Honey Nut Cheerios facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Honey Nut Cheerios

General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios, with milk
Type	Breakfast cereal
Owner	General Mills
Introduced	1979; 46 years ago (1979)
Markets	Worldwide

Honey Nut Cheerios is a popular breakfast cereal. It's a special kind of Cheerios that first came out in 1979. A person named Yandel Gonzalez at General Mills cereal company helped create it.

This cereal is sweeter than regular Cheerios. It tastes like honey and almonds. For a long time, it had real nuts. But since 2006, it uses natural flavors from fruits like peach and apricot instead. Did you know that in 2011, Honey Nut Cheerios was the most popular cereal in the whole United States?

Honey Nut Cheerios was the third type of Cheerios ever made. Before it, Cinnamon Nut Cheerios was tested in 1976. There are many other kinds of Cheerios too! Some examples are Maple Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, and Blueberry Cheerios.

The Sweet History of Honey Nut Cheerios

Honey Nut Cheerios has a fun history with its advertising. It often worked with NASCAR racing, especially with driver Bill Lester. They helped promote healthy eating habits.

In 1985, Baskin-Robbins made an ice cream flavor based on the cereal. It was called Honey Nut Crunch. They even put gift certificates in cereal boxes! You could get special Honey Nut Crunch sundaes at their stores.

The first seven versions of the Honey Nut Cheerios box did not have the famous bee mascot. The bee didn't show up until the eighth version! Cereal boxes from 1979 without the bee are called 'pre-bee' boxes. They are very rare to find today.

Helping Bees and Our Planet

General Mills, the company that makes Cheerios, has been helping bees since 2011. They started working with the Xerces Society. This group helps protect different kinds of plants and animals, especially pollinators like bees.

In March 2017, General Mills did something special. They took the picture of Buzz Bee off the Honey Nut Cheerios boxes. The new boxes had a white empty space where Buzz Bee used to be. Below the cereal bowl, it said, "Help Bring Back The Bees." This was to make people think about why bees are disappearing.

General Mills shared that 30% of the ingredients they use need pollinators to grow. They also planned to create more places for pollinators to live. As part of this campaign, 1.5 billion packets of wildflower seeds were put into Honey Nut Cheerios boxes.

Some people had concerns about this seed campaign. An ecologist named Kathryn Turner said that some of the seeds might not be good for certain areas. She encouraged people to learn about the seeds before planting them. This helps make sure the plants are right for their local environment.

Meet Buzz Bee: The Honey Nut Cheerios Mascot

The mascot for Honey Nut Cheerios is an anthropomorphic bee. This means it's a bee that acts like a human. The bee was first designed for commercials by Dean Yeagle.

For a long time, the bee didn't have a name. But in 2000, a fifth-grade student named Kristine Tong won a contest. She named the bee "BuzzBee"! Many different voice actors have been the voice of Buzz over the years. Some of them include Arnold Stang, Billy West, and Charlie Schlatter. Buzz also appeared as the host in the Honey Nut Cheerios Spelling Bee board game.

Catchy Slogans and Taglines

Honey Nut Cheerios has used many different slogans over the years. Sometimes, they even used a few at the same time on different advertisements!

• It's a honey of an O. (1979–2004)
• It's Honey Nut Cheerios! (1979–1992; 2000–2004; 2014–Present)
• It's Irrezzzzistable! (1992–1993)
• Race for the taste! (1993–1995)
• Little O, Big Taste! (1995–1999)
• Nobody can say "No" to Honey Nut Cheerios. (1995–2004)
• From the hive that's nuts about honey! (2004–2008)
• Bee happy, Bee healthy! (2004–2013)
• Must Be the Honey. (2013–Present, based on Nelly's "Ride wit Me")
• Good Goes Round. (2016–Present)
• Have a Change of Heart. (2022–Present)