You can’t be cereal

AdFreak worked at TCBY back in high school, and everyone seemed to have a thing for the toppings bar—a little bit of multicolored, mix-and-match heaven to brighten up the soul-crushing strip mall. Which is why we can’t wait for the first Cereality café to open in Manhattan.

At the flagship café in Tempe, Ariz., and another in Philadelphia, “Cereologists” dressed in pajamas stand at the ready in kitchens modeled after the one on Seinfeld, enticing visitors to play scientist with 33 different cereals and 34 different toppings.

There’s a Willy Wonka-ish charm in the idea, and the cafés have been a hit so far, at least with the (munchies-afflicted?) students at Arizona State, who provide practically all of the customer testimonials on the Cereality Web site. “I love Cereality!” one gushes. “I think it is a great place to have on college campuses. I love the new Saturday hours—it is good to know that those of us who live on campus can wake up and have cereal.” Like, whoah.

The ads are good, too. Who can resist lines like, “95 percent of Americans like cereal. 57 percent like sex. We’ve got cereal.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

December 1, 2004 | Permalink