Cereality set to bowl over Philly with 1st freestanding unit

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 4, 2004 by Paul King

PHILADELPHIA -- When David Roth and Rick Bacher launched Cereality Cereal Bar and Cafe last year at Arizona State University, Roth said he believed the concept would work in a freestanding retail environment as well as it would on a college campus.

Next month, he'll get the chance to find out if he is right. Roth said Cereality will open a unit at 36th and Walnut streets here, in close proximity to a Barnes & Noble superstore, a Cosi restaurant, a Hilton Inn and a health club.

However, with the University of Pennsylvania located directly across the street, Cereality really has not strayed too far from college students, many of whom seemingly could eat cereal for all three meals a day. In fact, the university owns the land on which the cereal bar stands.

Roth still believes the location will prove Cereality has legs. "Here we'll get a broad base of customers who all love cereal -students, faculty and Penn employees as well as tourists staying at the Hilton Inn," he said.

Cereality's Arizona State outlet is a 200-square-foot counter-service operation that, Roth explained, was designed with Jerry Seinfeld's kitchen in the sitcom "Seinfeld" as a template. Cereals are displayed in glass-fronted cabinets on the back wall, and "cereologists" in pajamas dispense selections according to customers' orders.

The Philadelphia location will be a 1,500-square-foot sit-down location, and will feature outdoor seating, window-counter seats and upholstered chairs.

However, the menu will be basically the same. A total of 33 name-brand cold cereals are available along with a variety of hot cereals. In addition, 34 toppings are offered, ranging from fruits, nuts and grated coconut to malted-milk balls and milk-flavor crystals. Whole, 2-percent, skim and soy milks make up the liquid toppings. Cereality also makes its own cereal bars, granola and cereal-based snacks, which are sold by the bag or the box.

The basic option at Cereality is the bowl of cereal, which is served in a cardboard bowl with a fold-down lid for portability. For $2.50 customers receive two cups of cereal, one topping and their choice of milk.

Earlier this year Roth said he thought the concept wasn't just for the college crowd.

"Because of cereal's ubiquitous nature, I would expect to see similar, if not better, results in sites where the demographics are broader," he said at the time. "I don't believe it's just a college concept. We only chose a college because we thought the quirkiness of the concept would work well here while we refined the process to make it as bulletproof as possible."

Roth added that other targets for the concept could be corporate offices, hospitals, airports and recreation venues, such as stadiums and amusement parks.