Breakfast can be a massive sales opportunity for c-store retailers,
especially as more shoppers are choosing to eat or drink on the go

It’s no surprise that c-store retailers tend to do well from breakfast. After all, as most managers get up before the sun’s up to serve customers they naturally understand just how important a decent brekkie really is. IGD Category Management and Shopper Marketing Summit 2016 reported that 13.2% of breakfast occasions are bought from convenience or out-of-home establishments.

So why is the first meal of the day such a big retail opportunity? Well, for a start it’s an occasion which Mintel notes is “near-universal”. In fact, according to research from Kellogg’s, it’s the largest meal occasion here in the UK, making up 28% of all occasions.

Plus, with the right range, canny c-store retailers can get two bites of the cherry before most people hit snooze on their alarm clock. By stocking a solid selection of morning goods that the 55% [Mintel] of consumers who eat breakfast before they leave the house focus on, they can capture the regular at-home market. Meanwhile, bean-to-cup coffee, porridge pots, breakfast biscuits and decent bacon baps ensure that the racing-to-the-station food-to-go crowd is catered for, too.

But, best of all, research shows that breakfast-to-go shoppers don’t just come in once a month. Assuming the breakfast offer is right, a good proportion become valued regulars who are ready to spend.

“We find that breakfast-to-go shoppers are more likely to be regulars,” says Ruth Cousins, senior analyst at HIM Research & Consulting.

“Some 16% of breakfast shoppers who visit c-stores between 7am and 10am on the breakfast-to-go mission visit on the same day [each week] versus just 9% of lunch-to-go shoppers.”

If you’re one of the many retailers who has invested heavily in food to go, you’ll already know that breakfast is a big win in the category. According to HIM, breakfast-to-go is worth a massive £137m for symbol c-stores, with the top buys being drinks (32%), sandwiches (24%) and hot food to go (21%).

What’s more, Mintel (August 2014) has reported that almost half of the UK adult population eat their breakfast every day at their desk, on the go, or even standing, instead of at home.

HIM also reports that core breakfast-to-go shoppers are aged 35-54, and 33% are likely to be living on their own, or in a shared house with friends.

Morning fuel

New from Fresh Marketing is Fuel10K Quark with Fruit, blending fruit with protein in a resealable on-the-go pouch. Fuel10K co-founder Barney Mauleverer says: “Fuel10K is all about delivering fast, easy and healthy protein breakfasts that taste great. Quark is an excellent source of natural protein that helps you feel fuller for longer and it’s low in fat.”

Fresh perspective

Onken is busy innovating in the porridge category with new Porridge2Go pots which sit in the chilled fixture. 
The ingredients (including crunchy apple pieces in the apple variant) are ready-mixed in a 150g single-serve pot, so shoppers waste no time consuming the contents, either hot or cold.

Müllerlight Greek Style Big Pot

The brand new Müllerlight Greek Style Big Pot made its debut last month. It can be sold as an alternative breakfast proposition that is low in calories, fat free and has 0% added sugar.

Toast of the breakfast table

In a bid to reawaken bakery sales at breakfast, Allied Bakeries is launching Kingsmill Super Toasty. It promises to be the first-ever loaf specially designed to deliver outstanding toast every time through a special blend of flours.

Serve these customers well and the evidence suggests that breakfast can help position your store as a local retail destination. Just ask Sam and Mark Coldbeck from Coldbeck’s Wharfedale Premier store. If you fancy something hot and sustaining for breakfast in pre-dawn Hull (and the 24-hour McDonald’s just isn’t going to cut it), locals know that their shop is the only place to go.

“Basically, we get there at 4.30am, seven days a week, and then we’re open at 5.30am,” says Sam Coldbeck. “I think we’re the earliest-opening convenience store in the area. Talk about service! Locally we’ve got a packing factory on the docks, which is probably about a quarter of a mile from the store, plus we’ve got the caravan industry down here in the town.

“The people who work locally tend to start early. That means Hull’s a busy place at 5.30am. So we’ve really built our business around that breakfast offering.”

At that time of day Sam is concentrating on hearty fuel to keep people warm and ready to roll for work; traditional food-to-go fare such as sausage sandwiches, bacon sandwiches, pastries and fresh ground coffee.

“We’ve got a hot cabinet in the shop and the sandwiches are made up fresh as the customers order them. It’s as fresh as it gets: hot and ready to eat. That’s really what brings people in,” she explains.

