A fortnight after Post announced its entry to the UK market with Honey Bunches of Oats, Kellogg’s has unveiled Mini Max its first new kids’ cereal since Honey Nut Loops launched more than 20 years ago.

Kellogg’s believes the ­cereal, which rolls out to stores in October, has the potential to become as big as its £30m Frosties brand in the next four years. The company has set its sights on sales of at least £10m in 2012 and is supporting the launch with a £2.5m push.

Mini Max, which comes in original and chocolate flavours (rsp: £2.69/560g), conforms with FSA guidelines on products that can be advertised on children’s TV and is a reformulated version of Mini Wheats, the fourth best-selling cereal brand in the US after Honey Bunches of Oats.

Mini Max was different to Kellogg’s existing UK product Frosted Wheats because it was, said the company, made to a different recipe and featured smaller wholegrain wheat parcels with a smoother texture specifically designed for kids. Its launch follows Kellogg’s pledge last year to slash the sugar in its Coco Pops range by 15% by mid-2011. The company said it was still working to hit this target and ­expected to bring a lower-sugar version of Coco Pops Original to market in the next year.

Next month it is relaunching Rice Krispies Multigrain which was launched under the name Rice Krispies Muddles in 2004. Value sales of Multigrain have grown 10.6% over the past year to £3.3m in stark contrast to the 11.8% fall of the wider Krispies brand [Symphony IRI 52w/e 16 July 2011].

Last week, The Grocer ­revealed that it was one of eight of the UK’s 10 biggest cereal brands that had fallen in value or volume over the past year. The figures were “disappointing”, said Kellogg’s marketing controller Paul Humphries, but he claimed the launch of Mini Max signalled a step change for the business.

“Have we done enough big innovation as a category? Probably not,” he admitted. “But we’re committed to delivering a stream of news and excitement.”

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