9 Discontinued Beloved Cereals That Returned to Shelves
Discontinued. It's one of the saddest words around when applied in the world of food—it's the cold, clinical way of saying that this or that is disappearing and, in most cases, that it will be gone for good. Granted, sometimes that's a good thing, as in the case of those Grahams S'mores flavored Goldfish or Trix Yogurt.
On the other hand, if a discontinued food was a delicious favorite of yours, its disappearance can leave a lasting sadness, especially if it was a food you loved in childhood. The story need not end in a phantom taste lingering on the tongue, though, because not all discontinued foods are gone forever. When customers clamor loudly enough, sometimes foods are returned to production, and that was just the case with these nine breakfast cereals that rose phoenix-like from the ashes of history.
Or, more accurately, went back into production at factories, but either way you look at it, here are nine discontinued breakfast cereals that returned to store shelves. Plus, don't miss 23 Discontinued Cereals That Deserve a Comeback.
Kellogg's Cinnabon Cereal
Five years after it was discontinued, this sweet, cinnamon-flavored cereal is back. The return of Kellogg's Cinnabon, which tastes much like the frosted, sugar-laden cinnamon rolls that fill many an American shopping mall with their delightful aroma, is a comeback that follows years of social media pressure, including an online petition that was hosted by Change.org.
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General Mills Count Chocula
This General Mills cereal was first seen in the year 1971, and it stuck around as a regular offering for many years, available at all times until 2009, in fact, or for almost 40 years. Since then, the cereal has been semi-discontinued, making occasional appearances during the autumn Halloween season. This year, per NPR, Count Chocula is back, but likely only for a limited run.
General Mills Frute Brute
If you loved a bowl of Frute Brute back in the day, then you're dating yourself. First offered in the 1970s, this cereal has been completely gone for nearly 10 years now, pulled even from occasional season release back in 2013, per NPR. But now, in 2022, the discontinued Frute Brute is back available again.
Post Waffle Crisp
A mainstay cereal of breakfasts for kids (and some adults) everywhere in the latter half of the 1990s, Post's Waffle Crisp cereal is back after a four-year absence, the company responding to a surge of consumer demand after the cereal was discontinued. And apparently, this is no temporary reinstatement—Waffle Crisp is back for good.
General Mills Boo Berry
Like Count Chocula and Frute Brute, Boo Berry cereal also dates from 1971, the year General Mills went big on the Halloween holiday cereal of it all. Discontinued in 2009, now Boo Berry Breakfast Cereal, a blueberry-flavored cereal, is back as a limited edition seasonal release, per Walmart.
Post Oreo's O's
It just wasn't good enough for people to have Oreos as cookies, they needed to have Oreos as a cereal, too. So much so that when Post discontinued Oreo's O's breakfast cereal in 2007 after less than a decade on the market, consumers began to clamor. It took a while, but per Today, the cereal came back in 2017, and it remains available today.
General Mills Franken Berry
The last of the so-called Monster Cereals released by General Mills in the early 1970s and discontinued for years in the 2000s, Franken Berry is now back in limited release, per NPR, along with its companions Count Chocula, Boo Berry, and Frute Brute. And as you'll notice, all of the Monster Cereal boxes have some pretty cool retro artwork made by the contemporary artist Kaws.
General Mills French Toast Crunch
French Toast Crunch cereal came out in the 1990s and won immediate fans both in America and up north in Canada. But General Mills didn't think the cereal had enough fans in the States, and it stopped offering the cereal in America in 2006, though it never disappeared from the Canadian market, per CNN Money. America finally saw the glorious return of this flavorful cereal in 2014 when it was relaunched after years of demand.
Kellogg's Smorz
Some like it sweet. Others like it "s'mores in a breakfast cereal" levels of sweet. And it was to those folks that Kellogg's listened after relenting and returning Smorz cereal to production in early 2021, eight years after it left shelves in 2013. It was first produced in 2003. A Kellogg senior marketing director credited a Change.org petition and the cereal's "incredibly passionate fanbase" with the return of the beloved discontinued item.
