General Mills overtakes Kellogg's as nation's top cereal vendor

In the category of ready-to-eat cereals, General Mills is the new undisputed king of the bowl. In a survey of the top U.S. vendors of cereal, General Mills surged ahead of Kellogg's to claim the top prize this year. The Minneapolis-based manufacturer sold $2.47 billion worth of cereal products according to Information Resources (IRI), a Chicago-based information company that compiles retail scanner data.

According to the IRI survey, which measures a 52-week period ending July 16, 2000, General Mills improved its sales volume by 3.3%, while Kellogg's sales slipped by 4.0%. General Mills sold $2.478 billion of ready-to-eat cereal in the U.S. while Kellogg's sold $2.326 billion. Other top cereal vendors included Kraft Foods and Quaker Oats. The quickest gainer in the top 10 was Kashi Co., up a whopping 125% from the previous year. Private label cereal sales slid 1.1% to grab a 7.2% total share of the market.

After all private label brands, the top-selling cereal brand was Cheerios, which improved by 5% from last year to grab $370 million in sales. Frosted Flakes improved by 11.2% to take $333 million in sales.

Total U.S. cereal sales of $7.66 billion were very flat, up only 0.5% in terms of dollars and down 0.6% in terms of unit sales. Food stores remain the overwhelming sales channel for cereal, accounting for $6.86 billion of the total sales, or 89.5%. Mass Merchandisers sold $746 million in cereal or 9.7% of total sales. Drug stores accounted for just $57 million of cereal sales.

Edited by David Callahan
Managing Editor, Grocery Central