Latest news with #CocoaPuffs
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tillamook opens first owned-and-operated facility outside of Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore. () — An Oregon-headquartered dairy brand is expanding its reach on the East Coast. Tillamook County Creamery Association has announced the opening of its first owned-and-operated manufacturing facility outside of the Beaver State. A portion of Tillamook Ice Cream will now be produced in Decatur, Ill. Class action lawsuit accuses Grocery Outlet of deceptive pricing in Oregon stores According to the company, the new facility 'marks a key milestone' for the 116-year-old brand. 'This is an exciting step forward for our co-op, and we are energized by the new opportunities that the Decatur manufacturing plant opens for TCCA,' TCCA President and CEO David Booth said in the announcement. 'Decatur offers strategic access to our growing customer and consumer base, and we hope this new production facility will help enable Tillamook to become the ice cream of choice for consumers in the Eastern United States.' Salem career criminal sentenced for selling drug-infused 'Cocoa Puffs,' 'Cinnamon Toast Crunch' bars The company has reported that Tillamook Ice Cream is already the fastest-growing family-size brand of its kind in the U.S. With the addition of the Midwest facility, owners expect to produce another 15.5 million gallons of ice cream each year. Around 4.4 million new customers — including one million in 2024 alone — have purchased the family-size ice cream since 2021, according to TCCA. The association noted ice cream sales have grown by more than 13% in the past year, and a majority of the new customers reside on the East Coast. The Decatur manufacturing facility's opening has brought 50 new jobs. Tillamook plans to bring in more workers as production continues, and also work alongside officials to revitalize the Illinois city. Summer heat returns, builds around Portland this weekend The dairy brand isn't the only Oregon-founded company to recently announce expansion. Portland's The Sports Bra, which opened as the world's first women-only sports bar in 2022, has revealed it will open franchises in St. Louis, Boston, Las Vegas and Indianapolis. Meanwhile, other brands like Jollibee have opened their first Oregon location as part of their Pacific Northwest expansion. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
In the land of cereal, Minnesota's breakfast upstarts offer substitute for Lucky Charms, Froot Loops
Hannah Barnstable remembers browsing through the cereal aisle at her local grocery store as a child, feasting her eyes upon colorful boxes of breakfast staples like Cocoa Puffs, Trix and Cap'n Crunch. Decades later, when she was readying to open her own cereal company, she had a moment of déjà vu. 'When we got started, I had this epiphany: How could the cereal aisle look exactly the same as it did when I was a kid?' said the founder and CEO of Seven Sundays. Cereal brands like hers would end up irrevocably altering the industry, which has seen sugary standards fade while expensive-but-healthy options have surged. One local breakfast industry player calls it a 'renaissance.' Parker Brook, the founder of Edina, Minnesota-based Lovebird Foods, left General Mills after the birth of his daughter to make organic cereal without grains or refined sugars. Never mind inflation, shoppers are shelling out up to $10 for a box that lists all the ingredients right on the front. Since 2019, Lovebird sales have doubled every year. 'People are willing to pay more for quality,' Brook said. 'Especially in a category like cereal that historically has been dominated by the few.' The four largest players in cereal — General Mills, Kellogg, Post Consumer Brands and Quaker Oats — still control 80% of the $11 billion retail cereal market. But they all continued to sell less cereal over the past year, according to retail sales data from Circana. The fastest-growing brands are often the most expensive, meanwhile, and tend toward 'clean labels' with lower sugar, higher protein and no additives. 'You're paying more for ingredients,' Brook said. 'So I think it's less sticker shock for people. It's more like, 'Hey, I know what I'm getting. I'm getting what I pay for,' vs. paying for some advertising budget for Nickelodeon or for these other cereal companies.' Cereal has long been slipping as younger generations turn on the century-old breakfast staple. After a brief resurgence during pandemic lockdowns, the industry's big players are back to managed decline. Then comes the health-and-wellness trend reshaping food and beverages, which has folks opening their wallets for less-processed options. Brook said the cereal aisle is one of the last parts of the grocery store to really feel that shift. 'It's a massive category,' he said, 'and I think it's due for some new entrants.' Seven Sundays started selling muesli at farmers markets more than a decade ago. Now the Minneapolis-based company is in 7,000 stores around the country. Recently hitting shelves at Target and Costco, the brand has found quick growth alongside other increasingly mainstream natural cereal brands like Magic Spoon, Catalina Crunch and Three Wishes. 'We've heard from people, 'Thank you, I haven't had cereal in a year,'' Barnstable said. 'There was a lack of incremental ideas that are truly going to bring new sales down that aisle.' Like Lovebird, Seven Sundays has seen sales more than double year over year since the pandemic. 'This is why we quit our jobs to start Seven Sundays,' Barnstable said about the accelerating trend toward 'better-for-you' options. 