What’s Happening With Breakfast Cereals?

As the co-author of a new book on breakfast cereals, I’m tracking what’s happening with them with great interest.

Three recent articles describe what’s currently happening with the cereal industry.

I. Christopher Doering in Food Dive: Can WK Kellogg save cereal?  After years of sales declines amid a shift in eating habits, executives at the Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes manufacturer have a plan to give the category a wake-up call.

• Thousands of cereal-related jobs have disappeared over the years in Battle Creek, which at the beginning of the 20th century was home to more than 100 companies producing the breakfast staple.
• During the last decade, cereal consumption has fallen as shoppers view the product as highly processed, sugar-laden and lacking many of the daily nutrients they need. Hurried consumers also are turning to more on-the-go options, such as bars, or just skipping breakfast altogether instead of eating a bowl of cereal at home.

II. Kim Severson in the New York Times: Cereal Is in a Crunch. Can a Health Pitch Save It? As more Americans turn away from the snap, crackle and sugar, the industry is trying to capitalize on our current obsession with wellness.

• Cereal is in trouble. Despite a brief glimmer of growth during the pandemic, the nearly $13 billion business in the United States has gone soggy. Shoppers last year bought 13 percent less cereal than in 2021, according to Nielsen IQ. Despite price hikes, dollar sales are declining, too.
• Mix in pressure from the “Make America Healthy Again” movement’s push for less-processed food, in addition to the rise of GLP-1 drugs and higher prices for what used to be a budget-stretcher, and you can understand why cereal executives are worried.

Severson quotes us about our book.

• Decades of advertising, food-science advances and mountains of sugar followed, transforming cereal into what the nutritionist Marion Nestle calls “vitamin-supplemented cookies” in her new book, “Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America’s Favorite Breakfast Food.”
• She wrote it with Lisa Sutherland, a former vice president for nutrition at the Kellogg Company and the interim president of Jacksonville University. “The more things change, the more things stay the same in the cereal industry,” Dr. Sutherland said. “They just keep cycling back to their roots.”

III. Ted Kyle in ConscienHealth: Will Protein and Fiber Save the Ailing Cereal Business?  The breakfast cereal business has a problem. After a brief reprieve during the pandemic, sales are hurting again. They’re down 13 percent from 2021.

Kyle produced this terrific AI illustration of my current favorite example of hilarious marketing.

And then there’s this item:

WK Kellogg bets on nutrition and schools to revitalize cereal: As cereal sales come under pressure, the company is reformulating iconic brands with more protein and fiber and less sugar while introducing school-focused products designed to win over the next generation of eaters… Read more

Comment: Sugar Coated explains the history of all this and why it is happening.  Enjoy!

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