The Cereal Cabinet

Back in October I reported on the launch of a Cereality-type restaurant being launched in Iowa. Since that time Cereality has put pressure on this and several other imitators to avoid copying to closely. The Iowa restaurant was originally to be called "Cerealogy", but has sinced changed its name to "The Cereal Cabinet". Here's a story from the Iowa City Press-Citizen on the new restaurant.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, The+Cereal+Cabinet, breakfastbowl

 

70's versions of Cap'n Crunch

Cereal has been an important part of our culture, but not only the cereal itself but everything about it, including the packaging.

 

Here are some photos of Cap'n Crunch boxes from the 70's. These are currently on sale on ebay (auctions 7200883430, 7200887034, 7200885432)

 

Cap'n Crunch is one of those cereals that has appeared in a number of different varieties over the years. These are certainly some of the more interesting ones.

 

A great dose of nostalgia!

 

  

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Cap'n+Crunch, nostalgia, breakfastbowl

Bloggers and cereal

Here are some noteworthy blog postings from the past week regarding cereal:

 

Bloghungry examines the changing of the Cookie Crisp characters over time.

 

A Heart for Homeschool eats popcorn as cereal as part of a Thanksgiving project (Post 1, Post 2)

 

So... devises a mathematical equation (M+c=w) which defines the yearning for a particular cereal.

 

Doggie News is critical of Nestle's packaging for Chocapic, believeing that it could send the wrong message to dog owners.

 

Papa's House Blog ties in eating Corn Pops with Christian theology.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl

Cereal lady makes a difference

Just in time for Thanksgiving...

 

A positive story about a women in Madison, Wisconsin known as the "Cereal Lady". For over 17 years Alice Lundeen has donated over 50 boxes of cereal a week to the Salvation Army to make sure less fortunate children get a good breakfast!

 

Story at WKOW 27 ABC.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, charity, Salvation+Army, breakfastbowl

 

Cereality promotion in Old Navy

I have learned that Cereality will be running a promotion at Old Navy stores across the U.S. this coming Friday morning during the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush.

 

The first customers arriving after 7am will receive a taste of Cereality's "Jolly Ol' Breakfast Bar" that has the flavor of cranberry and vanilla. In two stores, one in Chicago and the other in San Francisco, pajama-clad Cereologists will on hand.

 

Sounds like a cool promotion to get Cereality better known in areas where they will be hopefully expanding.

 

I guess I'll be up early Friday morning!

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Cereality, Old+Navy, breakfastbowl

 

Had your bran today?

Creative advertising for Kellogg's All-Bran on the back of restroom stall doors. Speaks for itself.

 

(From Adverblog)

 

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, advertising, bran, All+Bran, Kellogg, breakfastbowl

 

Cereal premium starts man on road to success

The Beford, Indiana Times-Mail has an interesting story of a man who, as a child, began growing pumpkins because of a free package of seeds in a cereal box. Over the years he has become a very successful pumpkin farmer!

 

LINK

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, pumpkin, breakfastbowl

 

Bloggers and cereal

Noteworthy blog postings regarding cereal in the last week:

 

Your smiley guide identifies "cheeriosclerosis" (also know as "hardening of the cereal"), caused my men leaving cereal out.

 

Pancake Man believes that it is not socially acceptable for a mature adult to eat Cocoa Puffs.

 

Lauren Knox records her Science Fair presentation (including PowerPoint), demonstrating that generic cereals get soggier than name-brand ones.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl

 

Kellogg's and King Kong

In case you haven't seen them, Kellogg's is promoting the new King Kong movie on some of its boxes:

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Technorati Tags: cereal, Kellogg, King+Kong, breakfastbowl

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal

A trip down memory lane!

 

Here's a link to watch a commerical from the late 80's of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal from Ralston:

 

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/880/

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Teenage+Mutant+Ninja+Turtles, Commericals, Cereal

 

Breakfast Candy

The Sacramento Bee newspaper has a brief, but interesting article (reprinted at journalnow.com) that examines the place of cereal within our culture. Essentially, "cereal appeals to our inner child most any time of the day".

Worth reading.

