Quaker’s Raisins & Spice Instant Oatmeal has returned to grocery store shelves after periods of limited availability at major retailers such as Walmart.
Instant oatmeal first appeared on the market in 1965. Quaker launched its own version in 1966 as a convenient hot cereal packaged in single-serve packets. The brand expanded into flavored varieties beginning in 1970 with Maple & Brown Sugar as the initial offering. Raisins & Spice emerged as one of the early popular flavors alongside flavors like Apples & Cinnamon, Cinnamon & Spice, and plain oatmeal, with assortment packs also offered. Over the years, different varieties have arrived, including Peaches & Cream; Raisin, Dates & Walnuts; and Strawberries & Cream.
The idea of fast-cooking oats dates from 1922, with the debut of Quaker Quick Oats, one of the first convenience oatmeal products, predating the instant format by more than four decades. The company, established in 1877 and now part of PepsiCo, positioned instant oatmeal packets as an easy, on-the-go breakfast option.
Wikipedia describes the instant variety of oats has having a different “mouthfeel” as the instant oatmeal is “finely milled to decrease cooking time, and the oatmeal is treated with chemical preservatives and flavoring.” The paper packets make it a popular for travel and camping, and its dry nature also give it usefulness during travel, when restaurants are not available.
The Raisins & Spice variety consists of whole grain oats combined with raisins, sugar, salt, spices, and natural flavor. The oatmeal has a distinctively different taste than stove cooked oatmeal. The oats are thinner, so that it can be quickly cooked with only hot water.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal is sold as Quaker “Oat So Simple”in the U.K.
In the 1970s, Instant Quaker Oatmeal packaging featured a distinctive nostalgic style with a groovy “ye olde” general store aesthetic. Boxes and packets used retro illustrations and imagery to promote the flavors, emphasizing a wholesome, old-fashioned appeal. Ironically, the current version has a more nostalgic feel than the original 1960s and 1970s packaging, and the boy featured in advertising had the same type of look as Little Mikey and his brother Tommy, of Life Cereal.
The lettering from the 1970s is a heavy, condensed uppercase sans-serif typeface with thick, blocky strokes and high contrast. The style is a step beyond Trade Gothic Bold Condensed or similar heavy gothic display faces popular in mid to late 20th-century packaging, with a stretched “S” and “N” made as an arch.
The original package design for the oatmeal may have been done by Saul Bass & Associates. That firm abstracted the original Quaker Oats man into a simpler and redacted symbol (see images blow) that could be rendered in black and white. Hal Morgan’s book on logos, Symbols of America, said that the Quaker Oats man first smiled in 1945, in a logo redo by Jim Nash.
The flavor fonts on the original packaging have distinctive heavy, rounded display font with soft, bulbous terminals and generous letterspacing. This is a classic 1970s look, echoing Cooper Black (or a near-identical contemporary), a typeface widely used in food packaging of the period for its friendly, approachable, and slightly “groovy” character. The flavor names sit inside warm brown rounded banners or ovals, enhancing the “ye olde general store” aesthetic found in the hot water teapot pouring into the bowls.
Over the decades, there have been many variations of graphics and themes. The Raisins & Spice variety was not trademarked individually, but at one point in 1985, Quaker Oats registered Fruit & Cream as its own brand and logo. Below, some versions of the Quaker Oats man, and oats logos from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
