"breakfast cereal" news and stories

Sometimes we forget that all the products in a supermarket are actually invented by someone. They all don't just "come about" in some way. Take cereal. There are many brands and styles, but a lot of the cereal is actually the same. The difference might be in the shape of the cereal or the mascot on the box or something you add to the cereal.

But Cap 'n Crunch has a distinct taste, and the inventor of that taste, Pamela Low, passed away last week.

It's been a long time since I've eaten a bowl of cold cereal, which is surprising, since my lifestyle right now is even more turbo-charged than it was when I was eating a bowl of Special K standing over my kitchen sink at 11 PM every night for "dinner."

However, it was a nice surprise to be offered the opportunity to try a new extension of the Cheerios line of cereals: Fruity Cheerios! Not only had it been a while since I've had cereal, but it's been a while since I'd eaten something so...colorful.

If you've got kids, or are remotely familiar with popular culture and design, then you probably know KidRobot, a line of "designer" toys. Now part of the KidRobot collection are 2" tall figures of our favorite monster cereals, Franken Berry, Count Chocula, and Boo Berry. The toys are sold as part of a "random assortment," which I don't totally understand, but according to KidRobot, it "means that each item ordered will be picked out of the series at random." So you may not want to start your day off with a sugar rush from the cereal, but you can certainly say Good Morning to their spokesmonsters!

I don't eat much cold cereal anymore these days. There was, however, a period of my life when cereal was my only form of sustenance. I ate a sugar-spiked cereal for breakfast to help jump-start my day, never ate lunch, then came home close to midnight after work every night (was I insane, or was I consultant on the partner track?) and wolfed down a bowl of Special K while standing over my sink before collapsing into bed. Cereal is fast and (relatively) cheap.

So, I understand why a person (or persons) would dedicate an entire blog to the stuff. Cereal Blogger is food blog authored by some peeps from New Jersey who do nothing but muse about cereal and all things cereal-related.

If you're a cereal addict, Cereal Blogger might be worth a peek. Don't worry, I don't think the bloggers' names are Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

Kellogg's is planning to raise prices and decrease package sizes for its ready-to-eat boxed cereals this fall. The cereal giant is expected to increase its marketing budget, or at least maintain it, to make sure that customers keep buying their products in spite of pricing changes. After all, they have to convince the consumer that it is worth paying more money for less cereal for their profits to remain the same.

But is it worth it? The two main reasons that people eat cold cereal are convenience and price. A bowl of cereal takes seconds to prepare and you can get several meals out of one box. But, if given all the time and luxury of a relaxing Sunday, cereal might not be the first thing that breakfasters would reach for. A small price hike, about 2%, might not make a big difference in buying habits, but it will certainly set the stage for other cereal companies to follow in the footsteps of the largest cereal company and could even lead to further changes in pricing. When consumers realize that they are getting less than what they think they're paying for, some might stop buying cereal on a regular basis and the companies could be hurt more in the long run.

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