Today one of Britain’s favourite cereal – Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut – is celebrating 40 years since it was first launched back in 1980.
The irresistible cereal was dreamt up more than four decades ago at Kellogg’s Manchester factory – now the biggest cereal factory in Europe. The honey covered flakes quickly grew in popularity and today Kellogg’s factory makes around 20 million kilograms of Crunchy Nut each year.
“There was always a bit of a buzz at the factory when we started to make a new cereal, but when we started making Crunchy Nut it was like nothing else. Even back then you could tell how popular it was going to be so I’m not at all surprised that it’s still around all these years later celebrating its 40th anniversary.’’
(Barbara Evans, Kellogg’s retiree who worked at the factory in 1980)
An eye and mouth-watering amount of ingredients are used to make the 6,000 flakes you will find in the average box of Crunchy Nut. Each year, Kellogg’s Manchester factory uses 1.2 billion individual peanuts to make the famous cereal and, since the product was first launched 40 years ago, it has got through around 70 million kilograms of honey.
In 2002 the cereal went from Crunchy Nut Cornflakes to simply ‘Crunchy Nut’ and today, it’s Kellogg’s biggest brand in the UK.
With more than one in four homes across the country proudly admitting to having at least one box of Crunchy Nut in their cupboards, the UK’s Crunchy Nutters buy over 38 million boxes of the cereal every year.
Due to the demand, 17 years ago Kellogg’s expanded its offering to include Crunchy Nut Clusters and the cereal is still as sought after today, with sales of Crunchy Nut increasing 43% during the lockdown as people turned back to their familiar favourite. In July this year, the Crunchy Nut family grew again as the brand stirred up a frenzy when Crunchy Nut Peanut Butter was introduced.
“Many people see Crunchy Nut in the supermarket or have it on their breakfast table and might not know that it was invented in Manchester and continues to be made their today. I’ve been working at Kellogg’s factory overseeing the production of Crunchy Nut for the past 14 years and in every single batch we make, we check the flakes for that trademark golden crunch! Our team make almost 600,000 boxes of the cereal every week and we hope we’ll be making even more for years to come.’’
(Dan Fox, Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut expert who oversees the production of the cereal)
