General Mills, Inc.
Packaged Foods & Consumer Packaged GoodsFounded 1866- Updated June 2025
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: June 2025
CorpDigest
General Mills, Inc.
Company History
Founded 1866 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Last reviewed: 2025-06-06 · By Swet Parvadiya
Founded in 1866 as the Washburn Milling Company and incorporated as General Mills in 1928, the company traces its operational roots to the early days of the Minneapolis flour milling industry. The origin story of General Mills is not a single founding moment, but a complex, century-long tapestry of technological innovation, catastrophic disasters, and corporate consolidations that began in 1866, when Cadwallader C. Washburn, a visionary industrialist and former Union Army officer, built the Washburn 'A' Mill on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, a facility that would soon become the largest flour mill in the world, capable of producing enough flour to bake 12 million loaves of bread every single day. However, the early days of the Washburn mill were fraught with danger; the milling process generated massive amounts of highly combustible flour dust, which hung in the air like a thick fog, creating a ticking time bomb that would inevitably explode. The new company immediately began expanding beyond flour, launching iconic brands like Bisquick in 1930, Cheerios (originally called CheeriOats) in 1941, and Betty Crocker cake mixes in 1947, transforming General Mills from a simple flour miller into a global food powerhouse that would dominate the American kitchen for the next century.
Cadwallader C. Washburn (1817–1882) was a visionary industrialist, politician, and former Union Army officer who is widely considered the father of the modern flour milling industry. Born in Maine, Washburn moved to Minneapolis in the 1850s, recognizing the immense potential of the water power at St. Anthony Falls to drive industrial manufacturing. In 1866, he built the Washburn 'A' Mill on the west bank of the Mississippi River, a facility that utilized the latest milling technology to produce high-quality flour for the national market. Washburn was a ruthless and innovative businessman, constantly seeking ways to improve the efficiency and quality of his milling operations. When the Washburn 'A' Mill exploded in 1878, destroying the largest flour mill in the world and killing 18 workers, Washburn used the disaster as an opportunity to completely redesign the milling process, investing heavily in the steel roller mill, a technology that produced a superior, purer flour and made the mills safer. His leadership transformed Minneapolis into the 'Flour Milling Capital of the World,' and his business model—industrialized manufacturing, technological innovation, and massive scale—became the template for the modern consumer packaged goods industry.
John Crosby (1838–1922) was a brilliant sales and marketing executive who partnered with Cadwallader C. Washburn in 1880 to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, a merger that laid the foundation for the modern General Mills. Crosby understood that flour was a commodity, and that the only way to build a loyal customer base was to create a brand that consumers could trust. He pioneered the use of national advertising, spending massive sums to build brand awareness for the Washburn-Crosby 'Gold Medal' flour, and he insisted on the highest quality standards, ensuring that every barrel of flour met the company's exact specifications. But Crosby's most significant contribution was his insistence on personalizing the brand; in 1921, when the company received thousands of letters from consumers asking for baking advice, Crosby's team decided to create a fictional 'home economist' named Betty Crocker to sign the replies, a move that created a deep emotional connection with consumers that persists to this day. Crosby's leadership transformed Washburn-Crosby from a simple flour miller into a national brand powerhouse, and his business model—brand building, quality control, and consumer connection—became the template for the entire consumer packaged goods industry.
Cadwallader C. Washburn builds the Washburn 'A' Mill on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, a facility that would soon become the largest flour mill in the world, capable of producing enough flour to bake 12 million loaves of bread every single day.
A catastrophic explosion destroys the Washburn 'A' Mill, killing 18 workers and leveling a dozen other mills along the riverfront, an event that forces the company to pioneer the steel roller milling process and fundamentally revolutionize the global flour industry.
Cadwallader Washburn partners with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, a merger that combines Washburn's manufacturing prowess with Crosby's marketing genius, laying the foundation for the modern General Mills.
Washburn-Crosby introduces Gold Medal Flour, a premium, high-quality flour that quickly becomes the best-selling flour in the United States, establishing the company's dominance in the national flour market.
The company creates the fictional 'home economist' Betty Crocker to sign replies to consumer letters, a move that personalizes the brand and creates a deep emotional connection with consumers that persists to this day.
The Washburn-Crosby Company merges with 27 other independent milling companies across the United States to form General Mills, Inc., a massive consolidation that creates the largest flour milling company in the world.
General Mills introduces Bisquick, a pre-mixed blend of flour, shortening, salt, and baking powder, revolutionizing the American kitchen by making it possible to bake biscuits in a fraction of the time.
General Mills introduces CheeriOats (later renamed Cheerios), the first ready-to-eat oat cereal, which goes on to become the best-selling cereal in the United States, generating over $3 billion in annual sales by 2024.
General Mills acquires the Pillsbury brand from Diageo in a $10.3 billion stock swap, gaining control of the dominant refrigerated dough and baking mix categories in the United States.
General Mills acquires the premium meat snacking brand EPIC Provisions for $110 million, its first major acquisition in the high-protein, better-for-you snacking category.
General Mills acquires the premium pet food brand Blue Buffalo for $8 billion, the largest pet food acquisition in history at the time, completely restructuring the company's margin profile.
General Mills executes a massive strategic pivot, deliberately rolling back prices on core SKUs by 2-4% in North America to stimulate volume recovery after three years of aggressive price increases, compressing gross margins by 150 basis points.
General Mills acquired Pillsbury from Diageo to double its size and add a portfolio of iconic American food brands including Pillsbury refrigerated dough, Green Giant vegetables, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Old El Paso Mexican foods, and Progresso soups. The deal was the largest in General Mills history and fundamentally changed the company scale and brand portfolio.
General Mills made its largest acquisition ever by purchasing Blue Buffalo, the leading natural pet food brand in the United States, to enter the fast-growing premium pet food market. Pet food was experiencing structural growth driven by pet humanization trends that consumers were trading up from commodity pet food to premium and natural options.
General Mills acquired Annie's Homegrown, the natural and organic food brand best known for its macaroni and cheese, to establish a credible presence in the organic food segment without launching entirely new brands. Annie's had strong household recognition and distribution in natural and conventional grocery channels.
In 1878 a catastrophic dust explosion destroyed the Washburn 'A' Mill in Minneapolis, killing 18 workers and leveling the largest flour mill in the world at that time. The disaster pushed the company to abandon stone grinding and pioneer the steel roller milling process, which produced a purer, higher-yield patent flour and reshaped the global flour industry.
Washburn-Crosby launched Gold Medal Flour in 1900, and it rapidly became the best-selling flour in the United States. The brand cemented the Minneapolis milling operation's national dominance and still anchors the company's baking portfolio more than 120 years later.
General Mills introduced Bisquick in 1930 as a pre-mixed blend of flour, shortening, salt, and baking powder. It let households bake biscuits in a fraction of the usual time and became one of the company's earliest convenience-food successes, establishing a template for shelf-stable baking mixes.
General Mills launched the first ready-to-eat oat cereal in 1941 as CheeriOats, later renamed Cheerios. It went on to become the best-selling cereal in the United States, generating over $3 billion in annual sales by 2024.
In fiscal 2024 General Mills saw underlying global volumes fall about 3.0%, more than offsetting a 2.0% contribution from pricing and mix. The decline was driven by consumers trading down to private label after three years of roughly 20% cumulative price increases, alongside the structural erosion of the ready-to-eat cereal category and the emergence of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.