There are seemingly an infinite number of prepared breakfast items available in today’s marketplace, yet breakfast appears to be the one meal many processors, outside those who focus exclusively on breakfast formulations, agree is the weakest category in their line-up. It is not only lacking the verve of volumetric sales, but also an area with which sales-to-cost ratios often are big disappointments.
Americans not only do not feel compelled to spend more than about $5 on a non-sit-down breakfast, the surge of offerings from fast-food establishments created a climate of competition that drove prices down into loss-leader territory. However, cheap and portable are two parameters that are stimulating enough revived demand to turn breakfast into a more demanded meal.