Cereal Killer Cafe

Development

Belfast identical twins Alan and Gary Keery came up with the idea of selling breakfast cereal after experiencing a morning hangover during a lunch break. The brothers were initially dissuaded from pursuing the project but continued after conducting their own market research. Inspired by established cereal cafes in the United States and the premise in 2007 film Flakes, they went about asking consumers on the streets whether or not they would buy into the concept. They discovered that more than half of the people they had asked would consider visiting their cafe. Funding for the proposal came from a business loan following an unsuccessful £60,000 crowdfunding attempt on Indiegogo. They found it difficult to rent a location based on their business venture but eventually settled on an old video store.

Business

The two-storey café is situated on Brick Lane, near Shoreditch, and employs eight staff. The interior is designed to reflect a retro style with exposed brickwork, formica furniture and 1980s and '90s music. Among the decor are novelty cereal boxes, vintage milk bottles and other cereal related memorabilia. The cafe offers more than 100 different varieties of global cereal brands, 12 kinds of milk and 20 toppings. It also sells coffee, toast and poptarts.

The owners were challenged by Channel 4 over the price of their bowls of cereal in Tower Hamlets, a London borough with relatively high rates of poverty. The interview went viral, with reactions on social media portraying the Keery brothers as "out of touch hipsters". Traditional media commentary defended the small business, supporting their entrepreneurship and pointing at gentrification around Shoreditch. In response, the brothers wrote an open letter to the broadcaster on Twitter. Boris Johnson also wrote in his Telegraph column in defence of their enterprise. In September 2015, anti-gentrification protesters took direct action against the cafe by throwing paint at its windows.