Cereal dominates the breakfast category, raking in a whopping $9 billion as of last year, but its place in the breakfast market is tied to shoppers focusing on ingredients perceived as healthy.
A recent study says consumers seek healthier diets as a way to drop weight, but they shun products focused on weight loss. This has led to weight loss brands having to reassess how they market their products.
The Packaged Facts report says, "Whole grain, high fiber, no added sugar and high protein are all very important ingredient components of many food categories, especially breakfast cereal, a category with a high level of new product activity, some of which is directly related to promoting satiety or supporting weight management."
While cereal is still the largest part of the breakfast category, according to Packaged Facts, traditional cold cereal may not exactly have room to flourish.
The cereal industry has certainly seen better days, losing favor to other seemingly healthier items come breakfast time, so it's unclear exactly how this will play out going forward. Perhaps with the development of new products and recipe fixes, consumers could learn to shift their views on breakfast cereal.
The functional foods report also mentions savory flavors, which Food Dive reported on last month, as well as data on energy drink companies, a topic Food Dive has also featured.
Food Dive has a quick look at some of the data.
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