DaytonDailyNews.com

site web

The news could ruin anyone's breakfast: The nation's leading cereal producer, Kellogg's, is raising prices or shrinking boxes on many of its favorite and most heavily advertised brands.

Consumer Reports magazine reported in its November issue that the Michigan-based cereal maker is raising prices on cereals such as Corn Flakes and All-Bran and is trimming the size of the boxes of other popular cereals such as Frosted Flakes, Mini-Wheats and Rice Krispies — but would still charge the same price for fewer flakes.

The consumer magazine's suggestion? "To avoid getting less bran for the buck, buy store brands, which can be more than a dollar cheaper than national brands per box and are often of similar quality."

But are they? The Dayton Daily News decided to find out whether store-brand imitators of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes tasted just as grrrrrRRRREAT as the national brand.

We set up an informal taste-test of six different brands of frosted flakes: the "name brand," Kellogg's, and five "store brands," from Aldi, Cub Foods, Kroger, Meijer and Wal-Mart.

About two-dozen newspaper employees and a handful of guests, ranging from frequent frosted-flakes eaters to those who hadn't touched a frosted flake in a decade or more, participated in the taste test. Each "judge" tasted their cereals "blind" — they did not know which brand was which during the tasting.

Our taste test is certainly not a scientific survey — the margin of error would be a few gazillion percentage points with only two dozen participants. But it does provide a glimpse inside, well, the state of the frosted flake on today's breakfast table.

The results? The Kellogg's national-brand Frosted Flakes fared well, but most panelists did not detect any quality difference between the national brand and store brands, and in fact, the overwhelming majority picked a store brand as their favorite.

The responses suggest that Kellogg's flakes may not be worth the substantial difference in price for many breakfast eaters who don't consider themselves frosted-flake connoisseurs. Still, two Frosted Flakes aficionados on the panel correctly picked out which of the six samples was the Kellogg's — and both identified that cereal as their favorite.

The Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, which costs about $2.50-$3 for a 20-oz. box, ranked first — barely — among the six cereals tasted, receiving eight first-place votes out of 27. Cub Foods Frosted Flakes captured seven first-place votes, and that store brand costs $1.79 for the same-sized 20-oz. box — a savings of 28 percent to 40 percent from the national brand.

Hey, the money to pay for all those Tony the Tiger ads has to come from somewhere.

Many judges thought the Kellogg's was the sweetest of the bunch, and had the largest flakes. Those who preferred the frosted flakes less sweet identified the Wal-Mart Malt-o-Meal as their favorite; that brand captured three first-place votes, as did the frosted flakes from Aldi (Millville), Kroger and Meijer. The Aldi Millville brand was the least expensive of the cereals, at $1.69 for a 20-oz. box.

What to make of it all? If you're a brand-loyal Kellogg's Frosted Flake enthusiast, you can rest assured you're purchasing a quality product. But you're paying for a lot of advertising and promotion, and your neighbor who buys the store brand may be getting a product of similar quality for less money.

They may not share their breakfast table with Tony the Tiger — but they can afford to have a second bowl.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Wal-Mart Malt-o-Meal

Frosted Flakes

$1.98 for 22.5-oz. bag

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 3

Comments: "More corn taste, not as sweet, good crunch."

"Reminds me of military cereal."

——————————

Aldi Millville

Sugar Frosted Flakes

$1.69/20-oz. box

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 3

Comments: "Crunchy, sweet, chewy — good texture."

"Darker in color, initially sweet, then kind of flat."

——————————

Kellogg's

Frosted Flakes

$2.50 to $2.99/20-oz. box

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 8

Comments: "Biggest flakes, most golden color, more corn flavor, best crunch."

"More texture than the others; chewier."

——————————

Kroger

Frosted Flakes

$1.89/20-oz. box

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 3

Comments: "Smaller flakes that are not as frosted as the rest."

"Not as sweet, not as flavorful. Blander."

——————————

Meijer

Frosted Flakes

$2.19/20-oz. box

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 3

Comments: "Good flavor, small flakes."

"Good crunch and flavor, but it has a cardboard aftertaste."

——————————

Cub Foods

Frosted Flakes

$1.79/20-oz. box

Number of first-place votes from tasting panel: 7

Comments: "Very sweet, crunchy, sweetness lasts longer than others."

"Turned milk a weird yellow color, but good taste and crunch."