Aunt Jemima no more! Pearl Milling Company heading out to retailers

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (WVLA) — Almost four months after the announcement that Aunt Jemima products would be rebranded as “Pearl Milling Company,” the new-look products are finally hitting store shelves across the United States.

In February of this year, Quaker Oats announced that they would be changing the Aunt Jemima brand of pancake mix and syrup because the character’s origins were “based on a racial stereotype” from the 19th century, depicting a smiling “mammy” caricature of a slave content to serve her white masters.

You may already see Pearl Milling Company on store shelves in your neighborhood. The process of getting the Pearl Milling Company packaging out to stores started on May 31.

Shoppers should be aware that you may still see Aunt Jemima brand pancake mix and syrup for a few months until the transition is complete. A statement on parent company PepsiCo’s website advises customers searching for the rebranded goods:

We’re working diligently to keep products readily available to our consumers. Even if a product shows available in our locator, the product may not be on-shelf. We recommend either ordering via grocery delivery or calling your local store to verify.  

E-commerce sites like Amazon already have Pearl Milling products available for purchase.

Pearl Milling Company highlights some of the new packaging this way:

• Maintains bold red color, food imagery, font styles and structures
• Keeps “New Name, Same Great Taste as Aunt Jemima” on the new packaging to help transition people over to the new brand

While the product name is new, the Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in St. Joseph, Missouri and was the creator of the self-rising pancake mix sold for years under the Aunt Jemima brand.

Aside from the brand name change, Pearl Milling Company started the P.E.A.R.L. Pledge in May.

P.E.A.R.L. Pledge stands for Prosperity, Empowerment, Access, Representation and Leadership.

According to the Pearl Milling Company, the P.E.A.R.L. Pledge “is a multi-year program focused on championing the success of Black women and girls across the country.”