“We advertise on Facebook that we’re up at that time with that offering, so it’s about getting the word out in the immediate area. That really works for us, and gets people in the store looking for their breakfast.”

Sam reports that the dock-workers, factory workers and manual workers that come through the door in the morning also offer a useful secondary source of income for the store, too, which sees basket-size soar.

“What we find is that our early-morning customers don’t just come in for breakfast,” explains Sam. “They’ll also do their shopping for lunch-time, too. So, they’ll come in and get a cold sandwich, a packet of crisps and a drink for later in the day, as well as their cigarettes.”

It’s a similar success story up in Manchester, where six out of seven stores in Paul Stone’s retail portfolio in the city offer hot food to go at breakfast.

“For our breakfast offer we focus on seven different breakfast sandwiches. They’re all different combinations of bacon, sausages and egg served up hot,” says Paul.

“As well as that we’ve got lots of sweet options. So there’s a full range of pastries, croissants and pain au chocolat as well as Danish twists.”

Paul confirms that getting breakfast to go correct means an early start for some staff – though his regular regime isn’t quite as punishing as Sam and Mark’s.

“Our food-to-go staff arrive at 6am to get things moving,” he says. “Some breakfast foods are out by 6.30am and by seven the full offer is out there for customers to buy.

“Our breakfast customers cover so many different people. It’s everyone from people travelling to work, students getting up late, to office workers – everyone!

“We’re really discovering that breakfast out-of-home is very big now. People are too time-pressured to make something for themselves or their families in the morning. That makes it very successful for us.”

Paul maintains that his stores’ outstanding success with breakfast-to-go helps offset other categories, such as newspapers and magazines, that he finds are in decline. He points out that if customers, particularly young customers, aren’t coming in for a paper, then breakfast to go is a smart way to get them through the doors every day.

Retailers know that food to go waits for no man, or woman. That means it’s vital to have a breakfast range that you can quickly transition into lunch, too – especially as meal-times fade into each other at key times of day.

“Although breakfast starts very early – 6am for many – and continues into mid-morning, the lunchtime trade now starts at about 11am and retailers must be sure that their offer reflects this,” says Stephen Clifford from Country Choice.

“One that can easily be adapted from breakfast to lunch is ideal for this transition. So, a simple example of this would be changing the filling of a breakfast bap from bacon and sausage at breakfast to a burger or hotdog for lunch.”

Danone’s new dairies

Light & Free is the latest addition to Danone’s portfolio. It boasts zero fat and zero-added sugar, and contains only naturally-occurring sugar. This makes it particularly appealing to the company’s target audience of millennials.

It has seen £11m-worth of retail sales since its launch at the end of April (IRI week ending 2 October 2016).

Danone Dairies UK marketing director Art Delia says: “We strive to bring new consumers into the yogurt category through product innovation that responds to their needs. The current trend around nutrition has been gaining momentum for a while now and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. Shoppers demand products that fit into their lifestyles while offering a delicious snacking experience.”

Danone’s Oykos brand provides shoppers with a permissible indulgence, whether that’s as a dessert or as a snack between meals. The portfolio was extended with the Whip’n’Mix range in 2016 – a lightly whipped, creamy Greek-style in strawberry, blueberry and cherry flavours.

Activia launched an In Sync campaign in 2016 to raise brand awareness among lifestyle-conscious women above the age of 30. High-profile brand ambassadors have included singer Katherine Jenkins and sportswoman Victoria Pendleton.

Hot food

At some convenience stores there’s no need to make the switch between breakfast and lunch in the first place. Abbie Houston from AbbieCraig Sevices in Fife says that in the morning anything hot is popular with customers, who may have been driving through the night.

“We even sell hot dogs in the morning – alongside our hot pastries. We find that anything hot does well at breakfast with out main customers. I call them ‘workies’ – basically people that go to work in a van. They make up most of our breakfast trade.”

As with most other c-store categories post-recession, price is still an important factor for breakfast-to-go shoppers in many areas.

According to Mintel, 68% of consumers who eat breakfast believe that it’s “too expensive” to have it out of home very often. This presents an opportunity for retailers who can signpost simple everyday value with a meal deal – as well as luring customers from relatively expensive chain stores such as Starbucks and Costa.

