Two Vita Coco veterans have launched a sugar-free, non-HFSS cereal brand.
Called Surreal, it is the brainchild of Kit Gammell and Jac Chetland, formerly Vita Coco’s senior brand manager and sales director.
“We’d always wanted to do something together, [Gammell] having a much more creative marketing background, and me being more commercial,” said Chetland.
The cereal category was “right for disruption”, he added. “It hasn’t evolved at the same rate as other categories… it’s in 90% of households but has faced challenges with people exiting the category to move into on the go, protein bars, shakes, cereal bars.”
Surreal will debut with four flavours – Cocoa, Peanut Butter, Frosted, and Cinnamon – none of which contain sugar and are touted as offering 13g protein and 5g net carbs per bowl (rsp: £6/210g).
The brand was “closer nutritionally and price aligned to protein supplements”, he added, and was “plant-based, gluten-free, grain-free and appeals to the keto community – although we’re not a keto brand”.
It has already attracted big-name investors such as Proper founder Ryan Kohn, former Sir Kensington’s CEO Mark Ramadan and entrepreneur Mervyn Davies.
“We wanted to make sure the brand had the fun connotations and cues we loved as cereal consumers growing up, but was nutritionally relevant to the adults we become,” said Chetland. “But the number one non-negotiable was it needs to taste good.”
Its recipe includes ingredients such as tapioca starch and inulin. It does not actually contain any cereal grains.
It plans to give out 30,000 bowls of Surreal in a sampling campaign.
Surreal aims to begin fulfilling orders by the end of December, with Amazon and a DTC launch to follow in January.
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