European ‘cereal cafes’ serve American brands on steroids

Travelers wandering the streets of European capitals in search of old-world charm might just as likely stumble upon a bowl of Lucky Charms.

Cafes serving U.S. breakfast cereal have exploded in popularity in Europe as young entrepreneurs tap into both nostalgia and novelty among customers who’ll pay between $3 and $9 a bowl.

Cereal cafes have opened in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Berlin, Hamburg, Manchester and many other cities. The trend also has a toehold in the Middle East.

There’s no single model for the cafes, but they tend to offer at least 100 brands, dozens of fruit and candy toppings, sweet syrups and several kinds of milk, including nondairy and flavored varieties.

Many also serve coffee, cereal-flavored milkshakes, soft-serve sundaes or inventive takes on Rice Krispies Treats.

A classic bowl with milk is still the standard. But the cereal is often topped with ingredients that go far beyond a breakfast banana sliced over Corn Flakes.

At Pop Cereal Cafe in Lisbon, one of the most popular combinations is a mix of Froot Loops and Rice Krispies with mini marshmallows and dried strawberries, topped with strawberry syrup, a waffle cookie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, served with a side of milk in a glass bottle.

“Cereal has existed for what, a hundred years?” said one of Pop’s three owners, Filipe Vicente, 32. “But for a hundred years it was cereal and milk and that was pretty much it. Now this product has so many varieties, the combinations are endless, and we think, what about ice cream or pudding? Why not?”

Brightly colored boxes line the shelves at Pop for practical and decorative purposes, and a bunk bed and padded benches let patrons doze off. Pop also has hosted events, such as a pajama party with a live band called Beliche, which is Portuguese for bunk bed.

Vicente said they got the idea from seeing Cereal Killer Cafe in London, which was the first of its kind in Europe. Identical twins from Belfast had opened it in 2014 after seeing cereal cafes in the United States and watching the 2007 independent movie Flakes. Now Cereal Killer has two more stores in England, as well as branches in Jordan, Dubai and Kuwait.

Cafes that had opened in Illinois, Florida and Texas have since mostly closed, but two flashy ones opened recently in New York, a Kellogg’s-branded flagship near Times Square and one inside a designer sneaker store in Brooklyn.

Despite making inroads elsewhere, nowhere has the trend caught on quite like it has in Europe, whose grocery stores never stocked the hundreds of varieties that fill entire aisles of American supermarkets.