'Real food actually tastes better.' The overall decline of cereal is not about price increases in recent years, she contends. 'It doesn't matter what the price of Cheerios is anymore; it's just not something some consumers are as willing to purchase because of all the stuff we all know about heavily processed, genetically modified ingredients, artificial dyes and sugar,' she said. On average, leading cereal brands are leaning into taste rather than health. A study of cereal trends published in JAMA Open Network Wednesday showed 'concerning nutritional shifts: notable increases in fat, sodium and sugar alongside decreases in protein and fiber' since 2010. That prevailing trend in mainstream cereal is running counter to political pressure from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which is casting ultra-processed foods in a negative light. The federal MAHA Commission recently issued a scathing report blaming the nation's food supply, and other issues, for chronic disease. With that kind of messaging targeting foods like cereal, 'no lower price is going to drive somebody to go back,' Barnstable said. 'It has to be something completely new.' Food industry veteran John Haugen sees several factors altering the landscape: the changing food preferences of millennials and Gen Z, advancements in food science and the national conversation around ultra-processed foods. 'Regardless of what the policy changes are that actually happen,' he said, 'it's creating discussion and visibility where consumers are taking a minute to say, 'Hey, what is in my food?'' Haugen is the managing partner of SEMCAP Food + Nutrition, a growth-stage private equity firm, as well as the founder and former longtime leader of 301 Inc. at General Mills. He led investment into granola brand Purely Elizabeth at SEMCAP and while at 301 Inc. Among ready-to-eat cereal brands Circana tracks, which includes granola, Purely Elizabeth had the biggest growth through the past year: a 65% jump in sales. The 16-year-old Colorado company now leads the granola category. 'Consumers are connecting with the authenticity of these small brands,' Haugen said. 'Legacy food brands in general were built before the digital age, versus the up-and-coming food brands of today built with a more direct relationship with the consumer.' That's not to say the big players are missing out entirely: Cascadian Farm is a recognizable organic brand with the heft of a multinational corporation behind it. The General Mills-owned organic label saw retail cereal sales jump 13% in the past year, while Big G cereals including Cheerios and Trix fell 4%. 'Cascadian Farm has seen strong growth across both granola and non-granola cereal varieties,' the company said. 'General Mills is also seeing brands that deliver protein perform well, including our recently launched Cheerios Protein and Ghost Protein Cereal varieties.' Even with the overall decline, sugary cereals aren't going away; they're still very profitable, just a little less so each year. And Post Consumer Brands is the leading producer of private-label (store-brand) cereals, which saw a 2% rise in the past year and have nearly doubled market share in the past five years. Post Holdings Chief Operating Officer Jeff Zadoks recently told analysts the company expects to keep making money as the category slowly shrinks. 'The objective is to do our best to manage our cost to maintain the profitability,' he said. 'So if we can get the category to more of that historic decline, we think that those actions would enable us to maintain our margins.' Yet while many analysts opine on operational efficiencies and promotional investments needed to keep the category afloat, Barnstable sees a fundamental shift in cereal and in food in general. 'Consumers are reading ingredients. They're learning from social media, for better or worse, some of the issues going on in food,' she said. 'But you always have to lead with taste. You can't just go correct a problem and not focus on taste.'
USA Today
29-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Nationwide boycott targeted General Mills: Why consumers took action
Hear this story Consumers nationwide took part in a week-long boycott of General Mills last week, taking aim at the massive company that organizers say represents everything wrong with the corporate grip on the nation's food system. The seven-day spending freeze was organized by the People's Union USA and led by John Schwarz. Schwarz, in an Instagram post, cited what he claims is General Mills' purported toxic ingredients, alleged price gouging during inflation, avoiding of fair taxes and its allegedly store-wide domination of mass-produced, low-nutrition products. Here's what to know about the General Mills boycott, including what products were included. When is the General Mills boycott? The General Mills boycott began April 21 and ended at midnight on Monday, April 28. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Consumers and economic blackouts: Shoppers continue business boycotts as Target takes the biggest hit What is the General Mills boycott? Why are people boycotting General Mills? The People's Union USA is calling for a national boycott of the corporate giant's continued efforts to "profit off the backs of American families while doing absolutely nothing to reinvest into the communities it profits from." Schwarz, in an Instagram video, called out the companies' alleged efforts to churn out "ultra-processed garbage" and "sugary poison," spending millions to lobby against GMO transparency and better food labeling to keep Americans blind to what they are eating. What items are on the General Mills boycott list? Here's a list of General Mills products General Mills is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods