It became the companys trademark in 1900, and appeared on the companys first product as its own entity, the Uneeda Biscuit. The Triscuit dates from 1902; it can properly be referred to a step-child as it was originally a product line of the Shredded Wheat Company, and predates that companys later merger with Nabisco. | This admittedly ridiculous rabbit hole is an illustration of the challenges historians face not only in formulating a well-supported argument, but also in competing with popular explanations for events. Known as the ``Palace of Light because of its 844 windows holding 30,000 panes of glass, the facility was torn down years ago. The Natural Food Company invented a way to spin wheat into threads that could then be cooked and woven into biscuitswhich we know as Shredded Wheat todayor cooked again in an electric oven to make Triscuits. This theory is bolstered by an April 1903 letter from Darius O. With 2020 net revenues of approximately $27 billion, MDLZ is leading the future of snacking with iconic global and local brands such as OREO, belVita and LU biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate; Sour Patch Kids candy and Trident gum. Cookies document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); BrandlandUSA.com. Mondelez International, Inc. The company got its start in Niagara Falls and the product was designed and created by Henry Perky. Triscuits were not offered with flavors until the 80s when flavored crackers became a new idea. Even if the electricity biscuit thesis is trueand that certainly remains a possibilityelectrical baking as a selling point was obsolete within two years of the invention, when Pillsbury rolled out electrically baked biscuits in 1905.6 That means we shouldnt expect to see anything hyping the electricity connection for long, and the extant advertising seems to bear this out. This is a great place for any product to find itself in, and Triscuits are completely associated with crunchy wheat crackers these days. Please leave a review or any memories of this snack in the comments at the bottom of this page. In the early days, the full slogan for Triscuit was, Triscuit is baked by electricity, the only food on the market prepared by this 1903 process. In just a few days, the electricity biscuit explanation has taken hold as. Bring Back Nabs. In fact, consumers of the newly introduced Triscuit interpreted the name to mean thrice-baked, and made no apparent connection to electricity. Triscuits confirmation of the theory satisfies many that Boggss theory is correct, and it also helps that the theory is the sort of surprising factoid people love to share at parties. What historian would want to stop the party? ", Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts. These delightfully crunchy and salty crackers are some of the most popular and well-known crackers on the market today. Even the varieties of the basic original cracker are still shown in much the same way as the original. Triscuits are owned by Mondelez International. In 1935, the product was scaled down to 2 and inches by 4 inches. The two things were both beneficial to marketing the product. Addressing these persistent issues is not only critical for consumer expectations,but it is imperative for companies'bottom lines that these practices change. There is something delightfully wholesome about Triscuit crackers and you will probably realize that you cant think of any other kind of cracker that is like these unique little snacks. The Triscuit was seen as a wonder; it was also made in Niagara Falls, where the Shredded Wheat factory was a tourist attraction, and the shredded wheat cereal pieces were known as little whole wheat mattresses.. Triscuits are a sign of how far food items that are premade have come and when you eat a Triscuit, you will see just how much snack foods have changed since the Great Depression. The interactive web app experience can be accessed by scanning the QR code found on the front of Triscuit Original 8.5 ounce and Original Family Size boxes: Specially-marked Triscuit boxes with the QR code are rolling out over the next several weeks to retail stores across the U.S. and will be available until the fall. In 1903, Triscuit ads proclaimed that Triscuits were the first commercial bread product to be baked by electricity. Some of the earliest designs even incorporated lightning bolts into the lettering of Triscuit.. Subscribe to Food Dive for top news, trends & analysis, The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines, Chef Spike Mendelsohn To Keynote Day Two of Plant Based World Expo, Blue Sky Distribution Supports Ecommerce Hypergrowth with Descartes Solution, Revolution Foods Acquires Better 4 You Meals, Creator of Award-winning Nutritious Meals for Sc, The Recycling Partnerships Polypropylene Recycling Coalition Celebrates Widely Recycled Upg, Mondelz International said consumers purchasing its, brand will be able to trace the journey of the white-winter wheat baked into some of its. HOW??" It elicited, from Triscuits official Twitter account: We had to go all the way up