Cinnamon Toast Crunch

History

United States

Originally, the crunch was plain squares but currently features cinnamon-colored swirling on each piece. It was invented by scientist John Mendesh and General Mills assistant product manager Elisabeth Trach after receiving the idea from an unnamed child in a "give us your best idea for a Crunch" radio contest held by General Mills. The child received a set of Hot Wheels toys as a grand prize. Starting in 1985 there were three animated bakers as the mascots, one of which is named Wendell. The other two bakers, known as Bob and Quello, were considerably more youthful in appearance than Wendell. In 1991, the younger bakers were dropped, leaving Wendell as the sole mascot for several years until 2013.

United Kingdom

The product was first introduced to the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1998 by Cereal Partners, as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the same name as the popular North American cereal brand. The name was later changed to Cinnamon Grahams, similar to Golden Grahams, another Nestlé product. The name was once again changed to its current name of Curiously Cinnamon, produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand.

Description

Cinnamon Toast Crunch consists of whole grain wheat and rice squares, then coated in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and fortified with various vitamins and minerals.

One serving of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, equal to (177 mL) or 31 g, has 130 calories (544 kJ), or 170 calories (711 kJ) with (118 mL) of skim milk. A single serving has 3 g of total fat, no cholesterol, 220 mg of sodium, and 45 mg of potassium. One serving has 25 g of total carbohydrates with 2 g of dietary fiber and 9 g of sugars with 14 g of other carbohydrates. A single serving also contains 1 g of protein. Cinnamon Toast Crunch was reformulated in an industry-led sugar reduction effort in 2012. The original formulation contained 10 grams per serving, while the 2012 reformulation (still current ) contains 9 grams sugar per serving.

Marketing

Originally, the three bakers were the mascots and the cereal did not have a slogan. Starting in 1995, it was given the slogan, "The taste you can see." In 2007, Cinnamon Toast Crunch experimented with a new slogan, "It's That Intense", but switched back after poor reception. In 2009, the slogan became "Crave those crazy squares". In 2019, the slogan changed to either "Unlock the Cinnaverse" or "Blasted With Cinna-Dust".

In 1997, appealing to adult-oriented programming, a campaign featured the slogan "The adult thing to do", mostly centering on "adult" things reverting to children's, including cereal (for instance, a fictional "adult" cereal named "Health Pellets" is replaced with Cinnamon Toast Crunch). This was changed in 2004 to "Breakfast on a whole other level", which was replaced with "Crave those crazy squares" in 2009.

Spin-offs

There have been at least five offshoots of the cereal:

• Chocolate Toast Crunch
• French Toast Crunch in 1995 and again in 2015
• Peanut Butter Toast Crunch in 2004 and 2013
• Frosted Toast Crunch in 2012
• Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch for the 2014 holiday season, 2015, 2018, 2023
• Dulce de Leche Toast Crunch, 2021
• Apple Pie Toast Crunch, 2021
• Lucky Charms Cinnamon Toast Crunch Mix, 2022
• Tres Leches Toast Crunch (2023)

French Toast Crunch is shaped like many little French toast slices, reminiscent of the style of Cookie Crisp. It was discontinued in 2006, but made a return in 2015 due to its cult popularity among its fans. Peanut Butter Toast Crunch was a cereal consisting of flakes similar but darker to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Frosted Toast Crunch resembles Cinnamon Toast Crunch with vanilla coating. This cereal was discontinued by 2006. As another offshoot, Monopoly Cereal was a limited edition product created in April 2003 by General Mills. The cereal was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch but with the addition of marshmallows based on the pieces in the Monopoly game, such as houses and hotels. Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch except with a sugar cookie taste.

In Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Israel, Russia, France and Poland where the cereal is known as Cini Minis, a strawberry flavoured variant named Erdbeer Minis/Strawberry Minis exists. In Germany and Austria it replaced a previously existing apple flavoured variant called Äpple Minis. This strawberry flavoured variant was later released in the UK as Curiously Strawberry.

In 2018, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros were introduced. The cereal has the same cinnamon sugar flavor as the original but is shaped like a mini churro. A chocolate version soon followed, and was introduced in 2021 to the UK as Curiously Cinnamon Churros.

Shrimp tail contamination incident

On March 22, 2021, American writer, rapper and podcaster Jensen Karp found what appeared to be discarded shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal; his tweets about the incident went viral. Additionally, Karp found a piece of string, "small black pieces" embedded into some pieces of the cereal, and an object which looked like a pea. General Mills then issued a statement on Twitter claiming the tails were "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended". General Mills later claimed they were investigating the case, but that contamination "did not occur at [their] facility".

The incident was covered internationally by multiple major news outlets, who were critical of the company's response.

Notes

References

References

1. Raum, Morgan. (2020-03-02). "IHOP Is Adding Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms Pancakes to Its Menu".
2. Hunt, Kevin. (2014-10-23). "The story of Chef Wendell". A Taste of General Mills.
3. (September 6, 2016). "Curiously Cinnamon".
4. "Cinnamon Toast Crunch".
5. "Cinnamon Toast Crunch Product List".
6. (27 March 2013). "Why Does Cinnamon Toast Crunch's Whole Grain And Sugar Content Differ In A Smaller Box?".
7. (16 June 2004). "Is healthful dining out in with kids?". York Daily Record.
8. (24 February 2013). "Not so Cheerio". The Modesto Bee.
9. (19 October 2018). "Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch is back". Star Tribune.
10. (24 May 2021). "Review: Dulce de Leche Toast Crunch". Cerealously.
11. (11 October 2021). "Review: Apple Pie Toast Crunch". Cerealously.
12. (10 November 2021). "General Mills launches limited-edition holiday treats". Sosland Publishing Company.
13. (12 January 2022). "General Mills Merges Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Into One New Limited Edition Cereal". People.com.
14. "French Toast Crunch is back - A Taste of General Mills". A Taste of General Mills.
15. "Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros".
16. Karp, Jensen. (22 March 2021). "Ummmm @CTCSquares - why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit)".
17. Karp, Jensen. (22 March 2021). "I was convinced to go back through the bag, since when I first noticed the shrimp tails, I freaked out and closed the box. Here's all my findings, which also now includes a weird little string?".
18. Karp, Jensen. (22 March 2021). "For real - someone tell me they aren't like maggots or bugs. Is it shrimp adjacent? (also just found this weird cinnamon covered pea thing?) I wish this was a joke.".
19. Marcus, Ezra. (23 March 2021). "The Curious Case of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Box". [[The New York Times]].
20. (23 March 2021). "Cinnamon Toast Crunch Statement".
21. Singh, Namita. (24 March 2021). "Man finds shrimp tails in Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal that company tries to pass off as sugar". [[The Independent]].
22. Cantor, Matthew. (24 March 2021). "Man claims to find sugar-coated shrimp tails in his box of cereal". [[The Guardian]].
23. CNN. (24 March 2021). "See what man says he found in his cereal". [[CNN Business]].