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Technorati Tags : cereal, culture, nostalgia, breakfastbowl

Bloggers and cereal

Last week was another quiet week on the blogosphere concerning cereal. But, here are some highlights:

Davey's Journal Time! features a collection of photos from old cereal boxes. Neat!

mt2d2 BlogLand ponders the normalcy of everday life, with the example that "eating cereal seems human"

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Technorati Tags : cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl

A true cereal killer

The New York Post reports that a man threw his mother's pit bull out of a window to it's death because the dog ate his oatmeal.

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Technorati Tags: cereal, dog, breakfastbowl, BreakfastBowl, The Breakfast Bowl

You can buy ANYTHING on ebay

I hope the Internet doesn't come to a screeching halt with everyone hitting this site once I tell you about it, but here goes anyway:

twinglesin2001 is selling a piece of Honeycomb cereal with the shape of batman in the middle of the piece. By buying this, not only will you get the cereal piece, but also the box it came in! Starting bid: $0.99.

3 .... 2 ... 1... GO get it!

(It's item 5635608586 )

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Technorati Tags : cereal, ebay, Honeycomb, Batman, breakfastbowl

Rick Dees launches "Cheerioke" Contest

A few weeks back I reported that General Mills inititated a "Cheerioke" karaoke promotion as part of its new Yogurt Burst Cheerios.

This week radio personality Rick Dees launched the contest at the Mall of America in Minneapolis as part of nationwide karaoke events.

LINK

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Rick+Dees, Cheerios, General+Mills, karaoke, breakfastbowl

Liquid Cereal

While introduced earlier this year, this is the first that I've come across Liquid Cereal.

Apparently its real cereal and fat free milk blended into a satisfying (?) beverage, especially for people on the go. It comes in four flavors: fruit, apple & cinnamon, peanut butter, and chocolate.

I haven't tried it, but while it is an interesting concept, I'm not convinced that it can be as good as the real thing (at least for us purists!)

LINK for BevNet review.

UPDATE 11/13/05 - After contacting the company they replied to tell me that they are currently reformulating the formula to make it better.

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Liquid+Cereal, breakfastbowl

Rats love cereal!

A new study published by the American Psychological Association examines the reasons why we tend to overeat. In a study using rats, researchers discovered some of the factors that prompt people to binge eat. For example, they discovered that rats would eat a "highly palatable" chocolate breakfast cereal even when they were full, but would avoid their normal food.

 

The moral of the story: Keep your cereal away from rats!

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, nutrition, breakfastbowl

 

Bloggers on cereal

Compared to the previous week, last week was relatively quiet among bloggers concerning cereal. Here are a couple of noteworthy posts:

 

from rocks addressing personal growth by examining morning routines including eating cereal.

 

The Backburner does a review in "Honey Bunches of Disappointment"

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, blogs, breakfastbowl

 

Cereal art

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the California University of Pennsylvannia is featuring an exhibit entitled "The American Cereal Box: Designs for Kids from the 1960's-1990's" at the university's Gallery of Fine Art.

 

"The exhibit is being mounted by Cal U art professor R. Scott Lloyd. It features pieces from one of the largest collections of cereal boxes in the nation, assembled by the professor's brother, Ross Lloyd"

 

Sounds like a great trip down memory lane!

 

Story Link

University Press Release

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, art, breakfastbowl

 

Frankenberry, Count Chocula

It's not really new, but especially coming off of Halloween cereal lovers will appreciate this Toonlets.com modern creation of a 70's-style TV commercial for Frankenberry and Count Chocula.

 

http://www.toonlets.com/frank01.html

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Frankenberry, Count+Chocula, commercials, breakfastbowl

 

Wheaties trivia

Wheaties has certainly created a unique position for itself because of its sports-themed boxes. Here's some Wheaties trivia from the Auburn Journal in California:

 

