The Iconic Nesquik Cereal That Was Mysteriously Discontinued In The US
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Most consumers these days associate Nesquik with chocolate milk. The brand is well known for its flavored milk products, most notably its bottled beverages and drink mixes. But in the late '90s and early aughts, Nesquik was also famous for its cereal. Nesquik's Quik Chocolate Powder was first introduced in 1948, and after several years of success, the product line was expanded to include bottled beverages in 1983. In 1990, cereal giant General Mills and Nestlé, the company behind Nesquik, joined forces to form Cereal Partners Worldwide, making products like Cheerios and Corn Flakes. Around 1997, the partnership also gave life to Nestlé Quik Cereal (which later became Nesquick Cereal).
As early commercials showcased, Nestlé Quik cereal was a crunchy sphere-shaped cereal made with Nestlé's signature milk chocolate flavor. Though many cereals created under Cereal Partner Worldwide went on to be commercial successes, the last time a Nesquik Cereal commercial seems to have aired in the U.S. was back in 2001. The product was allegedly discontinued in 2012, meaning it was only in American grocery stores for a little more than a decade.
What happened to Nesquik cereal?
If you take a look at the history section of the Nesquik website today, you'll see there's no evidence of Nestlé Quik Cereal ever having existed, and when the product was taken off the market in the U.S., the brand offered no explanation why, either. One theory on Reddit surmises that it may have had something to do with Cocoa Puffs being a more popular competitor product, and the facts do add up.
Cocoa Puffs cereal was released in 1958, and that means in 1997, when Nestlé Quik Cereal first started appearing in the cereal aisle, Cocoa Puffs was already a well-established brand. Judging by the commercials, Nestlé Quik Cereal's main selling point was that it turned every bowl of cereal milk into chocolate milk. Not only was this not a unique concept since all chocolate cereals do this, but Nestlé Quik Cereal also looked nearly identical to Cocoa Puffs. It's highly likely, therefore, that consumers didn't see a reason to switch to Nestlé Quik Cereal over preexisting chocolate cereals like Cocoa Puffs.
Nesquik cereal is still available in other countries
Based on a market report published in 2022, America is the world's leading producer of breakfast cereal. So while American grocery stores stock an extensive variety of different cereals, in other countries, the selection is more limited, which means there's still a market for Nestlé Quik Cereal. Despite being long gone for over a decade in the U.S., by 2011, the cereal was still going strong in 43 other countries.
Nestlé's chocolate cereal, which now goes by the name Nesquik Chocolate Cereal, has remained so popular outside of the U.S. that it now exists in two other varieties: Nesquik Mix Cereal, made with vanilla and chocolate puffs, and Nesquik Chocolate and Banana Pillows, made with banana flavored filling. Luckily, Americans interested in trying these flavors can still get their hands on them. Because Nesquik cereal is widely available in other parts of the world, it can be purchased online through retailers like Amazon.