsible for most of the branded food Americans consume?
10 companies most of the world consumes*
Of course in the US, just like Europe there are smaller companies and local stuff you can buy, usually more expensive or in very specific stores, but in big common stores, obviously most of it is national brands
Yeah, and about 18 people own a majority share of California:)
@@TimeQuxxn correction they sold their stock Cali is failing...more so
@@COGSCNY I meant in real-estate. That's true, many are selling now and holding their money to buy again when the housing market crashes
@@TimeQuxxn Yea I hear you I meant in general people are pulling out of cali it is soo expensive to do business its not worth it. I would follow Elon and the gang but Texas is WAY TO HOT!!!
This video genuinely kept making me go "WHAT" so many times.
fun fact: for the betty crocker radio show they had different women voice her in different parts of the country to make it feel more authentic
That’s actually really interesting
FUN FACT: Betty Crocker was a BATTERED woman.
@@zengreen7 ''rimshot''
@@harrychestwigg Huh? Rimshot?
@@zengreen7 badum tss
As someone from Minnesota, the WCCO one was mildly surprising! I've listened to it as long as I can remember, never thought it was acquired originally to promote Wheaties 😆
Yeah I'm pretty shocked about that fun fact too.
W heaties C ereal CO mpany Lol!
Wouldn't be surprised if General Mills went and bought some entity and realized they actually owned it mid-negotiations.
that would make up for a sophisticated kind of prank in the hands of a joyful CEO
Nobody is this stupid... right?
@@phoenix5054 never challenge human stupidity
With the way the company expanded its territory like that, they sound less like a generic miller and more like a military man - General Mills, sir yes sir!
They should rebrand to general foods and make General Mills into the name of a mascot character
Hey man, on the *incredibly* off chance you see this, I kinda just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of your work. And admire it a-lot. I genuinely think it's a genius concept grabbing people in with your cool thumbnails about brands, and how they work. They catch people's attention and say "oh wait, I knew that". Or something nostalgic they knew died, and that grabs their attention, or you have rival companies backstrories tolled, in a million different ways and ideas, and it's truly a fun and incredibly educational thing to experience. It can teach them about making right decisions in economic value or how to run a company. And Ironically, you're doing that yourself. All I wanted to say is, you're somewhat of a marketing genius yourself, and that you've been gaining a-lot of attraction, but deserve so much more. The fact this a very new channel should truly say something to you that not a-lot like this on youtube has been done before, and you'll only see a rise in popularity with so much more, arguably more interesting company's to talk about, and get more people's attention. Your personality and voice also add a huge effect on way people like to say. With the rise of popular no-name/no-face/persona behind a screen youtubers, and your incredibly charming in worming, genuine, almost Bob Ross like style of explaining things and showing it to the viewer and how you say it or create a video, with perfect impeccable timing, and the way you view things, markeingly genuinely, also makes it no surprised why people love coming back. And I'm no acception. I'm almost an incredibly new viewer, but still love your channel, and so glad UA-cam put this at my recommended tab, definitely some of the better stuff they've offered me. And I find myself watching your videos for hours and kinda get into a rabbit hole of company's, and their backstories making me feel like a genius and all this knowlege, when really it's hand delivered to me on a silver platter by another guy who does all the work. (That's also another theory right now why I think you're becoming successful, people love to think they're smart) and again, shows how you're just a really nice guy, with a-lot to offer on subjects like these, which can be incredibly useful about learning how industries adapt throughout time. So with that said, I just hope you really wanted to know that your stuff is appreciated on UA-cam, even iff very little people see it, I can assure you they're genuine. (If you think 1.15M is small, but it can be for UA-cam's algorithm, but still congrats on your success) Just keep making great videos like these, and I'll enjoy watching your stuff, in hopefully the very near future. The only other reason I wanted to comment this is because I just wanted to name a few more brands I think you could really make a compelling video about, with an interesting/intriguing topic.
If you want my suggestion you should talk about (or maybe even have the tittle) they would be :
·"UA-cam, why they're so big!"
·"Coke, The success"
·"AMC : What happened/The-rise and fall, (and rise again?)?"
·"Walmart : bigger then you know"
·Redbull v.s. Monster Energy"
·"Coke-a-cola v.s. pepsi"
·"Dr Pepper" (I'm a bit biased cause I love Dr Pepper, it's my personal favorite and think it's better then coke/pepsi, nothing outstanding behind it. Maybe you could make a "underrated companys" thing or : "rising company's" I'm just biased, and feel like I can't mention soda without Dr Pepper.)
