Latinos Are the Comeback Kids for Breakfast Cereal Market

While American consumers continue to believe that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day,” they increasingly favor alternatives to breakfast cereal in a bowl. Between 2004 and 2013 the number of households using cereal bars and chewy granola bars increased more than 35%, while the number of households using cold and hot cereals failed to keep up with overall household growth. Yet a return to strength is anticipated for the $12 billion breakfast cereal market, and Latino consumers are expected to play an important role in the turnaround, according to Cold and Hot Breakfast Cereals in the U.S., a just-released report by market research publisher Packaged Facts.

Cereal marketers will benefit from the increasing demographic clout of Latino consumers, notes Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle. While the kids population as a whole will decline in the coming years, there will be substantial growth in the population of Latinos under 14. Presently, Latinos account for one in four of those under the age of 14. And in states such as California and Texas, Latino kids are in the majority in this age group.

Regardless of whether they have children in their homes, Hispanic households are more likely than non-Hispanic households to have consumed 21 or more servings of cold breakfast cereal in the last 30 days, according to the report. Roughly 39% of Hispanic households with children consumed 21 or more servings of cold breakfast cereal, compared to only 33% of non-Hispanic households with children. Hispanic households without children are nearly twice as likely as their non-Hispanic counterparts to have consumed this volume of cold cereal in the past 30 days (23% vs. 12%).

Other trends encouraging growth include increasing investment by major marketers in innovative products; more effective merchandising and marketing campaigns; increasing cereal consumption among aging Boomers coupled with a relatively stable (at least in the short term) kids population; and the continuation of America’s love affair with breakfast cereal morning, noon and night. Packaged Facts anticipates that these factors will combine to overcome the potential drag of competition from other types of on-the-go breakfast food and expects the market for cold and hot breakfast cereals will begin to turn the corner in 2014. The breakfast cereal market will experience cumulative growth of 10% during the 2014-2018 forecast period and will reach $13 billion in 2018.

For more information on Cold and Hot Breakfast Cereals in the U.S., please visit: http://www.packagedfacts.com/redirect.asp?progid=86119&productid=8056897.

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