Perhaps it is appropriate that a pandemic that quickly brought about accumulation and lack of toilet paper it would eventually lead to the disappearance of store shelves one of America’s best-known fiber-rich cereals.
Post Holdings confirms to CBS MoneyWatch that it is currently unable to keep up with the country’s growing appetite for its Grape-Nuts cereal. The St. Louis-based food company has also offered guarantees that it is not pulling the 120-year-old plug, as some have speculated. social media amid supermarket shelves with no box of nuts in sight. Grape-Nuts is expected to be back on store shelves in the spring, Post Holdings promised on Friday.
“People can continue to see shortages and a shortage of temporary Grape-Nuts stocks as we continue to work with supply constraints and increased demand for cereals in the midst of the pandemic,” said Kristin DeRock, Grape-Nuts brand manager, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “First of all, we want to make sure that Grape-Nuts fans know that we have absolutely no plans to discontinue Grape-Nuts.”
With more Americans eating at home, their consumption of grape nuts has also increased, and making more whole wheat cereals densely crunchy is more complicated than you might think, according to its manufacturer.
“Grape-Nuts is made using proprietary technology and a production process that is not easily replicated, which made it more difficult to change production to meet demand during that time,” said DeRock in his email.
First introduced in 1897, Grape-Nuts’ sudden lack of availability brought to the fore a round of doubts among its fans on social networks and the amazement of others with the existence of such a product.
The Grape-Nuts website claims that Grape-Nuts “does not actually contain grapes or nuts”. The name may have come from the cereal’s similarity to grape seeds, or from its distinctive nutty flavor and crispness, the website suggests. Its main ingredient is whole wheat flour, which contains a potent seven grams of fiber per half cup of serving. No sugar or corn syrup was found – just malted barley flour, salt and dry yeast filling the rest of the ingredient list in a box.
Grape-Nuts joins a list of products that saw a much greater demand during the pandemic, and Clorox wipes should not be used available for months and a thirst for normalcy leading to a race holiday trees, among other things.