Cereal Killer Cafe Explained

Cereal Killer Café
Type:Café
Fate:Closed (UK only)
Successors:-->
Founder:Alan and Gary Keery
Defunct: (UK only)
Location City:East End, London, Dubai, Doha
Location Country:England
Locations:5
Owners:-->

Cereal Killer Café is a chain of cafés that serve branded breakfast cereals. The original café was located on Brick Lane in Spitalfields,[1] London and was the first cereal-themed café in the United Kingdom.[2] The chain announced the closure of its UK locations on 8 July 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] As of 2023, the Dubai cafe remains open and the chain's website continues to offer customers over 100 different types of cereal.[4] [5] [6]

Development

Identical twins Alan and Gary Keery, from Belfast, came up with the idea of selling breakfast cereal after experiencing a morning hangover during a lunch break in Shoreditch and craving a "sugary cereal fix".[7] The brothers were initially dissuaded from pursuing the project but continued after conducting their own market research. Inspired by established cereal cafes in the United States and the premise of the 2007 film Flakes, they went about asking consumers on the streets whether or not they would buy into the concept.[8] They discovered that more than half of the people they had asked would consider visiting their cafe. Funding for the proposal came from a business loan following an unsuccessful £60,000 crowdfunding attempt on Indiegogo.[9] They claimed they found it difficult to rent a location based on their business venture but eventually settled on an old video store.[10] [11]

Business

The two-storey café was situated on Brick Lane, near Shoreditch, and employed eight staff. The interior was designed to reflect a retro style with exposed brickwork, formica furniture and 1980s and '90s music. Among the decor were novelty cereal boxes, vintage milk bottles and other cereal related memorabilia.[12] The cafe offered more than 100 different varieties of global cereal brands, 12 kinds of milk and 20 toppings. It also sold coffee, toast and poptarts.[13]

In 2014 the brothers were challenged by Channel 4 over the price of their bowls of cereal in Tower Hamlets. After being told the London borough had some of the highest rates of poverty in the country,[14] [15] [16] [17] Gary denied this was the case and said his cereal was "cheap for the area" before refusing to continue with the interview.[18] [19]

Media commentary ranged from praise of their entrepreneurship from Boris Johnson[20] to criticism pointing at gentrification around Shoreditch,[21] [22] with the Keery terminating a 2014 interview with Channel Four after reporter Symeon Brown asked "Do you think local people will be able to afford £3.20 cereal?"[23] In response, the brothers wrote an open letter to the broadcaster on Facebook, characterising the reporting as "unfair" and announcing plans to provide free breakfasts for underprivileged children.[23] [24]

On an evening in September 2015, anti-gentrification activists threw paint at the building and wrote the word "scum" across it.[25]

By 2017 the brothers had opened cereal cafes in Birmingham, Dubai, Kuwait and Jordan.[26] [27] The London branches of the cafe closed in 2020.[28]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Spitalfields. towerhamlets.gov.uk.
  2. News: Petroff. Alanna. London's first cereal cafe milks nostalgia. 9 December 2014. CNN. 9 December 2014.
  3. Web site: A sad Cheerio. 8 July 2020. us12.campaign-archive.com.
  4. Web site: Login • Instagram . 2022-04-14 . www.instagram.com.
  5. Web site: CEREAL KILLER CAFE, Dubai - Downtown Dubai - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews . 2022-04-14 . Tripadvisor . en-GB.
  6. Web site: Cafe . Cereal Killer . Cereal Killer Cafe . 2022-04-14 . The Dubai Mall . en.
  7. News: Malone. Ailbhe. There Could Be A Cereal Cafe Coming To London Soon. 13 December 2014. BuzzFeed. 17 May 2014.
  8. News: Brown. Brigid. WATCH: First Cereal Cafe Opens in East London. 9 December 2014. BBC America. 5 November 2014.
  9. News: Rucki. Alexandra. Cereal café could be coming to Shoreditch if crowdfunding campaign is success. 9 December 2014. Evening Standard. 17 May 2014.
  10. News: Jefferies. Henry. Can the Cereal Killer cafe, which sells only cereal, really make a killing?. 9 December 2014. The Guardian. 9 December 2014.
  11. News: Bell. Stephanie. Cereal Killer Cafe: Belfast brothers open UK's first ever cafe selling nothing but cereal. 9 December 2014. Belfast Telegraph. 21 November 2014.
  12. News: Barrie. Joshua. Have A Look Inside The UK's First Breakfast Cereal Cafe. 9 December 2014. Business Insider. 9 December 2014.
  13. News: Jones. Rachel. UK's first cereal café to open in London. 12 December 2014. The Telegraph. 4 November 2014.
  14. News: Molloy. Antonia. Cereal Killer cafe owner cuts short interview after he is grilled about his prices . 11 December 2014. The Independent. 11 December 2014.
  15. Web site: Poverty rates by London borough. 2020-10-07. Trust for London.
  16. News: correspondent. Rupert Neate Wealth. 2019-12-23. A tale of two cities: London's rich and poor in Tower Hamlets. en-GB. The Guardian. 2020-10-07. 0261-3077.
  17. News: 2014-10-15. London has highest child poverty rates across the UK. en-GB. BBC News. 2020-10-07.
  18. News: Cowburn. Ashley. 2014-12-13. The C4 reporter had a pop. And the Cereal Killer cafe snapped back …. en-GB. The Observer. 2020-10-07. 0029-7712.
  19. Web site: Cereal cafe stops interview over price questions Channel 4 News. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20141211081218/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0kn7AwbSU0&gl=US&hl=en . 2014-12-11 . YouTube.
  20. News: Johnston. Boris. 15 December 2014. Don't murder the Cereal Killers – we need people just like them. The Daily Telegraph. 19 December 2014.
  21. News: Chakelian. Anoosh. In defence of the Cereal Killer café: why lazy hipster-bashing won't solve inequality. 12 December 2014. New Statesman. 12 December 2014.
  22. News: Hardman. Isabel. In defence of the smug Cereal Café owners – and the mugs who eat there. 12 December 2014. The Spectator. 11 December 2014.
  23. Web site: 2014-12-13. Cereal Killer Cafe owner pens angry letter to Channel 4 in row over. 2020-10-07. Evening Standard. en.
  24. Web site: Cereal Killer. 2020-10-07. facebook.com. en.
  25. News: 2015-09-27. Cereal Killer cafe damaged in Shoreditch anti-gentrification protest. en-GB. BBC News. 2020-10-07.
  26. Web site: Worth the hype? Cereal Killer Cafe. 24 November 2017 .
  27. Web site: 2017-04-06. Cereal Killer founders: 'People thought we were geniuses, others hated us'. 2020-10-07. The Guardian. en.
  28. News: Brennan . Ailis . London's Cereal Killer Cafes to close permanently 'due to Coronavirus' . 27 January 2023 . Evening Standard . 8 July 2020 . en.

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