"PopTartsWorld" news and stories

Just when we thought Times Square had it all -- Pop-Tarts introduces Pop-Tarts World, a 3,000 square-foot sugar metropolis, which opened Tuesday. The store has Pop-Tarts merchandise, a custom T-shirt creation station, the "varietizer" machine and a Pop-Tarts Cafe. Slashfood caught up with Scott Schoessel, COO of Gigunda Group and just had to ask, "Why?"

"We saw an opportunity," said Shoessel. "We started watching what people had to say -- our Facebook fan page has close to 2 million fans. We wanted to bring their passion for Pop-Tarts to life in a tangible way, letting them create an experience of their own."

The most eye-catching contraption is "The Varietizer" machine (see photos below), which allows shoppers to build their own customized box of Pop-Tarts for $12. There are currently 23 different kinds of Pop-Tarts in the machine -- some will be switched out seasonally (Orange Cream, Blueberry Muffin, and Ice Cream Sandwich are current options) and the classics. What I found to be most interesting was the process of choosing your "tarts." On a computer screen, a customer is presented with all the possible choices. Before you make your final decision, the nutritional facts for the specific flavor appear. When I asked Schoessel for the reasoning behind this (I found seeing all those calories listed to be a turn-off), he said "Kellogg's takes nutrition very seriously -- it's also a good way to provide information if people have food allergies."

Photos and more after the jump ...