This Fast Food Chain Made Its Own Cereal In The '80s

The 1980s were noted for many things, and among them was an explosion in sugary breakfast cereals. In previous decades, the FCC cracked down on advertisements targeting children, but when President Ronald Reagan took office, he deregulated many things, among which was advertising. This flung the proverbial doors wide open to products and marketing targeted at kids, and a veritable parade of uber-sweet cereals aimed at youngsters began marching through those doors along with their licensed character mascots. Among the products was a cold cereal from Dunkin' (the company was known as Dunkin' Donuts back then), which gave consumers their choice of two donut-inspired flavors: Glazed Style or Chocolate. TV commercials promoting the products encouraged users to try mixing both flavors in one bowl.

Filled with crunchy, miniature donuts (looking a lot like plain old Cheerios), figure-8 twists, and round balls meant to resemble donut holes, Dunkin's cereal was just as unapologetically sugary as the many other competing cold cereals flooding the marketplace. The product boxes featured Fred the Baker, aka the "time to make the donuts" guy, as the official mascot.

Cereal boxes in the 1980s had some truly great prizes that made breakfast fun, and Dunkin's entry into the breakfast market was no exception. Dunkin' Donuts Cereal offered send-away prizes like a Dunkin' Donuts duffle bag, a Harry Blackstone Jr. card tricks set, and Nintendo trading cards. Despite the prizes, sugar content, and TV personality mascot, Dunkin' Donuts Cereal was discontinued after just a year on the market. Lucky consumers can still occasionally snag the products on sites like eBay, but, despite all the sugar and preservatives, we have to assume it would be pretty inedible by now (though an oven can sometimes revive stale cereal).

It isn't clear why the Dunkin' Donuts Cereal of the '80s didn't last long. The market was saturated with breakfast cereals at the time, so the huge amount of competition was likely a factor. From E.T. and Mr. T. to Barbie and Batman, breakfast cereals featuring hot pop culture characters were flooding grocery store shelves, and the majority of the products that debuted during the decade didn't last past the 1990s.

Dunkin's breakfast cereal offerings were also predated by a cereal called Dinky Donuts and another called Powdered Donutz Cereal, neither of which fared well in the marketplace. So, it wasn't just the Dunkin' Donuts brand that crashed and burned as a cereal, the notion of a donut cereal overall just didn't strike a chord with consumers. Perhaps real donuts were just more appealing to children.

The 1980s wasn't the end of Dunkin's breakfast cereal endeavors, though. In 2020, the brand joined forces with Post Consumer Brands to debut two more cold cereals, Caramel Macchiato and Mocha Latte, this time made using actual Dunkin' coffee. Like their '80s predecessors, though, these cereals were also discontinued. Undaunted, in 2025 Dunkin' unveiled a cereal-flavored latte as part of its fall menu. The Cereal N' Milk latte featured espresso and actual "cereal milk" made using real marshmallow cereal, serving up a Lucky Charms–esque beverage in both hot and iced versions. Much like the cereals that came before it, the Cereal N' Milk latte is also no longer around, being a temporary item like most of Dunkin's seasonal menu offerings.