·"McDonals : remarkable industry"
·"7-11, bigger then you know"
·"Instagram : A Scandal" (multiple stories about it stealing your data, along with a-lot of other social media websites, that are shown to be true)
·"Microsoft/Android v.s. Apple"
·"Gold's Gym : The Rise, and fall"
Anyway, again. Just wanted my "help" or "two cents" on it (if it even made an impact on even the incredibly small chance you'll even see this) but that's what I thought could be cool to see as an average enjoyer of your cool stuff, and only want to see success come out of you, even more then it has. And some added positivity to you, thanks man, you're appreciated more than you know.
And just an added basic but true statement/compliment : you're stuff is pretty stinkin' awesome.
Later man, hope that would help or helps. Just an average enjoyer of your stuff.
Wow Nixon, I'd say your comment was pretty stinkin' awesome. Really appreciate all the kind words. Probably the longest, most well constructed compliment I've ever received. I love getting genuine feedback like this, it makes me believe I'm doing the right things and moving in the right direction. For the record, I don't think 1.15 million is small at all. It's far more than I ever expected when I started doing this almost 4 years ago.
All solid video ideas. Some of which I've already covered in a slightly different way so I'd be likely to avoid them in favor of spending time on things I haven't talked about at all. Dr. Pepper is something I was already considering so seeing it mentioned here makes me more confident in the idea. But overall Nixon, thanks for watching and supporting the videos. I know you're new here but I hope you stay part of the channel for a long time and continue voicing your opinion of the channel and the videos. It's all more appreciated than you realize.
@@companyman114 Without a doubt man, anytime. I'm glad I was a helping part in this.
@@companyman114 He's not kidding either. I've loved every video I've seen you make. Your incredibly talented and you've got a perfect voice for narration
@@companyman114l
A11DVD h. Ociz war bro s HD
I'm with Nixon. This channel is incredibly interesting and easy to watch, yet also informative as well!
Im a truck driver and I pick up loads for General Mills about every other week. I can tell you what, the workers there are some of the nicest people Ive met that work the docks and the yard and I hadnt heard anything negative about working there
About 40 years ago I applied to the craft store Lee Wards which was based in the Midwest. That company is also a General Mills acquisition.
Wait...so that’s why cereal once came with a Monopoly JR CD-ROM
Probably
🤔
I love a new Company Man video! Big fan!
It seems like General Mills was almost like a corporate investor. They picked up businesses that they believed had a likelyhood of success. Helped make them successful, then sold them. Still almost a monopoly though.
I'm from Minneapolis and currently live in Minneapolis... and this video was filled with information I didn't know.. Minneapolis has a nickname of Mill City, we also have streets named after Pillsbury and Washburn, also schools and other public places named after these companies, even city parks dedicated to the city's mill history along with old ruins of old mills.. there's even a few places in the metro area named after Crosby... a lot of the city's history in relation to the old milling companies can be found on plaques through-out the city.. that part of the city's history is something a lot of people here know about.. and I GUARANTEE that you've covered more in this video, and in a more comprehensive manner than any local history buff in Minneapolis could ever do in 12 minutes.
I tip my hat to you, good sir.
You have done a phenomenal job in covering the history of General Mills, as you always do a phenomenal job in every video you put out.
You have a gift, you have a talent.
Have you ever considered writing history books, or making historical documentaries?
Your extensive works available here on UA-cam shows that you could do so, and be successful in your efforts.
I can’t believe that they didn’t start as a cereal company! (PS I watched this video eating Cheerios!🤣)
Honestly, as someone that works at General Mills, they own SO much more then you mentioned.
What are some of the biggest examples of things I missed Austin?
LOVE your videos. Theyre a great pick me up. Your positivity, and gentle way breaking down complex things make your videos very easy and relaxing to watch. Im sad that Ive already gone through your catalog. Waiting to forget the old ones so I can watch them all again.
Thanks, man!
Love seeing people so excited about company man. I'm a huge fan too!
I'd say if it wasn't for being a Jay Ward fanboy and being drawn to the Cap'n Crunch/Quaker mascots, Big G would totally be my favorite collection of cereal mascots of all time. You have a rabbit that can't even eat the cereal his face is on the box of, and a hopeless addict bird who is constantly enabled by various small children and at one time his OWN grandfather. They have cereals that drive their mascots INSANE! That's marketing.
Generally, Company Man... I'm always surprised to find out just how many products are created/owned by a single company. It's crazy how big of a game flour was in the late 19th century. Thanks for the great videos.
