For years, W. K. Kellogg assisted his brother in research to improve the vegetarian diet of the Battle Creek Sanitarium's patients, especially in the search for wheat-based granola.

[1] It is generally agreed that upon being called out one night, John Kellogg left a batch of wheat-berry dough behind.

Soon the flaked wheat was being packaged to meet hundreds of guest mail-order requests after they left the Sanitarium.

As a result, the brothers fell out, and W. K. launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906.

The resulting legal battle, which included a trial that lasted an entire month, ended in December 1920 when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Will's favor.