Plus, it seems that meal deals are even more appealing when attached to a quality hot drink – something many stores already offer.

“Shoppers want hot drinks when they’re on a breakfast mission,” says HIM’s Ruth Cousins. “Research shows that ‘a good hot drink offer’ at a particular store would make 44% of c-store food/drink shoppers more likely to buy breakfast-to go at that location.”

 

With this in mind, Paul seems to have hit the nail on the head with his stores’ regular meal deal promotion.

“We have a regular breakfast meal deal – which is a hot sandwich and a hot coffee or tea for £2.50. We don’t run them permanently, but we also offer linked deals where we do a coffee and a croissant for £2. They tend to do really well for us – customers are always looking for a deal.

“Coffee is a really big part of what we do, especially in the mornings,” he continues.

“Here we’ve got Cheeky Coffee – our own coffee brand – which we developed in the store about four years ago. It’s a standalone brand in our coffee shop and sells in five out of our seven stores. It makes the stores a bit of a destination and gives customers something different from other places.”

Abbie also believes that decent coffee is part and parcel of an outstanding morning offer. She’s found that big brand coffee is what does the business in her store.

“We have a Costa Express machine that does very well,” she says. “We did have a cheaper coffee machine next to it, but the Costa machine is more profitable and a lot more popular. I think it’s all about the brand. It’s become quite a fashionable thing to be holding a Costa coffee cup. And, of course, it really is decent coffee. The machine uses fresh milk as well, which is another selling point.”

Perfect partnerships

Coffee is without doubt a big driver for any food-to-go offer and Vincent Brook, UK retail commercial manager at Aryzta Food Solutions (the brand behind Pierre’s and Cuisine de France), recommends moving the coffee machine closer to bakery to get full benefit.

“More independents are looking at dual-siting their in-store bakery fixture next to a coffee machine,” he says. “It’s a simple but effective way to boost on-the-go breakfast sales.”

Stephen Clifford, head of marketing at Country Choice, believes the future looks bright for breakfast food to go. “About half of UK consumers eat breakfast away from home at least twice a month and this figure is only expected to rise,” he says.

“It will come as 
no surprise to learn that food to go continues to thrive within the breakfast category. And, as it becomes more popular, so consumers have become more demanding.”

So how can retailers meets the needs of these morning customers? Clifford believes that customers are looking for healthy options.

Yet this doesn’t mean swapping bacon baps for quinoa salads just yet. Instead, it’s about making slight tweaks to your existing offer.

“Retailers need to ensure their range is kept up-to-date with healthy alternatives,” he says. “To that end, it makes sense for them to use lean bacon and there is no need for a spread in breakfast sandwiches,” Clifford adds.

That said, while quality coffee and keen deals often succeed at big city outlets such as Paul’s, they don’t necessarily work for everyone.

Like Paul, Heidi Flower from Costcutter North Prospect in Plymouth has a range of hot sandwiches and sausage rolls available every weekday morning for customers on their way to work. But through experience she’s found that coffee to go and meal deals don’t make a huge difference to breakfast-to-go sales.

“We have tried coffee to go in the past, but it didn’t sell a massive amount,” she explains.

“We didn’t just have a machine where you pressed a button either – we were doing it barista-style with the hot milk and coffee shots. We took it away for the summer to put in a Slush Puppie machine and never put it back – although a few people have asked for it since.”

Heidi reckons that in her area there were already plenty of morning coffee to go options, from the Costa machine at the nearby Esso garage, to coffee bars in the local neighbourhood.

She says that the local office workers tend to want coffee in a “café environment”, but not necessarily on a grab-and-go basis. It’s in part why the store owners are opening a café in the office space next door to the shop later in 2017.

Elsewhere, the shop’s strategy around pricing is to offer low breakfast food prices all year round, rather than depending on individual deals to attract footfall.

“The price on our hot food is really cheap and good value,” says Heidi. “We sell the bacon baps for £1, which is the lowest price I can sell them for.”

Shake it up with protein drinks at breakfast

Protein drinks company For Goodness Shakes says the on-the-go breakfast market is tipped to be worth more than £100m by 2020, with consumption occasions up 13.2%.

In line with this trend, the company launched its Protein & Oats range earlier last year, aimed at people grabbing breakfast on the go.

Dave Christie, national account manager for the firm, says: “Consumers are actively seeking out on-the-go breakfast products, as the time poor look to keep themselves going throughout the morning.

