The year 2020 demanded a lot from us – birthday parties, our faith in humanity and, apparently, nuts.
That’s right, according to many things, including a capitalized post on the Reddit page of Portland in December, the cereal you love or hate, was nowhere to be found. The culprit? Supply chain problems and high demand.
The inhabitants of Portland were probably hit particularly hard by the loss of breakfast food that was not made from grapes and nuts. A 1989 Oregonian article notes that, at the time, Portland ranked first among all U.S. cities in consumption of walnut.
The source of this information? Monthly figures from Harper’s Magazine.
And while the author of this article couldn’t verify Harper’s numbers, they managed to get Frank J. Smith, director of corporate development services at SAMI, to say that Portland was number one in buying dry cat food and the last in spray deodorants.
Of course, that was 32 years ago, but it still seems relevant.
Fortunately, Portland residents and their cats are getting good news – the grape nuts are back.
The scarcity is over and the cereal is back on the shelves.
And, if you were such a fan that you were paying black market prices while Grape-Nuts were gone, Post Consumer Products will refund you.
“It became very clear during the shortage that Grape-Nuts fans are ‘Nuts for Grape-Nuts’,” said Kristin DeRock, Grape-Nuts brand manager at Post Consumer Brands, in a statement. “So much so that some of our loyal fans were willing to pay extreme prices just to make sure they wouldn’t be without their favorite crunchy cereal.”
You can send receipts here until April 15th.
– Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052 ,[email protected], @lizzzyacker