● Breakfast occasions have grown 0.5% in the last year, and carried out breakfasts are growing by 1.8%.

● Consumers aged 45-54 are driving the growth of carried out breakfast occasions, with a 33% rise in these. This age group now makes up 26% of carried out breakfasts, with a share increase of five percentage points.

● Despite the growth of carried out breakfast occasions, the consumption of healthier biscuits has declined by 3.5%. Other items that have seen a decline at breakfast include fresh bacon rashers and fresh sausages, which were in growth previously.

●  Nuts are becoming an ever more important part of modern day breakfasts, with a year of strong growth alongside yoghurts.

● The breakfast category has declined (–2.4%) and is valued just below £2bn. Hot cereals are static, but both RTE and non-cereal based products, eg cereal bars and breakfast biscuits, have seen value decline. 

● Own label is in strong growth across all sectors, but brands are so dominant they dictate overall market trends. As we see retailers pushing private label harder, it’s likely it will continue to steal cereal spend from brands.

● Cereal sales continue to go soggy, with £39.2m wiped off category value [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 23 April 2017]. Ready-to-eat cereals account for all but £0.1m of this. And unlike RTE, hot cereals saw 2.2% volume growth. 

● Own label outperformed brands, with growth in hot and RTE cereals. 

● There were some bright spots for RTE cereals. Minor growth of £0.6m for Britain’s bestselling brand Weetabix was outshone by sub-brand Crispy Minis, which gained £3.4m [IRI 52 w/e 17 June 2017]. 

● Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut returned to value growth with sales up £2.1m, thanks in part to NPD Peanut Butter Clusters, which hit the shelves in January. But like many of the brands in value growth, Crunchy Nut’s volumes fell 3.8%. It was a similar story for Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Corn Flakes. 

● Stablemate Special K was less fortunate. Its sales continued to slide with a further £11.7m wiped off its value despite range rationalisation by the manufacturer and pushing Special K Nourish. 

● In hot cereals, NPD Quaker Oats Instants paid off for Quaker, racking up £3.4m in sales. Oat So Simple, meanwhile, suffered the biggest loss in hot cereals of £2.8m. Quaker is focusing on on-the-go NPD this year with Breakfast Squares, Oat & Fruit pouches and Overnight Oats. 

● Smaller brands Nairn’s, Flavahans and Moma outperformed the market with double-digit growth, albeit from a small base.