It is no secret that these have been challenging times for breakfast cereal. One of the original convenience foods, breakfast cereal is no longer seen as convenient by younger consumers increasingly inclined to avoid milk and cereal in the morning. Now in favor are cleanup-free, hand-held breakfast foods that can be eaten on-the-run.

Making breakfast cereal more portable and “snackable” powered new product innovation in 2016 as cereal giants like Kellogg and General Mills sought to put breakfast cereal back on a growth footing.  GlobalData (formerly Canadean) expects breakfast cereal to return to growth, forecasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.7% for the period from 2015 to 2020.