Focusing on the FACS and Other Important Items -- Part III
Business Essentials
October 16, 2024
Business Essentials has kept very busy this first quarter! We have learned about business in a very broad, general overview of necessary knowledge as we move forward. Currently, we just finished a unit about Business Ethics. To further explore this unit, the students watched Foods that Built America – Lines in the Sand. This particular episode visits America 10 years after the Civil War and showcases the birth of many everyday common products we take for granted. Food during the time period covered in the video was very dangerous, unsafe and caused many health issues… and even death.
The students are learning about a snapshot in time, while also learning a very important skill of taking notes. They have ample opportunity to discuss the video, use inference skills and of course identify good and bad ethics on display. They are also learning about business titans who helped propel this nation to mass produce packaged food items from coast to coast using a “new” transportation technology called The Transcontinental Railroad. Foods and companies we are exploring in this segment are: Kelloggs Cereal, Post Cereal, Heinz Corporation, and Coca Cola.
Do you know where the logo for Heinz 57 came from?
a). The numbers are Heinz's favorite numbers
b) Numbers of varieties sold
c) The address of the first factory for Heinz
d) The year Henry Heinz was born
Did you know that Kellogg's Cereal had its beginnings in a sanatorium owned by Dr. John Kellogg? He created granola and it was fed to individuals who came to his sanatorium to get better. In the late 1800's, consuming food was a very risky and dangerous situation. There was not any refrigeration nor did good food supply sources exist. Many times food was spoiled or tainted before it ever got a chance to be offered to the consumer. In order to make pickles to appear "greener", many food vendors added copper to the pickle barrel. To make milk appear whiter, laundry bluing was added to the milk. Many people suffered from stomach cancer and other gastrointestinal issues. In the late 1800's breakfast didn't truly exist. Breakfast consisted of leftovers from the supper the night before. Dr. John Kellogg's brother, William, recognized the potential wealth involved in selling the cereal to people outside the sanatorium and wanted to sell their one of a kind granola to the mass population. Dr. John refused. A patient Charles W. Post arrived at the sanatorium and wasn't able to pay for his stay. He worked in the kitchen of the sanatorium helping to make the granola. He had a front row seat to see how popular it was. One night, Charles W. Post snuck into the kitchen, stole the recipes for the granola and left to start his own company with ill gained goods. This sparked a battle between Kellogg's cereal and Post cereal that would last for decades... all because of C.W. Posts questionable business ethics. Also, did you know that the creation of Kellogg's Corn Flakes was a complete accident??? Ask you student how this happened!
The students were able to see the beginnings of Coca Cola and the transformations that took place over the years for it to become the company it is today. They learned that there is a 7x formula that set the tone for the original Coke formula. They also learned that in the early days of this company that an early form of franchising was utilized to help create a system across the United States for Coca Cola to expand. They also got to see some incredible business ethics involved in within the infancy of this company too... unreal the tactics that took place among the turn of the century in the late 1800's! The kind of stuff that leaves you on the edge of your seat!
We are on the eve of the students being tested over their note taking skills… so the proof of how well they embrace this assignment has yet to be recognized!
Our next unit will cover Business Organizations in which the students will learn in depth about the seven different types of businesses. We will cover sole proprietorship, partnerships, corporations, LLC's, Profit, Non-Profit, and Franchise.
The next Foods That Built America we will watch is Season I Episode II called Best Served Cold. It is truly a nail biter! It features Milton Hershey and Frank and Forrest Mars. Check them out! It is incredible and amazing to think how cutting edge, forward thinking and innovative these human beings were for the time period