the ladder but we CAN confirm. The account even added a lightning bolt to its username and changed its bio to elecTRIcity biSCUIT., Lets acknowledge the work that Boggs did to satisfy his curiosity: he came up with an initial theory, contacted the company, and sought out primary-source documentsall tactics that a historian would use to develop an argument. Niagara Falls workers first produced Shredded Wheat cereal, and more recently Triscuit crackers, since 1901. The Natural Food Company invented a way to spin wheat into threads that could then be cooked and woven into biscuitswhich we know as Shredded Wheat todayor cooked again in an electric oven to make Triscuits. Mondelz International. Perky was drawn to the city by new power houses with the ability to supply electricity cheaply, and by the promise of plenty of tourists from the Falls. HOW IT WORKS SMARTPHONE MEETS SNACK BOXConsumers can use their smartphone to discover the journey of the wheat from the Triscuit brands Unity Gold Farmer Program from farms to the factory. Keep up with these important national treasures here at BrandlandUSA.com, About BrandlandUSA and the Business of American Brands, Advertisements and Sponsored Posts with BrandlandUSA, Nabisco: So Famous, They Can Leave It Off the Box, News Roundup: Looking for Ho Ho, Dan River Runs Again, Nabisco Push, A&P Fruitcakes, Nabs or Peanut Butter Crackers? But no such clarification can be found, not even in, , a 1904 guide with several pages dedicated to the Natural Food Company factory and the Triscuit-making process. Required fields are marked *. Triscuit later retweeted Boggs thread and said, "We had to go all the way up the ladder but we CAN confirm.". The snacking giant said the supply chain transparency pilot is the first of its kind for Mondelz in North America. and Triscuits together, stressing the connection between the two names. The initiative reinforces the companys commitments to environmental, social and governance, including expanded insight into the origin of essential ingredients. There are many flavors of Triscuit these days and you can find almost any variety that you want on the shelves of your local grocery store. NOW WATCH: What it takes to be a writer for 'Saturday Night Live', Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. For more information about the Triscuit brand, visit www.triscuit.com. Shredded Wheat sold out to Nabisco, which added the red triangle. It elicited a statement from Triscuits official Twitter account: We had to go all the way up the ladder but we CAN confirm. The account even added a lightning bolt to its username and changed its bio to elecTRIcity biSCUIT.. The Gremels: Its very cool knowing that some of the Triscuit crackers in grocery stores have white winter wheat in them that was grown right here on our farm, in the Thumb of Michigan. Visit www.mondelezinternational.com or follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MDLZ.About Connecting FoodConnecting Food is Europes leading blockchain technology provider. Even without the seal, the power of the Nabisco brand can be seen in Publix shelves today. Terms of Use The individual noted the company does not "have additional pilot programs planned, but look forward to finding ways to apply these learnings across the business. Via the web app, consumers can also access additional information specific to their particular batch of product, including the wheat harvest year and the baked-on date. This is a product that is sold in almost every store everywhere and you can find at least a few additional varieties in almost every location besides the original flavor. ``Theres no way to describe what its like to leave a family thats been here for a long time, said Watts, chief steward of the maintenance union. This was probably a nod to the need for portable foods during the industrial era when people no longer went home to eat their food before heading back into the fields. In a favorable 1903 review of the cracker, the. Triscuits occupy a location in their market space just like Kleenex in their space. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But did the Natural Food Company name their cracker Triscuit specifically to evoke the middle syllable of electricity? Thats a much harder question, and requires both a broader understanding of the culture of advertising in the early 20th century and also a deeper inquiry into how the Triscuit name operated at its inception. Kideckels recent dissertation is Fresh from the Factory: Breakfast Cereal, Natural Food, and the Marketing of Reform, 18901920 (Columbia University, 2018). On goat cheese or ricotta cheese? They also have a wise promotion where they highlight the actual farms where the wheat is grown. Thank you. ``Its an enormous loss, emotionally and financially, he said at the end of a shift, in the shadow of the plants landmark silos. Hello, You will find that the varieties that have flavorings can have other added ingredients in them but the original version provides the base for all of the different types of Triscuits on the market these days. Many have