Declining sales crunch breakfast cereal industry

Cereal is still king of breakfast, but its realm is shrinking.

The percent of in-home breakfast meals that include cereal dropped from 31 percent in 2009 to 26.8 percent last year, according to market researcher NPD Group.

Meanwhile, U.S. cold cereal sales fell 9 percent from 2011 through 2015, according to market researcher Nielsen.

Breakfast cereal experienced the biggest sales contraction in absolute numbers among all packaged food products.

Ashley Peters, a communications manager at a St. Paul nonprofit, is the kind of consumer cereal-makers like General Mills both court and fear.

She grew up eating breakfast cereal, from Cheerios to Cap’n Crunch. At age 30, she’s now part of the coveted millennial demographic.

And these days, Peters says she usually reaches for a granola bar for breakfast on the job. “It’s just easier. I don’t have time for milk at work.”

— Star-Tribune

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