The history of Cheez-It crackers began in 1907, when Weston Green founded the Green & Green Company in Dayton, Ohio.[1] The company produced a variety of baked snack foods such as Dayton crackers, graham crackers, gingersnaps, 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.[1][2][3][4]
In 1932, the Kansas City-based Sunshine Biscuits (which was known as the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company until 1947) acquired the Green & 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.[4] Cheez-Its were officially launched in Canada in January 2020.[5][6]
In late 2023, Kellogg's spun off its North American cereal division as WK Kellogg Co. The company's snack food business, including Cheez-It, became part of the renamed Kellanova.[7][8]
Cracker
Cheez-It crackers are 26-by-24-millimetre (1.0 by 0.94 in) rectangles, though they are often believed to be squares.[9] Cheez-It crackers are made with actual cheese, and are marketed by Kellogg's as such.[10]
Flavors and types
The original Cheez-It was the only product available until the 1980s; since then, have been over 50 different varieties of Cheez-It flavors and products, including:[11]
^Ganz, Stephanie (November 15, 2023). "Why Cheez-Its have been anything but square since 1921". Quartz. Archived from the original on February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 23, 2024. Despite marketing themselves as a square-shaped cracker, Cheez-Its measure 26 x 24 mm (1.0 by 0.94 in), making them technically rectangular.