suggested the name derived from triticale, a late-19th-century hybrid of wheat and rye, but there is no evidence that this was used to make Triscuits. Crackers were an offshoot of both practicality and a lack of food in the US. All of our contributors are paid. This data-driven, consumer-centric supply chain transparency pilot is the first of its kind for Mondelz International in North America. We are committed to understanding and meeting the growing needs and preferences of our consumers, and those needs are evolving to a more holistic sense of well-being and value-oriented purchase decisions. What If Historians Were Honest About Counterfactuals. The Nabisco seal comes from a pressmark from the Venetian printers Nicolas Jenson and Johannes de Colonia, around 1480. At Contingent Magazine, we believe that history is for everyone, that every kind of history is worthwhile, and that historians should be paid for their work. Even candies were sold as complete meals in the 20s and 30s. A more compelling explanation is that the Triscuit is just a next-level Biscuit, perhaps referring to being thrice-baked, relying on the etymology of biscuit as meaning twice-baked. While Nabiscos email to Boggs insisted the Tri does not mean three, that should only be interpreted as a corporations preference for how its brand should be perceived today, and not as a historical claimespecially since Nabisco stated they have no documents pertaining to the name. Instead they were made of regular old wheat, genus. Both programs were created in partnership with Connecting Food, a supply chain transparency platform powered by blockchain, to provide third-party traceability advisement and technology services. Since wheat is such a big part of the product, the traceability could hold more weight since it's not overshadowed by several other ingredients. Organic foods maker One Degree touts on its website that its packaging has a QR code that consumers can scan to trace every product and meet the farmers and producers behind every ingredient. Triscuits were actually named for the electricity that made them and was not intended to be a play on the word biscuit. crackers from a co-op of farmers fields in Michigan to where the product is made. I would like to know what is pictured on the triscuit? The reason for the name of this popular cracker is actually linked to the process by which they were made. Lets acknowledge the work that Boggs did to satisfy his curiosity: he came up with an initial theory, contacted the company, and sought out primary-source documentsall tactics that a historian would use to develop an argument. Kraft Ditching Nabisco Brand? Compared to the post-modern, irony-laden ads of the 21st century, advertising in 1903 was extremely naive. BrandlandUSA: 20 Rules to Preserve Your Brand. This is probably one of the most simple products on the market anywhere and even with some added ingredients for flavors, this is still a really nice product that is non-GMO and healthy. There, Nabisco products are offered and mentioned in sale shelf tags, even when the actual products do not have the red mark in the corner. At one time, Nabisco sold a full 70 percent of the crackers and cookies in the U.S. Instead they were made of regular old wheat, genus Triticum, another possible source for the Triscuit namebut since a cracker made of wheat is hardly distinctive, this idea isnt particularly plausible either. Its fully digital quality and audit module, LiveAudit, enables its clients to prove their commitments and create value for the end consumer. America spent a lot of years recovering first from the Great Depression and then later from World War II. Mills of the Niagara Power Company (which supplied the electricity to produce Triscuits) to Henry Perky of the Natural Food Co., wherein Mills referred to Triscuits as an Electric Toast or Cracker. And notice that in the ad above, Triscuit is proclaimed to be the New Toast, with a capital T. Even if the electricity biscuit thesis is trueand that certainly remains a possibilityelectrical baking as a selling point was obsolete within two years of the invention, when Pillsbury rolled out electrically baked biscuits in 1905. elecTRIcity bisCUITSget it?! as well as other partner offers and accept our. The Nabisco brand appears on boxes, always in the top left corner, and also in end-aisle displays, as well as mid-aisle promotional displays; see slide show below for examples. Now, consumers can discover the journey of the white-winter wheat baked into some of their Triscuit crackers from a coop of farmers fields in the thumb of Michigan to where the product is made. Vulnerability Disclosure The individual noted the company does not "have additional pilot programs planned, but look forward to finding ways to apply these learnings across the business. On March 25, Sage Boggs shocked the twittersphere with his revelation that the brand name Triscuit was a portmanteau of electricity and biscuit. In a time when seemingly all anyone can talk about is the coronavirus pandemic, Boggss thread provided some much-needed levity and