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Traditionally, folks dumped it in a bowl, poured on the milk and ate their cereal at the family breakfast table. The monotony of this ritual, along with less morning mealtime because of get-up-and-go lifestyles, turned many consumers, particularly adults, off of breakfast cereals during the ‘90s. However, perhaps thanks to the sitcom “Seinfeld,” any-time-of-day cereal eaters came out of the closet, and today, consumers no longer view cereal merely as a morning dish. According to research conducted by the Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, MI (the survey sampled 400 adults ages 30 to 35 years old), although nearly three-fourths (72%) of breakfast eaters enjoy cereal only in the morning, more than one-fourth (26%) of people snack on it at other times of the day. What does these consumption habits represent to cereal manufacturers? One word: opportunity. It’s a new time for cereal, and the endless formulating possibilities bring good news to a food category that, just a decade ago, was shrinking.
Cereal, luckily, still for kids
Regardless of the ample opportunities each day to enjoy cereal, marketers must remember that for many, cereal is still for breakfast. And breakfast is the most important meal of the day: Studies show that breakfast eaters experience improved strength and endurance in the late morning and possess a better attitude toward work or school, as compared to their non-breakfast-eating peers. Skipping breakfast causes blood sugar to stay too low to concentrate. Breakfast also helps kids perform at peak capacity.
In a six-month study of about 100 elementary school students in Boston, researchers found that children who consumed less than half of the energy recommended for breakfast had significantly poorer attendance, punctuality and grades at school. They also had more behavioral problems. After getting breakfast at school for six months, their attendance, math grades and behavior improved.
The good news with kids is that, as consumers, sweet, brightly colored, boldly flavored cereals will forever be attractive to them. The advertising, promotions and other marketing gimmicks associated with kids’ cereals serve as the final hook for making them a mainstay consumer segment. And even though a serving of many kids’ cereals contains as much sugar as some candy bars, in many parents’ minds, cereal is one of the best disguises for delivering vital nutrients to their children. A few years ago, scientists with the USDA Agricultural Research Service Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, showed that ready-to-eat breakfast cereals fortified with a moderate amount of calcium could significantly boost kids’ calcium intake.
What’s new with kids’ cereals these days is not so much the product as the way it is marketed. For example, in February, Kellogg debuted the latest addition to its line of Disney cereals: Chocolate Mud & Bugs™. Inspired by “The Lion King,” when milk is added to the crunchy rock-shaped cereal, kids can stir up muddy chocolate milk and spoon up colorful marshmallow bugs. It’s interactive eating because they are digging for food just like the characters Pumbaa and Timon.
When you look closely, that cereal is really nothing more than not-so-perfectly round chocolate puffs and standard cereal marshmallows simply shaped like bugs. But kids don’t know this, nor do they probably realize that it’s made with whole grains and fortified with 11 vitamins and minerals — but most parents do.
The standard package, then some
After all, according to Len Johnson, director of food technical services, Roche Vitamins Inc., Parsippany, NJ: “Ready-to-eat cereals are the most common fortification vehicle, and have been since the 1940s. In fact, it is more common to fortify than not to fortify.”
A standard 11 vitamins and minerals typically are used for fortification: vitamins A, C and D, iron, zinc and the six Bs — thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, folic acid and B12. For some manufacturers, a 12th nutrient — calcium — has become part of the standard fortifying package.
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