Wheaties have been breakfast of champions since 1933, when a sign sporting the logo was put up on the left field wall of Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, Minn. Here are a few facts about the whole-wheat flake cereal to chew on:
* Wheaties started out in 1924 as Washburn's Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes. The name was changed soon thereafter in an employee name-that-flake contest.
* Wheaties-sponsored baseball broadcasts on radio were big in the 1930s, at one time spreading to 95 stations. A broadcaster nicknamed "Dutch" in Des Moines, Iowa was voted most popular Wheaties announcer in the nation and won a trip to the Chicago Cubs training camp in California. The announcer took a screen test and the rest is history. "Dutch" was the over-the-air handle of future president Ronald Reagan.
* Bloopers were common. Both baseball ironman Lou Gehrig and heavyweight boxing champ Max Baer inadvertently blurted out over the air they were Wheaties eaters. The radio program sponsors weren't too happy. They manufactured competing cereals.
* Seven athletes have been chosen as Wheaties spokespersons. Bob Richards, a fitness crusader and two-time Olympic pole vault champion, was the first - chosen in 1958 from 500 candidates. Others have been 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medallist Bruce Jenner, gymnast Mary Lou Retton, football legend Walter Payton, tennis superstar Chris Evert, basketball star Michael Jordan and golf champion Tiger Woods.
* Gehrig was the first athlete to appear on a Wheaties box - in 1934.
* The 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins were the first team to appear on the package.
* The first female to appear on the Wheaties box was aviator Elinor Smith in 1934. Babe Didrickson appeared a year later, becoming the first female athlete to appear.
* Richards was the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties box. Mary Lou Retton in 1984 was the first female athlete on the front.
* Michael Jordan has had more face time on a Wheaties box than anyone else. His Airness has been on the box 18 times.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Wheaties, trivia, breakfastbowl

 

Tony's Turboz

In Canada, Kellogg has introduced an innovative cereal meal replacement for kid's called Tony's Turboz. It's designed to be a complete nutrititional meal in a bowl, rich in vitamins and minerals, fiber, and protein from soy.

 

This is not really a new product, as it appears to be same as "Tiger Power" which has been in the U.S. for several months now. In my limited observation, Tiger Power does not appear to have caught on, possibly because the packaging and marketing have not adequately communicated its nutritional qualities to parents. The Canadian version appears to have learned from this, and provides a much more direct message.

 

 

 

 

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Kellogg, nutrition, breakfastbowl

 

 

Kellogg awarded for food donations

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that Kellogg was awarded as "Donor of the Year" from the nation's largest food bank network, America's Second Harvest. Kellogg donated more than 20 million pounds of cereal and other foods to various causes, especially following Hurricane Katrina.

 

Way to go Kellogg!

 

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Technorati Tags : Kellogg, charity, breakfastbowl

 

Cereal wars - update

In some ways the battle for the emerging cereal restaurant market is getting tiring, but it is so noteworthy that I will provide significant updates.

 

The Daily Pennsylvannian (student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvannia) provides a good overview of the current battle, and reports that Cerealogy (one of Cereality's competitors) is changing its name to avoid trademark infringement.

 

FreeCulture.org is continuing its Cereal Solidarity campaign against Cereality's insistence on business method patents, but is clarifying that it is not trying to be confrontational, and that it even likes its overall restaurant concept.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Cereality, Cerealogy, restaurants, breakfastbowl

 

Cereality in expansion mode

Cereality has been at the center of interest for cereal enthusiasts, as their innovative cereal restaurant concept has been getting significant publicity.

 

Yesterday, the company announced that they will be pursuing more aggressive expansion beginning in 2006. They are exploring potential partnerships for franchising and licensing initiatives.

 

According to their press release they are "determined to bring the feeling of 'Always Saturday Morning(tm)" to thousands of consumers around the country quickly and in the signature 'Cereality way,' with a huge amount of choice."

 

Choice? Obviously in menu choices, but the issue of competition still remains. It appears that they are wanting to emphasize growth rather than focus on their protectionist actions. Co-founder David Roth says:

"Our response to our friends out there is that Cereality's defense of its intellectual property against copycats is, and will continue to be, aggressive," though he says that the company is shifting their attention away from an earlier defense of its pending patents and instead, focusing on the new expansion strategy. However, Roth adds that the company will closely monitor when competitors "put Cereality's brand components through a copy machine. Straight-out mimicry is just plain bad business and we have trademark protection for that sort of thing."

It is exciting to see the growth of this restaurant concept (PLEASE OPEN ONE NEAR ME!), but hopefully Cereality will realize that their success will be even greater with healthy competition. They can't afford the negative publicity of being perceived as the bully.

 

LINK to Press Release.

 

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Technorati Tags : cereal, Cereality, franchises, breakfastbowl