and pet food products that include cereal, prepared and frozen foods, soup, snacks, yogurt, baking products, pet food and ice cream. Several brands fall under the umbrella of General Mills: Cereals: Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Count Chocula, Golden Grahams, Kix, Lucky Charms, Raisin Nut Bran, Reese's Puffs, Total, Trix and Wheaties Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Count Chocula, Golden Grahams, Kix, Lucky Charms, Raisin Nut Bran, Reese's Puffs, Total, Trix and Wheaties Baking: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Gold Medal, Bisquick, Autumn's Gold Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Gold Medal, Bisquick, Autumn's Gold Snacks: Nature Valley, Annie's (organic snacks), EPIC, Larabar, Chex Mix, Dunkaroos, Fiber One, Gardetto's Nature Valley, Annie's (organic snacks), EPIC, Larabar, Chex Mix, Dunkaroos, Fiber One, Gardetto's Yogurt: Yoplait, Oui, :ratio Yoplait, Oui, :ratio Ice Cream: Häagen-Dazs Häagen-Dazs Pet Food: Blue Buffalo Blue Buffalo Other Brands: Annie's (organic), Old El Paso, Totino's, Muir Glen (organic), Progresso (soups) Do boycotts work? Do economic blackouts work? The results from boycotts are often mixed, but professors told USA TODAY that it can be a successful tactic to shame a company into reversing decisions or taking action. In 2023, conservative activists staged boycotts of Target's Pride Month displays, leading the store to move its Pride displays to the back of stores. Last year, the retailer opted to scale back on its Pride collection, with many stores choosing not to carry it. Bud Light, owned by beer giant Anheuser-Busch, suffered plummeting sales following backlash in 2023 over a social media campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. While difficult to gauge, data from the first economic blackout on Feb. 28 suggests there was "some potential impact" on sales for larger retailers, including Target, Walmart and Amazon, according to a USA TODAY report. Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Parents: Here's Your Friendly Reminder That the 100th Day of School Is Upon Us
My kids are teenagers, but I'm still traumatized by the stress of scrambling to prepare them for the 100th day of school. Which is why I'm here, a harbinger from the other side of early childhood, to issue a reminder to start gathering a hundred pompons … a hundred plastic eyeballs … counting out a hundred Cheerios or pennies. Because the 100th day of school is coming up, and your kid will inevitably inform you at the very last minute that they need a poster board with one hundred of something glued to it. Likely in a '100' formation. Unlike Valentine's Day or Thanksgiving or something, the 100th day of school is not an observance that's on a calendar. (Unless you put it there. Which would mean you thought about it beforehand, in which case this is not for you.) The date changes every single year. There's no '100th-day fairy' or other magical visiting entity that makes your child excited enough to talk about it weeks in advance. More from SheKnows Keke Palmer's Baby Leo Takes After Her in One Special Way That Is 'The Cutest Thing in the World' So for me, it never failed: in the hustle and bustle of raising four kids, I would somehow miss the announcement from the school ('But I brought home a paper about it, Mommy!'). And either the night before or the morning of, one of my kids would casually saunter up to me and drop a bombshell. Oh, you have to dress like you're 100 years old? Sure, lemme just grab the child-sized old person costume I keep on hand. Spoiler alert: I do not, in fact, keep a child-sized old person costume on hand. Or really, anything good to make one with. Which is why I was always left making a mad dash through the house, racking my brain for bits and pieces I could use to cobble together an acceptable (if mediocre) substitute. Don't we have a pair of fake glasses from the time somebody was Harry Potter for Halloween? Didn't I see a big gnarly stick in the yard the other day that we could use for a cane? Or there'd be the 'bring in 100 things' requirement. For parents like me who aren't crafty, this can pose a problem — namely, a serious lack of stuff I have a hundred of. I could maybe scrape up 100 pennies but I'd have to search under my couch. I don't keep multitudes of fuzzy pompons or googly eyes or pipe cleaners or plastic jewels on hand. Not to mention a poster board or glue. I don't know why I don't keep these things lying around, since you'd think I'd have learned my lesson after literal years of 100th-day failures. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson after I accidentally superglued my finger to a piece of salvaged cardboard while helping my kid adhere 100 slightly-stale Cocoa Puffs (what? We were fresh out of Cheerios). But no. Which is why, parents, I'm here to give you the heads up I so desperately needed when my kids were little. The 100th day festivities are coming up: maybe it's this week, maybe next — maybe it's even tomorrow! — but it's definitely lurking. So ask your kids and prepare accordingly. Order that gray wig from Amazon Prime. Grab a poster board and make sure your glue isn't crusty and unusable. Gather up 100 of any small thing. Because before you know it, your kid will pipe up with, 'Hey Mom! Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and I have to bring a hundred (insert random celebratory requirement here).' And for once, you'll be ready … one hundred percent. Best of SheKnows Recent Baby & Toddler Product Recalls Every Parent and Caregiver Should Know About 10 History-Making Black Moms Whose Amazing Stories Everyone Should Know Celebrity Parents Who Are So Proud of Their LGBTQ Kids