Bread has been one of the most basic food staples for millenia, most bread before the 1920's was home baked or bought at a local bakery.
Lmao... One week after that guy found shrimp in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Wonder if that fish brand they owned sells shrimp 🤔 or if they currently own a brand that sells shrimp.
Hmmm 🧐
@@paul59572 it was the Red Lobster tie in!! XD
The fact this has happened a few times over the years is just sad
That was fake
Next video- Company Man,Bigger than you know.
goose
My dad was a sales manager with General Mills for 35 years. He started in 1973. I'm not sure about now, but while he was working there, it was a wonderful company to work for. He has been retired for years and still misses that job.
As a kid who grew up with a General Mills employee. I remember everything. Everything from the late 70s onward. It's all true and TASTY!
My dad was a GM employee he was a complete drunken asshole piece of shit because of that company!
This comment looks like an ad tbh
@@ianboekweg2 it’s not. I’m not selling anything. My dad worked for GM for 43 years before retiring.
Neat
@@edbrooks4793 my dad worked for the mills in Chicago until they closed that plant in '94 if my memory serves me right. Yeah he had a rough time there as well. He had one accident which resulted in his finger being pulled off. It was recovered and reattached, and that was that.
As a resident of Minnesota, I was shocked to find out that one of our major news stations was named after General Mills
I’m from Minneapolis, I learned a lot about General Mills from this video. Also Washburn has a high school named after him in Minneapolis
He also served as a Congressman and as governor of Wisconsin.
I’m from near Battle Creek. Go Kellogg’s!
@@Luke-zx4nx As a lifelong Michigan resident who was raised Seventh Day Adventist, I'm inclined to agree with you. I even had a cat named Kellogg. But unfortunately, Kellogg's has of late become a seriously woke company, donating money to organizations that lecture people about "white privilege" and other leftist fairy tales like that. And most of their cereals aren't even remotely healthy. Even if they aren't loaded with sugar, they're still heavily refined (I love me a bowl of Rice Krispies in milk, but can't eat it often for this reason). Of course, cereal in general isn't very good for you, but if you have to eat it then Kellogg's doesn't really have a lot of less unhealthy options.
@@hotwax9376 I hardly eat cereal either, I'm just saying I would choose Kellog's over General Mills, Kinda how I'd choose Ford over foreign companies.
But like I said, I hardly give either company my money and with Kellogg's doing all that stuff I'm glad I don't support them often haha.
I usually have meat, fruit and eggs with veggies for breakfast, as toast, bagels, pancakes, cereal, etc can be unhealthy.
Thank youuuu I work at a grocery store and was stalking cereal while watching your videos, and wondering why you didn’t have a GM vidddd
The rise and then controversy of Robinhood would make a great video.
"let the people trade"
expect for gamestop.
Facts
I'm sure he'll get to that eventually
Everybody please like this comment
What did they do?
PART OF THIS COMPLETE BREAKFAST!!!!
The most unexpected part of this video is the fact that General Mills and Pillsbury were long time rivals. And Pillsbury was bought by General Mills years later
And just think, if General Mills ever sells Pillsbury then the rivalry will be back on.
@@hotwax9376 Maybe that will happen and by 2075, Pillsbury will buy General Mills
its so obvious
Brilliant video, and the detail about fictional Betty Crocker was an interesting comparison with the real Chef Boiardi.
fun fact: hamburger helper got involved in a n64 game called glover which makes general mills slightly involved in video games (it was originally the hamburger helper game)
General Mills also own Chex which means they own the Chex Quest video games too.
"Kenner Toys, which you may not have heard of..."
Me, a Star Wars fan: "Now that's a name I've not heard for a long time..."
I always think of Ghostbusters toys, when I hear Kenner mentioned.
Jurassic Park
I was just thinking, "Didn't Kenner make Star Wars action figures?" : )
@@KEVMAN7987 did kenner do the original Jurassic Park? I thought they were dead by then.
I worked at Toys R Us in 1980...Kenner was EVERYWHERE!!!!
I feel tencent would be a good episode for this series think the nestle of electronics
Doing some work in a general mills plant, I have to say they are very organized, clean, and the majority of the employees seem happy. All ingredients for success
For April Fool's: Your Mama, Bigger Than You Know
Lol, I agree that, would be funny. x'D
Username checks out.
😂
I worked at GM 12 hour shifts at night packing Reeses puffs for wholesale sams club/ Costco I was 20 at the time that was over 2 years ago. I've been a sub for a couple years thank you!
