Porridges, mueslis and granola ruled the roost in cereals in 2013. With volumes falling across the total category, many healthier breakfast options outperformed the market, posting double-digit value and volume hikes.
Quaker has sold 3.3 million more kilos of porridge in the past year (a 16.1% hike), worth £20.1m, helping it to close the gap on category leader Weetabix, which is down £2.4m after a strong 2012 [Nielsen 52 w/e 12 October]. Quaker’s Oat So Simple Pots are behind much of the growth, says Patrick Kalotis, group marketing director for PepsiCo.
Read The Grocer’s full Top Products Survey.
“We have unlocked the key barriers to enjoying porridge by developing a range of delicious flavours and making it easy and convenient to both prepare and eat,” says Kalotis. “People are increasingly eating breakfast at work or on the go this has driven our focus on Quaker Oat So Simple Pots.”
Across the category, many brands marketed on being healthier are doing well, with Jordans Crunchy Cereal, Jordans Country Crisp and Alpen turning in particularly eye-catching growth. And it’s not just brands Sainsbury’s reports 25% growth in its own-label muesli, granola and crisp cereals after relaunching and extending the range in 2012.
But don’t be fooled into thinking we’re turning into a nation of health nuts when it comes to breakfast. Indulgent cereals such as Kellogg’s Krave and Crunchy Nut have also bucked the market’s soggy performance overall. The latter has been a “real superstar in 2013”, says Kellogg’s UK sales director Colin Bebbington, achieving a sweet £8m in growth following a big ad campaign and the June launch of Crunchy Nut with Chocolate.
That wasn’t enough to prevent the 18 Kellogg’s brands in the top 50 suffering a combined loss of £10.5m - primarily thanks to the £8.8m loss incurred by Special K following the brand’s reformulation in March. But Bebbington isn’t downbeat, pointing out that the brand’s performance actually represents an improvement on 2012 (see p80/81 and p85/86 for proof of how it’s successfully branching into new categories, too). “We hope to get into positive growth soon and it is heartening to see from our consumer research that people do like the food and many have told us it is better than before,” he adds.
The August launch of Special K porridge pots supports the consensus that porridge will continue to be a hot spot in cereals. “On-the-go pots now make hots much more accessible,” says Haleem Sadiq, grocery buyer at Bestway. “With many c-stores upping their game and providing hot water, there’s never been a better time for hots on the go.”
And that time can be any season, adds Kalotis: “Porridge isn’t just a winter breakfast consumers are buying into the benefits of porridge all year round. Quaker grew 21% over the summer season alone.”
Read The Grocer’s full Top Products Survey.
Top launch: Coco Pops Croc Prints Kellogg’s
Coco Monkey’s arch nemesis Crafty Croc finally got his own product in January this year, with the launch of Coco Pops Croc Prints (rsp: £2.39/350g). Introduced as one of a quartet of new healthier cereal launches by Kellogg’s - which also included Honey Pops, Honey Loops and a strawberry version of its Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes - Coco Pops Croc Prints meets Ofcom’s strict guidelines for sugar and is wholegrain and high in fibre, meaning it can be advertised to children.
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