Benjamin Boster

You're listening to a Glassbox Media Podcast.

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about Cheez-It Crackers.

Cheez-It is a brand of cheese crackers manufactured by Kelanova through its Sunshine Biscuits division.

Approximately 26 by 24 millimeters, the Square Crackers are made with wheat flour, vegetable oil, cheese, skim milk, salt, and spices.

The history of Cheez-It Crackers began in 1907, when Weston Green founded the Green and Green Company in Dayton, Ohio.

Green's company produced a variety of baked snack foods, such as Dayton crackers, graham crackers, ginger snaps, and during World War I, hardtack.

On March 31, 1921, Green introduced Cheez-It crackers, commonly called Cheez-Its, as a new product.

The company marketed the cracker as a baked rarebit, a reference to a dish of melted cheese over toast.

On May 23, 1921, the first Cheez-It logo was submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

In the early 1930s, the Kansas City-based Sunshine Biscuits, which was known as the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company until 1947, acquired the Green and Green Company, and with it came the Cheez-It Cracker.

Sunshine Biscuits expanded the distribution and popularity of Cheez-It Crackers across the country.

In 1996, Keebler acquired Sunshine Biscuits, and in 2001, Kellogg's acquired Keebler, bringing Cheez-It crackers under its umbrella.

In late 2023, Kellogg's spun off its North American cereal division as W.K.

Kellogg Company.

The company's snack food business, including Cheez-It, became part of the renamed Kelanova.

On August 14, 2024, Kelanova announced Mars Inc.

has entered into an agreement to acquire the Kelanova brand.

The deal is anticipated to close early in 2025.

Cheez-Its were officially launched in Canada in January 2020, as well as Australia in April 2024.