General Mills, 3M, Target...
Something about companies from Minnesota having an large yet hidden impact and presence on our economic lives.
Also Minnesota has a lot of Medical related companies!
Gamble-Skogma was a big player in the retail world back in the day, too.
Your history lessons are the absolute best. Knowing how something came to be leads to a greater respect for what it is today. Thank you
You should do a video on the Lifetime brand of folding tables
Those weirdly textured white plastic tables are so synonymous with special events that I'd kinda like to know more about them and how they got to the point where if you've ever been to any kind of family gathering or party that chances are there were at least one or two of their tables set up
And why ARE they so expensive? That's what I'd like to know. It's some pretty basic plastic molding and honestly not a lot of metal holding it up. But they command a very good price. It's got to be extremely profitable.
They also make coolers, basketball goals and kayaks.... I think they just make these things because they use the same rotomolding plastic process
I’d also like to see a solo video because I’m pretty sure they make a ton of random things as well
@@chachwa9970 he did a video on the decline of solo
@@StewartLucrative oh thanks I must’ve missed it
I work in the food business. You'd think it would be huge, but honestly, it's a small world. Few companies dominate the market and own almost every brand you use. The deeper you go, the crazier it gets.
Great video but im disappointed you didn't mention the fact that one of those Minneapolis flour mills EXPLODED.
Growning up and to this day I had no clue what to classify GM as since I saw their brand on so many different products. This explains a lot now.
My small ohio town makes every general mills pizza roll in the world. You’re welcome!
My friends brother is the manager for talkative plant! He went to Ohio state haha
@@stignatius1625 Nice. Go Bucks!
@@MichaelRockfez r u abcmichaelchan on Reddit?
That is a very Ohio statement.
@@stignatius1625 maybe
General Mills is a very important company to the world.
Holy cow! Makes sense that the original owners of the game Monopoly are in fact themselves a monopoly!
it was all a massive flex and no body noticed.
it was all a massive flex and nobody noticed.
Definitely didn't expect the Lionel part. Brings me back to my Lionel Train set and computer game form the 90s...
Nerf was the biggest surprise to me. But at the same time it's crazy to think how big these monopolies get, like in the entertainment industry how everything is basically owned by Disney
comcast dont touch eneral mills or ill beat yo ass lol
Disney, Comcast(nbc universal), and AT&T(time warner). It's ridiculous
@@44bthknuckles imagine having to deal with Comcast customer service to really a cereal issue
@@44bthknuckles imagine having to deal with Comcast customer service to really a cereal issue
Kenner and Parker Brothers are now owned by Hasbro. Both brands have since been retired.
Pretty amazing, Not that they were able to acquire so many American culture-defining brands, but that they did so without failing. We often see big companies buy out smaller ones, but then run them into the ground and then thrown away. These guys knew when to expand, and when to scale back whenever they sensed they were getting too big for their own good, like with clothing, etc. even if those brands were doing okay.
Minnesota..... We've created Target, Best Buy, General Mills, 3M, Cargill, Ecolab, Medtronic, Great Clips, United Health Group, Land O' Lakes, U.S Bank and The Mayo Clinic. Just to name a few...
Kemp’s, Old Dutch, Grain Belt & Hamms lol
This is one of your best videos yet! I found myself laughing in surprise with some of those acquisitions. It must've taken you quite some time to research!
I had no idea about how huge general mills is. All I knew was cereal 😂😂
I live near a general mills factory and I gotta say sometimes it makes the air smell really good
This was genuinely shocking how much of the mega mart market over the years
Most of my apartment is filled with General Mills products. Thanks for the informative video!
I wanted to know more about their military related business. I know it's harder to research so may be you can't but it would be nice to know.
So Betty and Gorton had rabbits, dough boys and a helping hand. Amazing. I loved this.
Cherrios > Most sugary cereal. Ngl Cheerios has an acquired taste
Cheerios over any cereal in my opinion.
The nutty taste of oats is essentially what I like most about Cheerios
Diabetic piss and nut?
Cherios ae jut su gud
I wasn't surprised by anything until the very end, when you mentioned they made cereal!!
"Green giant progresso" I don't know why but that made me laugh so hard
Me and the boys just hanging out this weekend. Cooking some burgers and dogs watching some games and listening to the Wheaties quartet.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the short lived General Mills video game, Millsberry!
Are you being funny or actually serious? Cause if so, that’s crazy...
