Identical twins Alan and Gary Keery, from Belfast, came up with the idea of selling breakfast cereal after experiencing a morning hangover during a lunch break in Shoreditch and craving a "sugary cereal fix". The brothers were initially dissuaded from pursuing the project but continued after conducting their own market research. Inspired by established cereal cafes in the United States and the premise of the 2007 filmFlakes, they went about asking consumers on the streets whether or not they would buy into the concept. They discovered that more than half of the people they had asked would consider visiting their cafe. Funding for the proposal came from a business loan following an unsuccessful £60,000 crowdfunding attempt on Indiegogo. They found it difficult to rent a location based on their business venture but eventually settled on an old video store. By 2017 the brothers had opened cereal cafes in Camden, Birmingham and Kuwait. The Camden Market location features a retro vibe, complete with beds used as seating around tables.
Business
The two-storey café is situated on Brick Lane, near Shoreditch, and employs eight staff. The interior is designed to reflect a retro style with exposed brickwork, formica furniture and 1980s and '90s music. Among the decor are novelty cereal boxes, vintage milk bottles and other cereal related memorabilia. The cafe offers more than 100 different varieties of global cereal brands, 12 kinds of milk and 20 toppings. It also sells coffee, toast and poptarts. The owners were challenged by Channel 4 over the price of their bowls of cereal in Tower Hamlets, a London borough with relatively high rates of poverty. The interviewwent viral, with reactions on social media portraying the Keery brothers as "out of touch hipsters". Traditional media commentary defended the small business, supporting their entrepreneurship and pointing at gentrification around Shoreditch. In response, the brothers wrote an open letter to the broadcaster on Twitter. Boris Johnson also wrote in his Telegraph column in defence of their enterprise.
