Cereal Killer Cafe facts for kids
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The branch in Brick Lane
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| Café | |
| Fate | Closed (UK only) |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Alan and Gary Keery |
| Defunct | (UK only) |
| Headquarters | , |
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Number of locations
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5 |
Cereal Killer Cafe was a unique café located in London, England. It became famous for serving many different kinds of breakfast cereals from around the world. It was the very first cafe in the United Kingdom to focus only on cereal! Sadly, its UK stores closed on July 8, 2020. This happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Cereal Killer Cafe in Dubai is still open as of 2022.
How the Cafe Started
Identical twin brothers, Alan and Gary Keery, from Belfast, had a cool idea. They wanted to open a cafe that served all sorts of popular breakfast cereals. To see if people would like their idea, they asked many people on the streets. More than half of the people they asked said they would visit such a cafe.
The brothers needed money to start their business. They tried to raise £60,000 through crowdfunding online, but it didn't work out. So, they got a business loan instead. It was hard for them to find a place to rent because their business idea was so unusual. But finally, they found an old video store that was perfect for their cafe.
What the Cafe Was Like
The Cereal Killer Cafe in Brick Lane, near Shoreditch, had two floors. It had eight staff members working there. The inside of the cafe looked very old-school and cool. It had exposed brick walls, shiny formica furniture, and played music from the 1980s and 1990s.
The cafe was decorated with fun things like special cereal boxes, old-fashioned milk bottles, and other items related to cereal. You could choose from over 100 different kinds of cereals from all over the world! They also offered 12 different types of milk and 20 kinds of toppings for your cereal. Besides cereal, they also sold coffee and poptarts.
Public Discussion and Growth
In 2014, a TV channel called Channel 4 questioned the brothers about the prices of their cereal bowls. This happened in an area of London called Tower Hamlets. Some people thought the prices were too high for that area. Gary, one of the brothers, disagreed. He said his cereal was "cheap for the area" before stopping the interview.
Many people talked about the cafe. Some, like Boris Johnson, praised the brothers for their entrepreneurship (meaning their skill in starting a business). Others criticized it, saying it was part of gentrification (when an area becomes more expensive and changes its character). The brothers wrote an open letter online to defend themselves.
By 2017, the Cereal Killer Cafe had become very popular. The brothers had opened more cereal cafes in other cities, including Birmingham, Dubai, Kuwait, and Jordan.
