Cereal is blasé. But that’s not coming from me. I’m among the 93% of Americans who has a box in the house. No doubt, you do too. That 93% statistic comes from the Mintel report Hot and Cold Cereals—U.S., August 2014.
What the consumer survey for the report likely didn’t ask is, “Do you keep cereal in the house as a last resort, or is it your go-to breakfast?” According to the report, cereal sales are falling. Kellogg’s overall sales declined 5% in the 52 week period ending May 18, 2014. General Mills’ sales fell 3% during the same period.
Why? Because we are all smarter about carbs and sugar than we used to be. We also have more options at restaurants. In case you weren’t aware, there’s a breakfast war going on out there. According to a cereal-woe story in the July 31, 2014, issue of The Wall Street Journal, the two cereal brands “are struggling as consumers turn away from sit-down breakfasts and carbohydrate-heavy foods in favor of higher-protein, more portable items like Greek yogurt and breakfast sandwiches from fast-food drive-through windows.”
Here are some of the more recent fast-food breakfast break-outs:
- Taco John’s just added a Spicy Chorizo Breakfast Burrito to its menu.
- Jack in the Box jumped from burgers to burritos for breakfast with the recent launch of The Meat Lovers Breakfast Burrito with sausage, ham and bacon and its new Grande Sausage Breakfast Burrito with sausage, hash browns, bacon, and the chain’s new creamy Sriracha sauce.
- Taco Bell, which is fairly new to the morning daypart, is testing some tempting new items. The biscuit taco is a taco-shaped biscuit filled with either sausage, egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese; crispy chicken with country gravy; or crispy chicken with honey. It also has some new A.M. Crunchwraps: the A.M. California Crunchwrap with bacon, hashbrown, eggs, guacamole, cheddar cheese and pico de gallo, and the A.M. Country Crunchwrap with sausage, hashbrown, eggs, gravy and cheddar cheese.
- Chick-fil-A is building up its breakfast menu with some test additions featuring Chicken and Waffles, Cinnamon Swirls, Maple Waffles, Egg White Chicken Grill, a Greek Yogurt Parfait and Multigrain Oatmeal with Fresh Fruit.
I expect all this will lead to further innovation with coffee, which is already a hot category right now. McDonald’s is feeling the breakfast pinch and is using free coffee as a fish lure now through Sept. 29. Those who buy breakfast there get a free small cup of coffee with their order.
The way I see it, all this presents an opportunity for coffee equipment manufacturers. What new thing can they devise with quick-serve chains that will improve coffee and its pouring performance? Can they do something to help add flavors, make it faster, frothier, more pure-tasting, etc.?
But back to cereal. Kellogg’s and General Mills are not taking their sagging sales sitting down. What can we expect to see from them to help revive the cereal aisle? They are already extending deeper into hot cereal products and breakfast bars. Kellogg’s has breakfast shakes. General Mills is counting on older consumers to reminisce the old days and has launched retro packages for five of its classic brands (Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Reese’s Puffs). The packaging looks like it did when each of those cereals launched decades ago.
So when you sit there slurping the milk in your bowl, reading the back of the box like you used to do, you may be taken back to the good old days when cereal was your breakfast food and the box was your entertainment.
Tell me what you think.
Jody Shee