excitement. Mondelz isn't the first company to tout is traceability efforts and it's undoubtedly not the last. This admittedly ridiculous rabbit hole is an illustration of the challenges historians face not only in formulating a well-supported argument, but also in competing with popular explanations for events. Triscuits and Shredded Wheat were intended to be a central part of the daily diet, topped with everything from creamed peas to fricasee of oysters to Bromangelon, a pre-Jell-O gelatin dessert. And it must be noted that this is all happening while we are all stuck at home with no access to physical archives. elecTRIcity bisCUITSget it?! Nabisco of late continues to appear as halo brand above its products, as the corporate name Mondelez means nothing to consumers, and may well confuse some into thinking the company is not American. ``Not Niagara Falls, not the originator. With one more shift to go at the ovens, Donald LeClair called the loss of the plant ``devastating.. ``When you think of Niagara Falls, you think of Shredded Wheat, he said. Henry Perky was the inventor of Shredded Wheat and he used this knowledge to design Triscuit. if the Triscuit was understood to be an electric biscuit, wouldnt Electric Triscuit Oven have sounded redundant? The additional flavor choices that are connected with the brand today were not introduced until 1984. This was the production company that combined the idea that electricity and biscuits went together. The boxes were blue and yellow and the lettering blocked and square in shape. The red logo does not always appear. Looks Like It. But after more searching online, Boggs found an early 1900s advertisement for Triscuits touting that, "Triscuit it baked by electricity, the only food on the market prepared by this 1903 process.". The current plant dates to 1920s, Gromosiak said. After beginning with much fanfare, production of Shredded Wheat in Niagara Falls lasted most of the century, until Kraft General Foods bought RJR Nabisco Holdings ready-to-eat cereal business eight years ago. Olam International, the worlds third-largest cocoa processor, said last September it achieved 100% traceability for the cocoa it directly sources. The Triscuit came out of an era of health food worries in the early 20th century. After some Google searches and reaching out to Triscuit's producer, Nabisco, Boggs discovered the crackers' name is indeed a play on the word "biscuit," as many would assume, but what about the first part of the name tri? This does a number of things for the brand. It was a wild time. In the early 20th century, the Natural Food Company consistently advertised both Shredded Wheat Biscuits and Triscuits together, stressing the connection between the two names.3, In fact, consumers of the newly introduced Triscuit interpreted the name to mean thrice-baked, and made no apparent connection to electricity. They are part of a project of Michigan State University and the Cooperative Elevator Co. (Co-op), comprised of more than 1,000 family farms, to source the winter wheat found in the Triscuit. Current packaging for the cracker looks much more like a startup brand found in Whole Foods; at top, instead of the red Nabisco logo, there is a wheat field and farm. A more compelling explanation is that the Triscuit is just a next-level Biscuit, perhaps referring to being thrice-baked, relying on, of biscuit as meaning twice-baked. While Nabiscos email to Boggs insisted the Tri does not mean three, that should only be interpreted as a corporations preference for how its brand should be perceived, , and not as a historical claimespecially since Nabisco stated they have no documents pertaining to the name. CHICAGO Occasionally, the family of Nabisco brands allows one of its step-children to appear without the familiar Nabisco red shield on the front. We are using cookies in order to facilitate your navigation. Triscuit was originally marketed in basic boxes that were much like all the other cracker brands on the market at the time. June 24, 2021 09:05 ET Nabisco confirmed to Boggs that the "tri" does not stand for three, however, the company did not initially know what the "tri" stood for. You can call them vintage, retro, legacy, classic and iconic. Ad copy was hopelessly earnest, and would not hesitate to spell out any puns or questionable pronunciations for the reader. Snack History maintains its neutrality. Garland Pollard is publisher/editor of BrandlandUSA. And a mobile app developed by J.M. This size of cracker was used for 21 years. Thin Crisps are one of the newer additions to the lineup of Triscuit offerings and they have their own set of unique and really good flavors. Your email address will not be published. The original logo was, Baked by Electricity which would seem silly now but was very relevant then. Thank you! , another possible source for the Triscuit namebut since a cracker made of wheat is hardly distinctive, this idea isnt particularly plausible either. For more information about Mondelz International and the companys ESG commitments, please see the Snacking Made Right Report.