History
The history of General Mills fruit snacks
From the debut of Fruit Roll-Ups to designer shoes from Gushers, General Mills fruit snacks have been delighting consumers for decades.
The frenzy for fruit snacks begins
Research and development on the concept of fruit snacks started in 1975 in the desserts division at General Mills when a new fruit filling was being developed for a cake mix.
At the time, another company had a “fruit leather” product that General Mills used as a benchmark to develop a similar, but better, product.
Our version was tested and revised until it was ready to go into test markets in 1979.
You just might recognize the name – Fruit Roll-Ups!
Fruit Roll-Ups officially moved into the Betty Crocker division of the company in 1980 and was advertised as a nutritious and satisfying snack.
While fruit snacks debuted in the late 70s, there wasn’t a time quite like the 90s that saw a frenzy for these sweet, gummy morsels.
In the 90s, General Mills introduced a Fruit Roll-Up mascot: the Great Rolupo, a wizard who enticed kids to enjoy a rainbow of fruit flavors.
While Rolupo was only around until 1991, he left his mark by giving fans one of the most iconic fruit snack features: the peel-out shape.