Kellogg’s wants to rid breakfast cereals of their image issue through a new well-being manifesto. The cornflakes producer aims for reduced sugar and salt content, less packaging and more help for people in need.
Local roots in Belgium
Kellogg’s is satisfied with the past first quarter, also in Belgium. Despite the rush on the supermarkets last year and the temporary promotion ban, which set the bar very high, sales of crisps subsidiary Pringles increased by 20 per cent. Compared to the pre-Covid era, sales even increased by 35.6 per cent. In the breakfast cereal aisle, growth was 13.2 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2019.
To continue this growth, the group wants to focus even more on communication and marketing. After all, the success of Pringles in Belgium proved that approach works: since the Kellogg group took over Pringles from Procter & Gamble, the Benelux branch has worked on activation at the local level and emphasised more strongly that 80 per cent of its European production comes from the factory in Mechelen, Belgium. According to Managing Director Benelux Luc Houben, the result is a stronger sense of community in the region.
Manifesto based on three pillars
In Kellogg’s new “well-being manifesto”, social interdependence is one of the three pillars. By the end of 2030, the food producer wants to help feed at least 30 million mouths in Europe. The company aims to achieve this by donating to food banks. Last year, 110 tonnes went to the food banks. The company will also offer breakfasts in schools for vulnerable young people and will cooperate with retailers. Sponsorship is also one of the possibilities within the pillar.
On a nutritional level, the second pillar, the cornflakes manufacturer aims to reduce the amount of added sugars in children’s breakfast cereals by 10 per cent by the end of 2022, “without losing flavour”. The salt content must be reduced by 20 per cent. Where possible, Kellogg’s is still trying to maximise the amount of fibre and the use of whole grains. In the past decade, Kellogg’s has already cut 14 per cent sugar and 11 per cent salt in Belgium.
“All innovations are geared towards improving our products nutritionally. For example, we are systematically expanding our organic range and have also been active in a new segment since 1 March. The Deluxe Snack Mix series consists of a mixture of nuts, cereals and dried fruit for healthy snacking. Consumers can find these products in the supermarket among the nuts and dried fruit,” says Houben.
Fixing the image issue
These efforts are not new, Houben emphasises: Kellogg’s has made many moves in the past, but they have mostly stayed under the radar. Too often, because in the meantime, breakfast cereals are struggling with an image problem. “Consumers have been influenced by negative press coverage, but there is a misconception that all breakfast cereals are the same. Yet, there is a wide range of very healthy products, but of course, there are also products that are more catered towards indulgence.”
There are already products holding a Nutri-score A or B, but it is not mentioned on the packaging yet. “We are in favour of the Nutri-score as it can only help with the image issue. The only problem is that various countries are not quite in agreement yet, and the different requirements per country make it very difficult for us as international producers to put it on our packaging.”
As a third pillar, the company will reassess the packaging itself. Kellogg Europe has developed a way to suck the air out of the bags and increase the ‘pack fill’. This allows the boxes to be smaller, which could save 190 tonnes of cardboard and plastic annually. Because the boxes can be stacked better and take up less space during transport, CO2 emissions are reduced by another 10 per cent. Depending on the harvest, at least 25 per cent of the potatoes processed at the Pringles factory in Mechelen come from Flemish farmers, according to Houben.
Median shifts towards healthier lifestyle
During times in which every self-respecting multinational is making promises regarding sustainability, the manifesto comes as no surprise. Kellogg Europe has even created the position of ‘well-being manager’. They must monitor the company’s role in society as a whole. Yet the producer insists that the manifesto is certainly not a result of external pressure but grew from the company’s sense of responsibility.
Or, even better: it comes from the historically inherited sense of responsibility of the Kellogg brothers, the ones who invented cornflakes at the beginning of the 20th century. Doctor John Harvey Kellogg was an ardent advocate of plant-based nutrition and “everything related to well-being”. “The pursuit of health is the basis of our existence. We want to keep that motivation and that idea,” says Houben, dismissing other, worse outdated principles of the same Kellogg – such as that eating meat could lead to bodily sins and masturbation.
In the long run, Kellogg’s notices consumer behaviour shifting towards healthier food anyway, although this evolution is slower and less linear than pressure groups or trend watchers like to suggest. “Our society is very polarised at the moment: there are people who are taking the extreme health route, and there are people who have let themselves go a little bit, especially since the pandemic. The balance will recover, and the median will shift evolutionarily towards a healthier lifestyle, but it is not a revolution. It is a structural shift. And there may always be room for some ‘indulgence’ and the emotional aspect of food.”
