POP Tarts inventor William Post has died at the age of 96.
The delicious toaster treats hit US shelves in 1964 and have delighted millions of Americans since.
XPop Tarts inventor William Post has died[/caption]
GettyThe popular breakfast snack hit shelves 60 years ago[/caption]
Post has long been credited with coming up with the iconic snack.
But in interviews, he would often say it was a team effort.
The snack king was working as a manager for Hekman Biscuit Company – later named Keebler Company – when Kellogg’s asked the firm to create a toastable breakfast food.
He came up with a rough idea for Pop Tarts – but many were hesitant to get on board.
Speaking in 2021, Post told WWMT: “There were so many naysayers.
“Some of my good friends would say, ‘I don’t know Bill’.
“They would tell us it’s not such a good idea.”
But Post proved his doubters wrong, and orders were quickly selling out.
Now 60 years on, Pop Tarts are sold in almost every US supermarket and come in a range of flavours.
They maintain annual sales of around $1billion in the US alone, according to CNBC.
Post previously told how it took months to work out how to create the perfect Pop Tarts – which were at first called fruit scones.
He said: “We had to put a sheeter over another sheeter, so a 60-ton piece of equipment had to be raised on a platform – guys at the bakery thought that was crazy – but we had to make two dough sheets to come out to make the doubled layer Pop-Tart with filling in between.”
In 2021, Post said his favourite flavour was strawberry – one of the four original flavours alongside cinnamon sugar, blueberry and apple currant.
He said: “We have a seniors group at church and you have to bring your lunch every once in a while.
” I always bring my Pop-Tarts and of course they all think, ‘Poor guy, that’s all he can eat’.
“But I just like to have them as a snack.”
Post, who was raised in Michigan, started working at Hekman at the age of 16, and returned to the company after serving in the Army Air Corps in occupied Japan.
He married his high school sweetheart Florence shortly after, and they spent an incredible 72 years together before her death in 2020.
By the age of 21, Post worked at Hekman full time as a personnel manager before working his way up to plant manager.
Three years after Pop Tarts took off, Post started working in Keebler’s corporate offices before leaving the company at the age of 56.
He decided to retire – but then could not turn down an offer from Kellogg’s to be their consultant, according to his obituary.
Post – known to his family and friends as Bill – spent 20 years in the position, travelling the world as part of the job.
He died on Saturday, his family said.
His obit adds: “Bill was loved and will be missed immensely by his children: Dan and Jackie Post and Rachel and John DeYoung.
“The lights of his life were his adoring grandchildren and great-grandchildren who visited him so often.”
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