Quaker Oat So Simple - the UK’s fastest-growing top 10 cereal brand - is moving into cereal bars.

Morning Bars, rolling out to retailers next month, are a spin-off from the PepsiCo brand, which has grown 19% year-on-year to £76.7m in an overall cereals market up just 2.5% by value [The Grocer Top Products Survey 2011].

The bars are primarily aimed at commuters and will be sold in five-bar multipacks (rsp: £2.19) in three flavours: golden syrup, raspberry & pomegranate, and fruit muesli - the most popular variants in the porridge range.

“We’ve already sold over one million cases of Oat So Simple porridge pots since their launch under a year ago and our new bars have all the ingredients to replicate this success,” said group marketing director Patrick Kalotis. PepsiCo research suggested 65% of consumers who tried the bars would buy them again, he added.

The launch also meant PepsiCo would axe the Oats bars currently made under the Quaker brand in original and cranberry & blueberry variants, he said: “The new products taste very different to our older Oats bars, which were designed a while back and aimed at more traditional oats consumers.”

The launch will be backed by a campaign incorporating PR, digital, advertising and sampling in-store and on commuter routes. PepsiCo said the push was part of a wider investment in the Quaker brand that included a national TV ad campaign and the expansion of its factory in Cupar, Scotland, that was announced last year.

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