Leftovers: Tropicana invites consumers to pour OJ on cereal; Cinnabon muscles in on protein drinks

Orange you glad Tropicana made a cereal to eat with juice?

Got milk? If the answer is no, Tropicana has the cereal for you.

Tropicana Crunch, a honey almond granola blend, was designed to be eaten with orange juice poured over it. And it becomes available through a giveaway on Tropicana Crunch’s website on May 4, National Orange Juice Day.

“For those who are cereal curious like us, we made Tropicana Crunch,” the website says. “Cereal that’s down to be drowned in OJ. Honey almond clusters that are made to be spooned and sipped. A breakfast taste test we can all take together. Because whether you hate it or love it, you won’t know until you try it.”

But, as the orange juice maker found, pouring orange juice on cereal isn’t really a crazy idea. Using estimates drawn from an online survey conducted in February, the company says about 52 million Americans are willing to do this. And an estimated 15 million Americans have already tried this combo — which is the populations of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago combined. Half of the adults that poured orange juice on their cereal did it because they thought it looked like it would taste good, the company said.

Whether it actually tastes good is up in the air. While Tropicana has formulated this blend for orange juice, it’s clear from the company’s language that this will be a polarizing taste experience. But for those who love it, each box of Tropicana Crunch comes with a sipping straw to consume every drop that is in the bowl.

This is Tropicana’s latest new product to improve consumers’ morning orange juice experience. In November, the brand had a giveaway for Tropicana Toothpaste, a dentifrice designed to not leave a bitter aftertaste in a post-breakfast toothbrushing session.

Before the creation of Tropicana Crunch, there was quite a lot of online commentary about eating orange juice on cereal. While there are many who find the idea unpalatable, some science and medical information compiled by Mashed indicates there may be other reasons to skip the OJ on cereal. The juice can zap digestive enzymes needed to break down starches, leaving people with intestinal distress, the site says. And, given the naturally sugary composition of orange juice, it could make cereal get soggy faster.

Since this cereal was made for juice, those potential negatives may have been taken into consideration. Regardless, the idea is getting a lot of traction on Tropicana’s social media accounts, and it’s highly likely that there is a large crop of people ready to squeeze in a juicy and unconventional breakfast.

— Megan Poinski

Cinnabon muscles in on protein-packed nutritional beverages

Popular mall staple Cinnabon is making its way to an unexpected consumer: health aficianados.

The frosting-lathered cinnamon roll brand is partnering with Nestlé’s Boost on a high-protein nutritional drink. Each bottle has 20 grams of protein to help maintain muscle, 250 calories with B-vitamins to help convert food to energy, nutrients for immune support and calcium and vitamin D to support bone health.

Nestlé and Cinnabon noted that even though up to 44% of adults over 60 do not meet minimum protein requirements, the building block is considered to be one of the most important nutrients as a person ages. 

“We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to give our fans access to our brands,” said Dave Mikita, a president with Focus Brands, the company that owns Cinnabon. “We’re looking forward to providing adults with the delicious taste of a Cinnabon cinnamon roll in a new protein-packed, ready-to-drink flavored beverage format.”

The Boost Cinnabon drink is available in 8- ounce ready-to-drink bottles nationwide at Walmart and online.

Cinnabon is among the most prominent licensors of its brand to other food products lining grocery store shelves. During the last decade, Cinnabon has found its name attached to Pinnacle Vodka, Breyers ice cream, International Delight Creamers and Cream of Wheat.

The licensing efforts like those used by Cinnabon not only expand a brand’s reach into other categories. They also allow each partner to piggyback on the other’s benefits, such as a brand name, experience making or marketing a certain product, and their ability to reach a specific consumer. 

— Christopher Doering

ReGrained’s upcycled flour rises up in new baking mixes

Could flour resulting from wasted food result in healthy baked goods? ReGrained says it can, while still tasting delicious.

The upcycled food brand has launched a line of four sweet and savory baking mixes that feature its SuperGrain+ ingredient created from spent brewers grain. The varieties include banana bread, brownie, carrot cake and pizza dough. They are now available for a limited time on the company’s website.

ReGrained, launched almost a decade ago, uses a thermo-mechanical process to formulate spent brewer’s grain into a flour that it says has more than triple the dietary fiber of wheat flour and twice the protein of oats, along with being rich in prebiotics. According to ReGrained’s website, the flour has a nutty, toasted cereal flavor.

The launch, which coincided with Stop Food Waste Day, is a part of ReGrained’s pledge to upcycle 10 million pounds of food by 2025. ReGrained founder and CEO Dan Kurzrock said that the company’s goal to to improve the industry’s circular economy, and encourage producers to make more foods using upcycled ingredients.

“ReGrained, at its core, is a [business-to-business] innovation and ingredient platform,” Kurzrock said. “We selectively introduce consumer products to demonstrate commercial possibilities as well as to test ideas, iterate, learn, and improve.”

In June 2021, ReGrained’s SuperGrain+ flour became one of the first ingredients to earn Upcycled Food certification from the Upcycled Food Association.