Kellogg's Opens Cereal Restaurant in Times Square
Is it a publicity stunt to promote brand awareness? Or a way to make extra money as the cereal category continues to shrink? Or maybe a real-time working lab for innovation? It’s probably too soon to tell, but my bet is the latter, as Kellogg's seeks to once again become relevant to the changing breakfast palate.
The menu sounds more like a high school culinary experiment. Rice Krispies with green tea powder. Ice cream topped with Cracklin' Oat Bran, dried cranberries, white chocolate, and toasted coconut. Or you can make your own custom blend from their long list of ingredients. Cereal bowls are $7.50 for a regular or $6.50 for a small. Ice cream sundaes for $8.50 or $9.50 all come topped with cereal.
Ventures like this always make headlines, and some even stick around for decades, like the M&M store nearby.
If they are looking for just PR the store will no doubt fail and close soon. But if they are really tracking the self-designed combinations of customers, those flavor, nutrition, color and texture combinations the folks in Battle Creek might never have imagined, and track by demographics, they might be on to an idea that one might say is, "GRRRREAT!"