WhereIsAtlas · Food

Jell-O

The wobbly dessert that became an American icon — now a Kraft Heinz brand reformulating its way back into relevance

Transformed — Jell-O is no longer a company — it is a brand owned by Kraft Heinz, which has held it since the 2015 merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz. Sales have drifted down for years, a planned break-up of its parent announced in 2025 was paused in 2026, and the brand's answer has been to reformulate: new versions without artificial dyes or artificial sweeteners.

Jell-O began in 1897 in LeRoy, New York, where Pearle Bixby Wait — a carpenter who also made cough syrup — boiled gelatin, sugar and fruit flavouring into a powder that set into a shimmering, wobbling dessert. His wife, May, is credited with the name. The Waits sold the rights to Orator Francis Woodward in 1899 for $450, and his Genesee Pure Food Company turned a small-town novelty into a national habit through relentless advertising, free recipe booklets and a smiling mascot known as the Jell-O Girl.

For much of the 20th century Jell-O was more than a dessert; it was a piece of Americana. It moved from the printed page to broadcasting, sponsoring the hugely popular "Jell-O Program" on radio with Jack Benny in the 1930s, and it became the binding agent of a whole era of salads, moulds, aspics and potlucks. In the mountain west — the stretch of Utah and its neighbours that became known, half-jokingly, as the "Jell-O belt" — it reached the level of cultural identity. Utah named Jell-O its official state snack in 2001.

The brand's independent life ended long ago. The Jell-O Company was absorbed into the Postum Cereal Company in 1923, which grew into General Foods, which in turn merged into Kraft in 1989. When Kraft Foods combined with Heinz in 2015 under 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway, Jell-O became one of the many legacy labels in the Kraft Heinz cupboard alongside Kraft macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer and Velveeta.

That cupboard has since become a problem. Jell-O's sales have declined for years as shoppers moved away from sugary, processed convenience food and as nostalgia stopped converting into purchases; the parent company has repeatedly missed revenue expectations and written down the value of its big legacy brands. In September 2025 Kraft Heinz announced it would split into two separately listed companies, a plan that would have reshuffled dozens of household names — Jell-O among them. In 2026 the company's new chief executive paused the break-up, moved the listing to the New York Stock Exchange and committed fresh investment to a turnaround instead.

Jell-O's own answer has been to change the recipe rather than the name. In 2026 the brand launched a reformulated "Simply" range made without artificial sweeteners or synthetic dyes, coloured instead with juices from fruit and vegetables — a quiet admission that the dessert's future depends less on nostalgia than on passing the ingredient test modern shoppers apply to everything else in the aisle.

Quick facts

Introduced

1897, LeRoy, New York

Invented by

Pearle Bixby Wait; named by his wife, May Wait

Bought for

$450 by Orator Francis Woodward, 1899

Owner

Kraft Heinz (since the 2015 Kraft–Heinz merger)

Heyday

Radio sponsor of Jack Benny in the 1930s; a mid-century pantry staple

Cultural home

The "Jell-O belt" — Utah named Jell-O its state snack in 2001

Decline

Years of falling sales and a dated, processed image

2020s twist

Parent's break-up announced in September 2025, paused in 2026

Today

Reformulated "Simply" line with no artificial dyes or sweeteners

Museum

Jell-O Gallery, LeRoy, New York

Sources

1. Jell-O - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-15)
2. Jell-O is jiggling its way toward more natural ingredients — AP News (2026-09-15)
3. Kraft Heinz to split into two companies as financial struggles mount — Al Jazeera (2026-09-15)
4. Kraft Heinz "pauses" company split — Just Drinks (2026-09-15)

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