Cinnamon Toast Crunch, known as Croque-Cannelle in French Canada and Curiously Cinnamon in the UK, and as a variant called Cini Minis in other European and Latin American countries, is a brand of breakfast cereal produced by General Mills and Nestlé. The cereal was first produced in 1984. Cinnamon Toast Crunch aims to provide the taste of cinnamon toast in a crunch cereal format. The cereal consists of small squares or rectangles of wheat and rice covered with cinnamon and sugar. Because of its rice content, when immersed in milk, one can hear "snap" sounds coming from it, similar to Rice Krispies. In most European countries and North America the product is sold in boxes but in Poland and Russia the cereal is sold in bags. The product was originally marketed outside Europe with the mascot of a jolly baker named Chef Wendell, but was replaced as a mascot by the "Crazy Squares" which are sentient Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares that often eat each other in commercials. As of 2019, Cinnamon Toast Crunch revealed a new logo to reflect on the world of the cinnamon squares.
History
Originally the cereal featured plain squares but currently features artificial "cinnamon swirl" coloration in each piece. The cereal was originally invented by scientist John Mendesh and by General Mills assistant product manager Elisabeth Trach after receiving the idea from an unnamed child in a "give us your best idea for a cereal" radio contest held by General Mills. The child received a set of hot wheels toys as a Grand Prize. Starting in 1985 there were three animated bakers as the mascots, one of which is named Wendell. The other two bakers, known as Bob and Quello, were considerably more youthful in appearance than Wendell. Eventually the younger bakers were dropped, leaving Wendell as the sole mascot for several years.
The product was first introduced to the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1998 by Cereal Partners, as Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the same name as the popular North American cereal brand. The name was later changed to Cinnamon Grahams, similar to Golden Grahams, another Nestlé product. The name was once again changed to its current name of Curiously Cinnamon produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand.
Slogans
Originally, the three bakers were the mascots. The cereal did not have a slogan. Starting in 1995, it was given the slogan: "The taste you can see." In 2007, Cinnamon Toast Crunch experimented with a new slogan, "It's That Intense," but switched back after poor reception. In 2009 the slogan became "Crave those crazy squares". In 1997, appealing to adult-oriented programming, a campaign featured the slogan "The adult thing to do", mostly centering on their adult things going back to children's stuff, including cereal. This was changed in 2004 to "Breakfast on a whole other level", which was replaced with the "Crave those crazy squares" in 2009.
Portrayal
Current advertisements for this cereal portray adults in some form unable to "see what makes them so popular," the adult guesses something completely off the wall, and usually related to the adult's profession, whereby the children correct them and loudly say "It's the cinnamon sugar swirls in every bite!". However, the cereal is also currently advertised directly to adults, as a healthy breakfast choice with a great taste they grew up with. Either way, the portrayal has worked; it is favored in 54% of states in the United States.
Spin-offs of the cereal
There have been at least five offshoots of the cereal: Chocolate Toast Crunch,French Toast Crunch in 1995 and again in 2015, Peanut Butter Toast Crunch in 2004 and 2013, Frosted Toast Crunch in 2012, and Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch for the 2014 holiday season. French Toast Crunch is shaped like many little French toast slices, reminiscent of the style of Cookie Crisp. It was discontinued in 2006, but made a return in 2015 due to its cult popularity among its fans. Peanut Butter Toast Crunch was a cereal consisting of flakes similar but darker to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Frosted Toast Crunch resembles Cinnamon Toast Crunch with vanilla coating. This cereal was discontinued by 2006. As another offshoot, Monopoly Cereal was a limited edition product created in April 2003 by General Mills. The cereal was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch but with the addition of marshmallows based on the pieces in the Monopoly game, such as houses and hotels. Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch was like Cinnamon Toast Crunch except with a sugar cookie taste. In Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, and Israel, where a variant of the cereal is known as Cini Minis, a strawberry flavoured variant named Erdbeer Minis/Strawberry Minis exists. In Germany and Austria it replaced a previously existing apple flavoured variant called Äpple Minis. This strawberry flavoured variant was later released in the UK as Curiously Strawberry. In 2018, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churros were introduced. The cereal has the same cinnamon sugar flavor as the original but is shaped like a mini churro.
Description
Curiously Cinnamon consists of wholegrain wheat and rice squares about 1.37cm in size, which are then coated with a blend of cinnamon and sugar, and fortified with various vitamins and minerals. One serving of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, equal to ¾ cup or 31 g, has 130 calories, or 170 calories with ½ cup of skim milk. A single serving has 3 g of total fat, no cholesterol, 220 mg of sodium, and 45 mg of potassium. One serving has 25 g of total carbohydrates with 2 g of dietary fiber and 9 g of sugars with 14 g of other carbohydrates. A single serving also contains 1 g of protein.
