The man who led the way to create the Pop-Tart has died.
William Post died at the age of 96, according to WJBK-TV. His obituary summarized the saga of the Pop-Tart.
“Bill as the plant manager of Hekman (later known as the Keebler Company) welcomed some executives from Kellogg’s who asked if he thought it would be possible for Keebler to create a new product they had in mind,” according to Post’s obituary.
“Bill is often credited for having “‘invented’ the Pop Tart. To be accurate, however, Bill would say, ‘I assembled an amazing team that developed Kellogg’s concept of a shelf-stable toaster pastry into a fine product that we could bring to market in the span of just four months.’”
William Post, Who Helped Create Pop-Tarts, Dies at 96 https://t.co/heu9qCcLyQ
— Inc. (@Inc) February 15, 2024
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Post recalled the birth of the Pop-Tart in a 2021 interview with WWMT-TV.
“In 1964 I answered the telephone and Kellogg asked if they could come see some of our equipment,” Post said. “I said, ‘yeah.’ They came and looked at our plant. … They said they wanted something for the toaster but they didn’t know how to do it.”
“We knew how to make one sheet of dough, like for a cracker, but we had to put filling between,” he said.
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He said his team took up the challenge.
“There were so many naysayers,” Post said. “Some of my good friends would say, ‘I don’t know Bill.’ They would tell us it’s not such a good idea.”
It was not simple.
“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,” Post said.
He said that a co-worker said the concept of icing was not feasible.
“Being who I was, I did it anyway. I called him and said, ‘Can I see you today?’ I went over with a toaster and frosted Pop-Tarts and put them in a toaster and they didn’t melt. He said, ‘I don’t believe it,’” Post said.
Post knew that the product he called fruit scones back then might just work because of a taste test team of two.
“My son was 13 I think, my daughter about nine. I used to bring products home. Most of the time they didn’t like what I brought home but these fruit scones — they said, ‘Dad, bring some of these home,’ and after school they would come home and put them in the toaster,” he said.
His obituary noted that there was a niche in the world of fame for the man who created the Pop-Tart.
“He was asked to tell the Pop Tart story to young people in countless classrooms and always enjoyed accommodating those requests, giving his testimony of God’s goodness to ‘the son of an immigrant,’ and bringing some of his unending supply of Pop Tarts with him,” the obituary said.
Pop-Tarts began with only four flavors, but now comes in more than 30 varieties, according to The New York Times.
