Cereal Killer Cafe

Cereal Killer Cafe was a café situated on Brick Lane in Spitalfields,[1] London that served branded breakfast cereals. It was the first cereal-themed café in the United Kingdom.[2] It announced its closure on 8 July 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.[3]

Cereal Killer Cafe
TypeCafé
FateClosed
Founded2014 (2014)
FounderAlan and Gary Keery
Headquarters
East End, London, Dubai, Doha
,
England
Number of locations
5
Websitecerealkillercafe.co.uk

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".[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] They claimed they found it difficult to rent a location based on their business venture but eventually settled on an old video store.[7][8]

Business
The interior of the Brick Lane branch

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.[9] 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.[10]

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,[11][12][13][14] Gary denied this was the case and said his cereal was "cheap for the area" before refusing to continue with the interview.[15][16]

Media commentary ranged from praise of their entrepreneurship from Boris Johnson[17] to criticism pointing at gentrification around Shoreditch.[18][19] In response, the brothers wrote an open letter to the broadcaster on Facebook, claiming the reporter "didn’t even pay me for the cereal, which you could so easily afford with your overpriced River Island suit”.[20][21]

By 2017 the brothers had opened cereal cafes in Birmingham, Dubai, Kuwait and Jordan.[22][23]

In later interviews, the brothers have also claimed people thought of the brothers as "geniuses"[24] and claimed the 2015 anti-gentriification protests in Shoreditch were a "hate crime" against them and protestors ignored chain businesses and luxury real estate developments.[25][26][27]

See also

References
  1. https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/Documents/Planning-and-building-control/Strategic-Planning/Neighbourhood-Planning/Spitalfields_v9_Officer_Rec_Area.pdf
  2. Petroff, Alanna (9 December 2014). "London's first cereal cafe milks nostalgia". CNN. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  3. "A sad Cheerio". us12.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. Malone, Ailbhe (17 May 2014). "There Could Be A Cereal Cafe Coming To London Soon". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  5. Brown, Brigid (5 November 2014). "WATCH: First Cereal Cafe Opens in East London". BBC America. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  6. Rucki, Alexandra (17 May 2014). "Cereal café could be coming to Shoreditch if crowdfunding campaign is success". Evening Standard. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  7. Jefferies, Henry (9 December 2014). "Can the Cereal Killer cafe, which sells only cereal, really make a killing?". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  8. Bell, Stephanie (21 November 2014). "Cereal Killer Cafe: Belfast brothers open UK's first ever cafe selling nothing but cereal". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  9. Barrie, Joshua (9 December 2014). "Have A Look Inside The UK's First Breakfast Cereal Cafe". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  10. Jones, Rachel (4 November 2014). "UK's first cereal café to open in London". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  11. Molloy, Antonia (11 December 2014). "Cereal Killer cafe owner cuts short interview after he is grilled about his prices". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  12. "Poverty rates by London borough". Trust for London. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  13. correspondent, Rupert Neate Wealth (2019-12-23). "A tale of two cities: London's rich and poor in Tower Hamlets". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  14. "London has highest child poverty rates across the UK". BBC News. 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  15. Cowburn, Ashley (2014-12-13). "The C4 reporter had a pop. And the Cereal Killer cafe snapped back …". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  16. "Cereal cafe stops interview over price questions | Channel 4 News".
  17. Johnston, Boris (15 December 2014). "Don't murder the Cereal Killers – we need people just like them". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  18. Chakelian, Anoosh (12 December 2014). "In defence of the Cereal Killer café: why lazy hipster-bashing won't solve inequality". New Statesman. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  19. Hardman, Isabel (11 December 2014). "In defence of the smug Cereal Café owners – and the mugs who eat there". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  20. "Cereal Killer Cafe owner pens angry letter to Channel 4 in row over". Evening Standard. 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  21. "Cereal Killer". facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  22. http://felixonline.co.uk/articles/2017-11-24-worth-the-hype-cereal-killer-cafe/
  23. "Cereal Killer founders: 'People thought we were geniuses, others hated us'". the Guardian. 2017-04-06. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  24. "Cereal Killer founders: 'People thought we were geniuses, others hated us'". the Guardian. 2017-04-06. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  25. "https://twitter.com/cerealkilleruk/status/648048773625716736". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-10-07. External link in |title= (help)
  26. "Cereal Killer cafe damaged in Shoreditch anti-gentrification protest". BBC News. 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  27. "Hipsters aren't happy about this fancy Pret A Manger in Shoreditch". Evening Standard. 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2020-10-07.

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