“Each bottle of Protein & Oats is packed with 25g of protein, boosted with oats that release energy slowly and has no added sugar.

“The addition of NutriMIX, a unique micronutrient blend, combines to make the complete package, so you’ll be well nourished to start strong.”

He adds that Protein & Oats will also promote satiety, so you don’t feel the urge to snack mid-morning.”

For Goodness Shakes is offering POS kits to c-store owners to help highlight the range in fixture to maximise sales.

Weekend wonders

The current trend for cooking from scratch (at least when people have time to spare on Saturday and Sunday) has helped boost sales of cooked breakfast items at c-stores over the weekend.

Umme Ali, assistant brand manager for Heinz Beanz, explains: “A cooked breakfast remains a popular choice of breakfast among consumers, especially at the weekends when they have more time on their hands.”

Kraft Heinz is known for its range of Heinz Beanz, which remain the strongest brand in the market, with 71.6% market share in retail channel (Nielsen 12 weeks October 2016). Customers can be offered a healthier option with Heinz Beanz 50% Less Sugar and 25% Less Salt, which has seen an increase in rate of sales of 9% compared with its previous offering (Nielsen Scantrack ending May).

Heinz Tomato Ketchup brand manager Chris Isaac adds that Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce are important additions to eggs, sausages and bacon. The brown sauce category is the fourth largest in the UK and is worth £39.3m, and HP Sauce remains a key influencer with a value share of 79.4% (Nielsen Scan data to week ending 5 November 2016). HP Sauce, which was acquired by Heinz in 2005, has its highest consumption at breakfast due to the host of food it targets such as bacon and sausage. Both Heinz Ketchup and HP Sauce also have low-salt and low-sugar variants.

How often your customers tuck into the Full English can depend on where you are in the country. Scots lead the way, with one in four regularly eating a cooked breakfast. London is next, with 24% having bacon, eggs, sausages and beans at least once a week.

Heidi says that stocking up on cooked breakfast staples such as eggs, bacon and sausages boosts the weekend trade, just as food to go starts to tail off. “We definitely don’t do as much breakfast food to go at the weekend,” reports Heidi.

“We have people from the local offices coming in for breakfast-to-go in the week – so that tends to be our sales base from Monday to Friday. We have trialled doing a small amount of breakfast baps on Saturday morning, but people round here just want to do their own breakfast.”

This means that Heidi sees plenty of customers seeking out the ingredients for a fry-up come the weekend. To meet this market she ensures that the store has bacon on a buy-one-get-one-free promotion, and checks that there are plenty of hash browns ready in the freezer.

In Hull, cooked breakfast sales are a similarly weekend-based affair. And aside from the regular Full English components, Sam sees good sales with a traditionally Northern cooked breakfast “treat”: black pudding.

“We never used to sell it,” she says. “But I think it’s a nice kind of old-fashioned item. When people come in and see it they tend to say ‘Wow! We should get that – we haven’t had black pudding in years.’

“We sell the Buty tinned black pudding for £1. It works really well alongside our Cumberland sausage-type black pudding which we sell for £1.75. They complement the cooked breakfast offer really well.

“It’s those kind of extras that are great for customers – the hash browns, black pudding, tinned tomatoes and tinned mushrooms – that bring in the people who want the proper cooked breakfast.”

The core cooked breakfast favourites are week-round c-store stalwarts. Of course, all these products are also available in the mults (except maybe the black pudding) – which means Sam has to get smart to increase sales.

She does this by concentrating on the selling points that bigger stores often overlook.

“We do extra-large fresh free-range eggs for £1,” she enthuses. “That’s cheaper than the supermarket – and our customers know they won’t get a better deal anywhere else. That’s a great thing to advertise to start with, but there are other ways to get the message across without just offering a discount.

“Customers love the fact that with these eggs you’re more likely to get a double yolk. So that’s a great line for the advertising: “Will you get a double yolk?” It makes the product fun and offers something you can’t get anywhere else.”

Taking the biscuit

Breakfast has become a breeding ground of innovation for companies which want to push consumers past the usual toast-tea-and-cereal combinations. One of the pioneers in new breakfast formats is Mondelez International, which launched Belvita breakfast biscuits in 2009.

The breakfast biscuit category is now worth £485.1m [Nielsen] in the UK and continues to do well for convenience store retailers looking for an on-the-go breakfast product that doesn’t take up much shelf space.