@@Crazyjn he is 100% serious, it was a web flash game I definitely played a lot as a child
Millsberry was awesome! You could create an avatar and play games to earn points to buy virtual stuff for your avatar
Looking back as someone who played a lot of Millsberry in the early 2000s, it's kind of shocking. I remember it being a really well made and complex game for the time, with a surprising amount of content and new features being constantly added. I can now see it was a brazen ad designed to get kids to buy General Mills products, but they clearly put a lot of effort into its development. My friends and I loved it.
Anyone remember the postopia golf game that came in the box years ago?
I'd watch another video about their cereals. You do great work!
They are a very General company (:
7:47 That spinoff restaurant company is what we know as Darden, which also owns Bahama Breeze Island Grille and LongHorn Steakhouse.
Okay few things we know in life disney owns 93.35% of the media and now I'm hearing general mills investing the world brand
I cant believe I remember your channel with 200k subs. Proud of you for 1+ mil
For once a video that promised I would be pretty surprised was absolutely right. I knew about their origins and rivalry with Pillsbury, but man, I was not expecting how far they branched out.
Very surprising. I enjoyed the story about WCCO and the very first ad jingle
They owned an "Asian Concept" restaurant that went from really good to really bad to really closed in a remarkably short period of time.
"parkour"
For me the zinger was the Pillsbury acquisition (must check out your video). I did know about General Milling 's diversity of brands in their portfolio, ghough3 not specifics.
Thank you.
Please do a video on the waste management scandals of the past!
Supposedly the Swamp near Meadville PA has Nuclear waste illegally dumped in it.
Being in the Fashion industry. This was a fabulous video. Thank you for sharing.
4:20 General Mills is aperture science
They have the same logo
They were appliance company (for the most part)
And they partnered with the US government
I always learn something from you, that’s why I watch and that’s why you’re the best Mike!
GM Pillsburied their rival under a gigantic pile of cash.
Ba-dum-tss
General Mills also makes sure to cover their bases in terms of where their products are sold. For example, Betty Crocker has a DEEP presence in Dollar Tree with a big line of kitchen accessories like spatulas, and another big line of disposable plastic containers. That store sells a ton of it. It's probably a third party licensing the Betty Crocker name but that again is yet another way General Mills makes money. All they have to do is sit back and cash the checks. Must be nice.
I knew General Mills owned Lionel at one point. Lionel probably wouldn’t have survived otherwise.
Sounds like we need a part 2
Make a whole video on breakfast cereal please. We all want to see it.
General Mills Cereal doesn't exist outside of the US and Canada
Bit you can still find Trix, Golden Grahams, Cheerios, and Cocoa Puffs (under the name Nesquik) in many countries, as many of their cereal brands are licensed to Nestlé, which is how
Company Man should do a video on Cap'n Crunch! I like that cereal.
General Mills used to package computer games in their cereal boxes. I remember playing Monopoly Junior, Candyland, and Scrabble.
Growing up in Minneapolis I already knew a good chunk of this, but even I was surprised by a lot of the products they used to own, like Nerf and Lacoste.
Having grown up in Minneapolis, I didn't think anything you'd present would surprise me, but I never knew about the WCCO ownership, so we'll done.
I knew that General Mills was a Minnesota company, but I had no idea about WCCO!
I did not expect General Mills to be in toys before. Absolutely wonderful video!
I'm a simple man. Company Man uploads, I click.
Mind blown. This NEEDS a part 2!!
Gold Medal - GM
General Mills - GM '
FUn!?
"Hmmm
Toys? Check
Flour? Check
Radio station? Check
Nerf? Check
I think we should start buliding rockets for NASA"
you should hire a rapper to list the products or brands you couldn’t mention before, be pretty entertaining
Actually I'm not surprised General Mills has owned so many other companies that have nothing to do with cereal or even flour. And it's mostly because of you and these great videos. Your other pieces have also presented companies we think we know only to find out they may have started out as something entirely different or have acquired other companies that seem pretty far removed from what they started as. Really interesting stuff. Keep 'em coming!
This episode is fucking Mind Blowing. I thought Hasbro created Monopoly
finally!!! ive been waiting for a bigger than you know for general mills!!!
Pillsbury buying Burger King was the most surprising. But like 98% of this was new information and was surprising!
And that was when Pillsbury became part of Great Metropolitan, the British liquor company now known as Diageo (Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Captain Morgan...).
One of the biggest Companies based out of Minnesota besides 3M.
I was more surprised that you didn't mention they recently bought Blue Buffalo pet food
Kenner was a very iconic company and is very much associated with General Mills.