US loves cereals more than sex

CHICAGO: The T-shirt says it all: “95 per cent of Americans like cereal; 57 per cent like sex.” A new restaurant chain is poised to capitalise on the most important meal of the day by offering consumers tantalising combinations of their favourite cereals in trendy shops that scream fun.

Bright colours and pyjama-clad servers greet customers who are offered their choice of hot and cold cereals and toppings that range from bananas and molasses to mini marshmallows and milk balls.

Tucked into kitschy cardboard boxes and coupled with an optional “sloop” spoon that acts as a straw, Cereality is also a chance to indulge the inner child on the go.
The aim is to create a “meta-brand” that draws on the existing consumer loyalty to breakfast cereals and creates a unique experience, said co-founder David Roth over breakfast at the flagship store in the heart of Chicago’s business district. “The goal is to be ubiquitous in the culture where we’re showing up in all the places where people want cereal and being another option for people when they want to snack,” Roth said.

It has also started a catering operation serving everything from office meetings, to wedding rehearsals to the after-party for the Broadway premiere of The Pajama Game.
Quick-serve restaurants are planned for hotels, airports, college campuses and storefronts across the United States as the company prepares to launch franchise operations after having generated two years of media buzz through three prototype locations and a savvy marketing campaign.

Roth, who spent years working as a brand development consultant, came up with the idea for Cereality during a meeting with a client in New York. “He’s in a Brooks Brothers suite and snacking on Coco Puffs,” Roth said. “And he said look around, everyone’s doing it.”

Roth did some research and instead of trying to simply make cereal more portable, or to try to come up with their own cereal, Roth and his partner, Rick Bacher decided to exploit the familiarity of existing brands in a new environment.

“People have very strong emotional connection to their cereal,” Roth said.

Comfy furniture is used to create seating areas that look like living rooms, dining rooms and home-style kitchens. A sense of fun was created with snappy (and trademarked) slogans like Always Saturday Morning and the Moo Machine milk bar. The T-shirts — or Cereali-Tees — worn by servers are also for sale with slogans like “United Flakes of America,” “Captain of Crunch” and “Go Ahead. Flake out.” Early reviews have been good.