“The Belvita concept was founded on the insight that one in three people in the UK skip breakfast during the working week, the main reason being a lack of time,” says Susan Nash, trade communications manager at Mondelez International.

“As such, we know that on-the-go breakfast formats present an extremely important opportunity for retailers.”

The latest addition to the Belvita portfolio is Soft Bakes Choc Chip, which launched into the convenience channel last year in single-portion pricemarked and non-pricemarked packs. Aiming to address “consumers’ textual needs” it mixes wholegrains with indulgent chocolate chips for a sweet breakfast treat.

All change in cereals

Ask anyone who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s’ and they’ll tell you that cereals were once breakfast behemoths. Controlling massive marketing budgets, the big brands won over families with free gifts, loveable larger-then-life characters and nifty ad campaigns.

Today it’s a different story. Mintel reports that ready-to-eat cereal sales were estimated to decline 6% by the end of 2016. According to its research they’ve been laid low by growing consumer worries about sugar (which brands are working to address) and shoppers discovering new breakfast foods. Tougher rules around advertising to children also mean they’ve had to cut back on the kid-friendly characters.

Justified and ancient

Over the past two years a new generation of strawberry-nibbling food bloggers have been redefining what we mean by healthy. Where once it was all about low sugar and low fat, today the upscale market is moving towards Instagram-friendly ingredients such as ancient grains (which could be anything from spelt to quinoa) and superfoods such as blueberries and flax seeds.

Market leader Quaker Oats helped serve up the trend at breakfast with the Super Goodness Super Grains range, which features wholegrain oats, red quinoa and barley, along with pieces of fruit. Kellogg’s also stepped up to the mark with its Ancient Legends mueslis and granolas.

“Taste, health and convenience continue to be important drivers at breakfast time, but consumers are also increasingly seeking a wholesome breakfast which is made with nutritious ingredients,” says Duncan McKay, senior marketing manager at Grains UK.

Quaker also hired Deliciously Ella, the social media wellness guru, to front a campaign explaining the benefits of leaving oats to soak overnight.

Elsewhere, independent porridge brand Stoats has also seen the potential of ancient grains provided in modern packaging formats.

“Our new Multigrain sachets are the best sellers in our sachet range,” says Tony Stone, managing director at Stoats. “They offer a versatile porridge, packed with premium Scottish oats, barley and rye, as well as pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and linseeds. Oats, rye and barley are all ancient grains, which means that they’re all grains that are grown just as nature intended.”

Stone says that its Porridge Pots have also proved a hit, with a 20% year-on-year sales uplift.

However, the fact that cereals make up a 62% share of the breakfast occasion [Kellogg’s], and that they’re still a favourite for many families, means most retailers find room for a strong selection on-shelf. Plus, regular promotional activity makes cereals an even easier sell.

“I find we do well with the cereals because a lot of them are on promotion – and we tend to sell lots when products are pricemarked or promoted,” says Heidi.

One of the biggest stories for c-store retailers and customers was that last year market-leader Kellogg’s revamped its convenience range with increased sizes retailing at £2.99 – replacing the smaller, cheaper packs.

Some convenience retailers have criticised the move, while others says it suits the format of their store.

“I did see in the trade press that the Kellogg’s boxes are getting bigger and more expensive,” says Sam.

“I know a lot of retailers looked at it and thought ‘Oh no – the boxes are getting bigger and they’re getting more expensive’. However, I think that gram for gram it actually works out as a better deal for the customer and a better deal for the retailer, through increased profits.

“And that’s what we’re looking for really. I’ve seen how value-conscious families do come in and buy the bigger packs. Premier are our buying group, so we see some really good deals on Kellogg’s anyway – they’ll often be two for £4.”

Free-from oats

Quaker Oats continues to feed consumers’ appetite for Free-from foods with two new gluten-free variants: Traditional Rolled Oats and Oat So Simple Sachets. These products should help retailers grab a slice of the £470m [Mintel] Free-from market.

Fruity focus

Princes has been working with TV dietician Lucy Jones to promote the benefits of canned fruit as part of its Ambient Fruit at Breakfast campaign. She’ll help educate consumers about how canned fruit can add extra goodness to the first meal of the day.

