FRENCH TOAST CRUNCH

FRENCH TOAST CRUNCH

General Mills, Inc.

            Don’t call it a comeback, it’s been here for years—you just had to pay through the nose to get it.

The original Cinnamon Toast Crunch packaging.

In 1984, General Mills and Nestle introduced Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC) to the world. The cereal was a hit, and to celebrate its first decade it was decided to expand the brand. In 1995, General Mills introduced French Toast Crunch (FTC).

            As CTC was designed to invoke the taste of cinnamon toast, so too was FTC designed to be as close to French toast as possible. In fact, General Mills decided to take it an extra step: the cereal pieces actually resembled slices of French toast; from their shape to their color to their texture. And their taste? As advertised, with a hint of maple syrup flavoring.

The revised cereal eliminating the toast shapes.

            While the cereal was a hit with consumers, ultimately sales were not sufficient for General Mills to keep it in production. They attempted to bring over more of the CTC consumers by changing the unique shape to resemble the CTC pieces, right down to the brown swirls that appeared on them when FTC debuted. But, a mere 11 years later, the cereal was discontinued in 2006 everywhere except Canada, where it was also known as “Croque pain dore.” The Canadian version maintained the original bread shapes.

The Canadian version of the cereal.

            While initial sales may not have been to General Mills’ liking, the cereal had its fans and had developed a cult following in the years since. Online retailers took note and began offering the Canadian cereal for purchase, which fans eagerly snatched up at prices that ranged from high to insane due to shipping costs. As social media began to grow in prominence, countless campaigns were started by fans for the cereal to return in mass production. Everything from Twitter to a Change.org petition was used to convince General Mills that a market still existed for the crunchy maple pieces.

One of many info graphics about discontinued products featuring French Toast Crunch.

            Unable to deny the love for the cereal, and following on a wave of nostalgia that resulted in Coca-Cola resurrecting their Surge soft drink and General Mills themselves releasing Target-exclusive retro boxes of their cereals, General Mills announced via their blog that the cereal would return in December of 2014 to select stores, with wider distribution in January in time for its 30^th anniversary. Not only was the cereal returned to its original shape, but the resurrected box closely resembled the original style with the addition of “you asked it’s back!” in place of original mascot Chef Wendell. The back of the box also featured pop culture factoids from 1995. The cereal's official website uses noted television psychic spokesperson Miss Cleo to promote the cereal in a series of shorts where she gives fake readings to "callers."

CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

General Mills, Inc.

            Cinnamon? Check. Sugar? Check. Part of a complete breakfast? Check.

The original 1984 packaging.

            Hitting shelves in 1984, General Mills and Nestle's Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC) was a cereal designed to invoke the taste of cinnamon toast (hence the name). The cereal has been produced in square flake form since its inception, gaining only the addition of brown sugar swirls in 1995 that prompted the marketing slogan “The taste you can see.” In 2014, for the cereal’s 30^th anniversary, the cereal began being promoted as having “now more of the cinnamon taste you love.”

 

            In 1986, the cereal featured three chef mascots who would each take a turn saying part of the cereal’s name in commercials. Wendell was the eldest, having white hair, a jolly grandpa appearance and glasses. His other two cohorts were never officially named by the company, but had gained the names Bob and Quello by fans that seemed to have unofficially stuck (Wendell’s name was revealed on a 1990 box). Bob was the youngest of the group, with black hair and a stocky build. Quello, who seemed to be the next-ranking chef after Wendell, was tall and thin with brown hair. The three of them adorned the boxes of cereal and commercials until 1991 when, after consumer feedback, General Mills decided to retire the two younger chefs and made Wendell the sole mascot everywhere the cereal was sold outside of Europe. 

The Crazy Squares: so good, they eat themselves.

Over the years, Wendell’s prominence in the commercials began to steadily decline as the ads turned to more gimmicky means to attract attention to the cereal, especially in the adult market. He did, however, remain on the box before new mascots were introduced in 2009: the Crazy Squares. The Crazy Squares were a group of anthropomorphic CTC pieces that found their own taste so irresistible. They were basically portrayed as cannibals always trying to eat each other with the slogan “Crave those crazy squares.” Eventually, they replaced Wendell entirely on all CTC marketing.

The Toast cereal family.

1995 saw the debut of CTC’s first spinoff cereal, French Toast Crunch, which lasted until 2006 when it was discontinued. Constant fan outcry led to a comeback in December of 2014. 2003 saw the limited edition release of Monopoly Cereal, which added marshmallows to the CTC formula that resembled the pieces found in the Monopoly board game. In 2004, Peanut Butter Toast Crunch was introduced, adding a peanut butter flavor to the CTC squares. It was discontinued for a time but revived in 2013, complete with Wendell on its packaging. However, Wendell did make a return appearance the year prior when they introduced Frosted Toast Crunch, which added a vanilla flavor to the CTC squares. In 2013, Chocolate Toast Crunch was introduced, giving a chocolate flavor to the cereal squares. For the 2014 holiday season, a limited edition cereal called Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch was released, giving the cereal a sugar cookie taste. The Crazy Squares promoted that one. For the 30^th anniversary, General Mills partnered with Tastemade to create cinnamon-inspired recipes by chefs.

The cereal is currently available worldwide, produced by Nestle. In the United Kingdom, it was produced under the name Cinnamon Grahams before eventually becoming Curiously Cinnamon. In French Canada, it’s known as Croque-Cannelle. A variant with a different taste known as Cini Minis is available in other European countries.