Bang on

Wall’s is redefining the Great British Breakfast Banger with an overhaul of its Ready Baked Sausages range. The microwaveable sausages brand has added an extra variant – Fire Grilled Cumberland Sausages – and revamped the pack.

Reach for the Skyr

Arla is aiming to make morning yogurts more winter-friendly with its new Skyr variant: limited-edition pear, apple and cinnamon flavour.

Taking breakfast 
to the Max

Shreddies Max is a new granola which aims to fulfil consumers’ passion for protein. It contains crunchy oats, is high in fibre, low in saturated fat and is made with no artificial colours or flavours.

Pricing aside, it isn’t all doom and gloom for cereals. One of the big reasons that traditional cereal sales are in decline is that manufacturers have managed to innovate in the breakfast market by giving customers a wider choice of products.

In the past few years porridge, cereal pots, breakfast biscuits and breakfast drinks have all gained ground, providing shoppers with a whole new morning segment to sample. And with a focus on making time-poor consumers’ lives easier, it’s a sector that fits perfectly into the c-store offer.

“These types of products are revolutionising the way people consume breakfast,” points out HIM’s Cousins. “Breakfast-to-go products from Weetabix drinks to Oat So Simple porridge pots, among other emerging brands, are increasingly found in c-stores,” she adds.

Paul singles out both Belvita biscuits and Nutrigrain bars as good sellers at his stores.

Healthy eating is also having an impact on what shoppers are buying for breakfast. Says Laura Grove, head of marketing at Emmi UK: “Yogurt is a natural beneficiary of this trend for healthy eating, being flavourful while providing a healthier alternative to traditional breakfast staples such as toast, cereal or fry-ups.”

She says the Onken Natural yogurt range is perfect for those looking for a simpler breakfast option. Available in Natural Set, Low Fat Natural Set, Fat Free Natural and Natural varieties in 450g, 500g and 1kg pots, Onken Natural yogurt can be used as the base for breakfast bowls or 
fresh smoothies, with consumers adding their choice of fruit, nuts and seeds.

“The Onken Natural yogurt range experienced an uplift in sales in 2016 with 7.1% value growth year on year (IRI InfoScan 52 weeks to 6 November 2016),” points out Grove.

This autumn Onken also introduced Porridge2Go, a ready-to-eat range that can be enjoyed hot or cold. The two-strong fresh porridge range includes the choice of classic or apple flavour in a 150g pot.

Yet, as usual, what works in your c-store is going to depend on the needs of your local customers.

“We do sell the Porridge Pots, but we don’t sell as many as you might think,” says Abbie. “Our customers are generally middle-aged men who don’t mind about their expanding waistline and, anyway, work really hard every day. They’re really after a cup of coffee and a pastry.”

While Sam says that ready-to-go breakfast pots definitely warrant a place on her shelves, she confirms that they’re a “very poor second” compared with her food-to-go offer.

“For us, we’re predominantly a hard-working blue collar area,” she says. “So, we do the healthier options – such as the pots, plus salad bowls and fruit bowls that we make up in the kitchen. But to be honest, for our customers it’s hearty hot food that most people tend to want at that time in the morning.”

Bowled over

As Mintel points out, the cereal market is changing like never before. Once a breakfast staple, there’s been a downwards sales slide as the category suffers from media scare stories about sugar and competition from other breakfast foods.

So how are the big box brands fighting back? On one hand, they don’t have to. As cereals decline, formats such as on-the-go pots and porridge gather ground. However, key cereal brands are still important for c-stores. And to help them create an impact Kellogg’s has changed its convenience cereal packs to boost retailers’ profits.

Core names such as Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies and Coco Pops are being pricemarked at £2.99, and replace the traditionally smaller £2.19 sizes sold across the sector.

Sam Coldbeck, from Coldbeck’s Wharfedale Premier Store, says she’s a fan of the move. “For us the new pack sizes kind of work,” she says.

“We’ve got families in the local area who really want that kind of big value pack – it’s what they’re looking for from cereals.”

The other big talking point in cereals is sugar. Weetabix isn’t a high-sugar breakfast – but it’s still aiming to reassure consumers with the launch of ‘traffic lights’ food labelling on its products.

“Shoppers tell us that they’re often confused by the wide range of cereals, and the easy-to-read traffic lights make it simpler for health-conscious shoppers to make a quick, informed choice,” says Kevin Verbruggen, head of brand at Weetabix.